Paola Leocani

Paola heads the Debt Capital Markets group in the Milan office. She has more than 20 years' experience in advising Italian and international clients, corporate, financial institutions and banks, sovereign and supranational entities, on securities transactions and regulatory matters related to debt issuances with a particular focus on debuts, and first-of-its-kind transactions. This has led her to advise numerous Italian issuers on their debuts on the Eurobond market as well as on the Italian retail market, on several pilot deals such as recently the first green bond issued by FS, the first Project Bond issued by an Italian Company as well as the first and only Neutral non-dilutive Equity Linked issued in Italy.

She is often quoted as a securities law expert in the International and financial press (Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, IFLR, Il Sole24Ore and Milano Finanza to mention a few).

Paola regularly consults with key players in the Italian market, including the Italian Stock Exchange, the Italian Securities and Exchange Commission (CONSOB), the Bank of Italy, the Italian Government and a range of influential industry associations. She had an important role in the process that brought the approval of crucial capital markets reforms, such as those allowing unlisted companies to issue bonds directly through a favourable corporate and tax regime.

Paola has been the only legal practitioner promoting the reform of liability management transactions in Italy and was involved in the preparation of the CONSOB Issuers Regulation regarding these transactions. as well as, more recently, the green and sustainable bonds reform which is still in progress.

Paola is an expert in green and sustainable finance, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues.

Paola got a Ph.D. at the Catholic University of Milan where she is a lecturer on Civil Law, Tort and Contractual Liability.