Paola
Leocani

Paola heads the Debt Capital Markets group in the Milan office. She has almost 30 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.

Paola was named amongst the top 10 innovative individuals in Europe in the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers report 2018.

She is regularly ranked as one of the most outstanding lawyers in her field since partner promotion in 2007 by major legal directories including The Legal 500 (Hall of Fame, the most exclusive category) and Chambers Europe/Global (Band 1), which respectively reported that “she is a brilliant lawyer, who is exceptional in terms of know-how, experience and innovation, and even for managing to anticipate market trends. She is the best legal DCM professional around and is very technically prepared notwithstanding being innovative like no other”, “she has great awareness of commercial needs, which means that she is able to provide effective and client-oriented advice”, is “an excellent debt capital markets lawyer” and “she handles a variety of matters including retail bond issues and liability management transactions”. She is “excellent on the theoretical side but also has practical experience in dealing with the topic”, “regularly advises on high-profile mandates” and “she is pretty much leading the market”. She is also ranked as “Market Leader” by IFLR1000.

Paola has been recognized amongst the “Top 50 inspiring women in the legal sector in Italy” for 2025, 2024 and 2023 according to Legalcommunity.it and Inhousecommunity.it. She has been also included in the list of the “Best 50 lawyers in Italy” published by Legalcommunity in 2023. As reported by the magazine, “she is the queen of Debt Capital Markets in Italy”. In addition, she received the “Special Jury Prize Award for Innovation” by Legalcommunity and is named in the IFLR1000 Women Leaders 2022.

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.