Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe was appointed by the Ministry of Justice to serve as a member of the Italian delegation to UNCITRAL’s Working Group VI on “judicial sale of ships”. The Working Group met in a hybrid format from 14 to 18 December 2020 to discuss the Second Revision of the so-called Beijing Draft.

The proposed instrument, which is based on preliminary work carried out by the Comité Maritime International (CMI), is intended to govern the cross-border effects of judicial sale of ships.

Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe served as a scientific supervisor for a three-day long national training event for judges in the field of transport and maritime law offered by the “Scuola Superiore della Magistratura” (the Italian High School for Judges). The event took place virtually.

Speakers included academics, judges, practitioners and officers of the Italian Coast Guard. The event was attended by circa forty participants.

Frederick W. London was re-elected in September 2020 President of Cicero.

Fred is a Partner with Dunnington Bartholow & Miller, one of the two US-based members of Cicero League of International Lawyers. SLAC and Dunnington co-operate on a regular basis.

The sixth edition of the EULoS summer school, coordinated by SLAC Partner Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe, was held virtually from 24 August to 4 September. 17 participants attended from EU and non-EU countries, including Colombia and Lebanon.

Speakers included academics of international standing, international civil servants, high profile practitioners, Coast Guard officers. Participants were actively involved in a number of interactive group work activities.

On 3 August 2020 this motorway viaduct across the Polcevera River in Genoa, between the districts of Sampierdarena and Cornigliano, was officially inaugurated at the presence of the President of the Republic.

The viaduct, designed by architect Renzo Piano, replaces the Ponte Morandi (Polcevera Viaduct) which partially collapsed on 14 August 2018 and was completely demolished in June 2019.

The new infrastructure re-establishes a full mobility within the city of Genoa, between Genoa and other major cities in Italy and internationally between Italy and France.

On 14 July 2020 a new Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers provided for the prorogation of the emergency situation in Italy until 31 July 2020 as well as for the opening of a number of activities and services.

The main innovations relate to the economic, productive and recreational activities (Annex 1) and a set of guidelines concerning public transport (Annex 2).

Two orders of the Ministry of Health are also confirmed: (i) the 30 June 2020 order on sanitary surveillance for citizens coming from non-Schengen States and (ii) the 9 July 2020 order which prohibits the entry into the Italian territory of travelers coming from 13 high-risk States.

On 15 June 2020 Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe spoke at a webinar organized by the Italian Association of Maritime Law on Covid-19 and maritime law. His intervention focused on Covid-19 and migration by sea with regard to the recent measures adopted by the Italian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

On 29 May 2020 Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe spoke at a webinar organized by the University of Bari on Covid-19 and the law of tourism. His intervention focused on the international and EU law implications of the recent measures adopted by the Italian Government in reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing restriction to domestic and international travel.

SLAC is a proud partner of the "Saving our businesses" ("Salviamo le aziende") project and legal netwok. We have accepted to be a focal point for the Liguria Region of this nationwide effort with a view to provide legal assistance and support to businesses facing unprecedented difficulties in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak and spread.

More information can be found at the dedicated website www.salvareleaziende.it

SLAC continues to operate despite from the novel coronavirus emergency out of its offices in Milan and Genoa.

The majority of legal and paralegal staff are working from home. The premises are attended only in case of strict need and in compliance with all governmental prescriptions.

If you are unable to contact your lawyer please drop a note at genova@slac.it as this email address is continuously monitored.

UPDATE: Since 23 March 2020, due to the stricter rules in force in the Lombardy region, the Milan office is not physically manned and all staff are teleworking.

The firm will be once again listed as the reference firm in Italy for international arbitration in the “Global Law Experts” directory.

The home page of the directory can be visited to learn more. Our profile is also available by clicking here.

After the resignation of its founder, Mr. Peter Munday, as president of Cicero, Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe was elected as a member of the board.

Commenting on his appointment, Lorenzo said: “I hope to be able to contribute to strengthen the position of Cicero as a network of independent law firms which is recognized by the international business community”.

Cicero – League of International Lawyers was recognized by Acquisition International as the best Independent Law Network for 2019.

SLAC has been a proud member for almost 15 years of the network of law firms which nowadays encompasses more than 30 national jurisdictions. Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe has been serving as a member of the board of Cicero since the beginning of 2020.

Please visit here to know more about Cicero.
Please visit here to know more about the award.

The biannual meeting of Cicero – League of International Lawyers, to which SLAC is the only Italian member, was held in Nicosia, on 7-9 November 2019.

The meeting, hosted by our local partners https://www.damianoslaw.com/, marked the occasion for in-depth talks on future collaboration and for the introduction of new member firms.

There you will find information on all member firms, including their special expertise and the cross-border projects in which they are involved.

The publications area will be regularly updated with useful insights on topics of current interest.

Firms from jurisdictions where Cicero is not represented may visit a dedicated section to know more about us.

Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe has been elected to the board of Cicero – League of International Lawyers, the network of law firms of which SLAC is the long-standing exclusive member for Italy. The term of the appointment is of three years.

Lorenzo will join fellow board members Patricia Barclay of Bonaccord (Scotland), Steven Bivacco of Ardent (Belgium) and Fred London of Dunnington Bartholow & Miller (USA).

The fifth edition of the EULoS Ssummer school (European Union and the law of the sea) was held in Genoa starting on 26 August 2019. 15 participants attended from EU and non-EU countries, including Bangladesh, Brazil, China and Japan.

The program featured, among other activities, a visit to the Italian Navy’s Hydrographic Institute and a half-day workshop at the headquarters of the Port Authority for the Western Ligurian Sea, focusing on the topic “EU law and ports: new routes, new routes?” which attracted an overall audience of circa sixty professionals.

Summer school speakers included, in line with previous editions, academics of international standing, international civil servants, high-profile practitioners, Coast Guard and Navy officers.

On 16 July 2019 the Italian “Consiglio di Stato” confirmed the ruling of an Italian lower administrative court in the high-profile Avastin case, after a preliminary reference decision was rendered by the European Court of Justice in 2018.

SLAC (through Giorgio Afferni and Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe) has been involved in advising the consumers association “Altroconsumo” since the early phases of this complex litigation.

A full press release by Altroconsumo is available online.

In May 2019 Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe served as a scientific supervisor for a three-day long national training event for judges in the field of maritime, air and space law offered by the “Scuola Superiore della Magistratura” (the Italian High School for Judges) at their headquarters located in Scandicci (Florence).

The event was organized by Avv. Nicoletta Giorgi, member of the Governing Board of the “Scuola Superiore della Magistratura”.
Speakers included academics, judges, practitioners and officers of the Italian Coast Guard, the Italian Fiscal Police and the Italian Space Agency. The event was attended by circa sixty participants.

The biannual meeting of Cicero – League of International Lawyers was held in Oslo on 30 and 31 May 2019. The meeting was very well attended and a number of new firms were admitted as members, including De Faro Caraciolo of Brazil. Throughout the gathering, members were able to discuss a number of cross-border issues of legal significance, buidling the basis for further co-operation in the future.

The National Flight Safety Agency for Italy (ANSV) published on 15 April 2019 its “Informative Report on the Activities Performed and on the Safety of Civil Aviation in Italy” for 2018. The Report focuses on the achievements of ANSV in the period 1 January – 31 December 2018 and on the general level of safety in civil aviation in Italy, as required by article, par. 4, of EU Regulation No 996/2010. Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe, SLAC partner, is a member of the governing board of ANSV since 2018.

The number of cases completed at the Court of Justice of the EU in 2018 reached the record number of 1.769 compared to some 1.600 in 2016 and 2017, according to a press released published in March 2019. The same source indicated that the total number of new cases brought before the Court of Justice and the General Court altogether was 1.769 confirming an upward trend in recent years. The number of pending cases has, on the contrary, decreased to 2,334 in 2018 compared to 2.420 cases in 2017 and 2.358 cases in 2016.

A conference on “The Future of European Private Law”, convened at King’s College London on 8 February 2019, saw among the speakers Lorenzo Schiano di Pepe, who delivered a presentation on “Names and Other Personal Statuses in EU Law”. The proceedings of the conference are due to be published soon.

In a much awaited judgment rendered on 10 December 2018 upon request for a preliminary reference by the Court of Session (Inner House) of Scotland, the ECJ ruled that Article 50 TEU must be interpreted as meaning that, when a Member State has notified the European Council, in accordance with that Article, of its intention to withdraw from the EU, that article allows that Member State — for as long as a withdrawal agreement concluded between that Member State and the EU has not entered into force or, if no such agreement has been concluded, for as long as the two-year period laid down in Article 50(3) TEU, possibly extended in accordance with that paragraph, has not expired — to revoke that notification unilaterally, in an unequivocal and unconditional manner, by a notice addressed to the European Council in writing, after the Member State concerned has taken the revocation decision in accordance with its constitutional requirements. The purpose of that revocation is to confirm the EU membership of the Member State concerned under terms that are unchanged as regards its status as a Member State, and that revocation brings the withdrawal procedure to an end.

The full judgment can be read here.