Antonia Verna

Before joining the firm in 2008, Antonia worked in London and Milan at a leading Italian law firm, advising Italian and international clients on transactions in the areas of Mergers and Acquisitions, Private Equity and joint ventures. In particular, she has gained over twenty-five years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, with a strong focus on cross-border transactions. Over the past fifteen years, she has also developed significant experience in Venture Capital and startups.

Antonia is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars on the legal aspects of M&A and Venture Capital transactions. She has authored various articles on the above subject matters, which have appeared in a number of newsletters and online magazines.

She has been selected as a mentor for startups from several programs such as Endeavour, UnicreditStartLab, Boost Heroes, Z-Cube. She cooperates with the NECSTLab of Politecnico of Milan as teacher at the one-year course named “EleMenti d’Impresa”.

Antonia is the only Italian board member of the European Women Lawyers Association (EWLA). She is an officer of the International Bar Association (IBA), member of the IBA D&I Council, and Vice Chair of IBA European Regional Forum. She is also member of the organizing committee of the IBA Startup Annual Conference and will be Co-Chair of the IBA Startup Conference 2026.

In 2025, for the seventh year in a row StartupItalia, the Italian online magazine on innovation and startups, recognized Antonia as one of the “Unstoppable Women” who are changing Italy.

She was involved in drafting the Italian version of the Subscription Agreement for Future Equity, or SAFE (Contratto di Sottoscrizione di Futuro Aumento di Capitale), an agreement template that founders and investors can use in early-stage investments in innovative companies.

Antonia also contributed to the preparation of a sample term sheet for an A round investment and a glossary explaining the main issues and legal clauses in the context of an investment transaction, as well as observations, practical advice and best practices on issues frequently discussed and negotiated between the parties.

Antonia graduated cum laude from the Luiss Guido Carli School of Law in Rome in 1994, and in 1996 she completed a postgraduate specialization course in international business law at the Luiss Guido Carli School Business School. She received a master of laws (LLM) from Temple University, Philadelphia in 2000.

Foreign languages: English

Antonia is a member of the Milan Bar Association (2009002077).