Bruno Cova is co-chair of the Milan office of Paul Hastings.

He focuses his practice on mergers and acquisitions, securities law and corporate governance, energy matters, restructurings and complex cross-border litigation.

Mr. Cova started his career as a private practitioner in Milan and London, and was then general counsel of the exploration & production division of Eni SpA, chief compliance officer of the EBRD, and group general counsel of Fiat SpA. Immediately prior to joining Paul Hastings, he was the chief legal adviser to the commissioner appointed by the Italian government to investigate Europe’s largest financial fraud at Parmalat and to deal with the restructuring of the company.

With international experience leading the legal functions of major global companies and advising top executives on global expansion as well as corporate crisis, he focuses on complex transactions such as acquisitions of distressed companies or of companies impacted by wrongdoing, internal investigations and corporate governance, cross-border disputes and litigation. He regularly acts for international corporations and financial institutions in dealing with legal risks, devising internal controls or contractual mechanisms to minimize those risks, investigating legal and compliance problems, and defending clients before regulatory authorities or in the context of criminal investigations.

Mr. Cova has worked on several very significant energy matters in Italy, north Africa and central Asia.

In the field of M&A, he has been involved in many of the largest Italian deals of the last several years, including several cross-border transactions, and has advised on friendly and hostile takeovers of Italian and foreign public companies.

Mr. Cova attended Università Statale, Milan and King’s College, London.

In 1989, Mr. Cova received the British Council’s "European Young Lawyers Scheme Award". In June 2003, while he was its General Counsel, Fiat Group received the "European In-House Legal Team of the Year Award". In December 2004 he received the "Legal Week Award" for his work for Parmalat.

Mr. Cova was the winner of the ILO Client Choice Awards 2010 - Insolvency & Restructuring category for Italy. He is mentioned in Chambers Global and Legal 500 amongst Italy’s leading lawyers of the restructuring & insolvency, banking and finance, and corporate and M&A sectors.

Mr. Cova was a member of the Council of the Legal Practice Division of the International Bar Association and is a member of the subcommittee on corruption and bribery within the IBA Task Force on extraterritorial jurisdiction.

Mr. Cova is regularly invited to speak on various legal and banking topics related to restructuring, insolvency and internal investigation in Italy and abroad. He is also a contributor to law and economic publications and newspapers.