Member Profile

Maurizio Lupoi graduated from Rome University School of Law magna cum laude and went on to further studies at Oxford, Cornell and Paris. He then joined the firm his father had founded in the Thirties, of which he is now the Senior Partner: Studio legale Lupoi. In the Eighties the firm opened a branch in New York and Maurizio was admitted to the Bar there as a Foreign Legal Consultant.

In the meantime Maurizio pursued an academic career and was appointed Full Professor at Perugia University. He later moved to Genoa University and taught Comparative Law and Trust Law there until his retirement in 2012. His textbook on trusts was translated and published in English by Cambridge University Press (2000).

Studio legale Lupoi is generally recognised in Italy as the leading firm in trust matters. It appeared before Italy’s Supreme Court in the only case decided so far on the jurisdiction of Italian courts in cases involving trusts formed abroad and attacked by the descendants of the settlor (2014). The Court upheld their claim that the clause in the trust instrument purporting to confer jurisdiction on a foreign court did not apply.

Studio legale Lupoi advises on the formation of trusts in Italy and drafts the relevant instruments. Italian law does not embody the notion of trust, hence all trusts set up by Italians provide for a foreign law as the proper law of the trust. Maurizio Lupoi’s book on the drafting of trust instruments (2nd ed., 2010) is currently used by practitioners throughout Italy.

Although it has offices in Rome, Milan and Genoa, Studio legale Lupoi is a boutique firm that aims at the quality of its services rather than at building a large practice.

Francesca Romana Lupoi in charge of family trusts (Rome) and Alberto Lupoi in charge of financial and commercial trusts (Milan) are the other partners of the firm.