About

Moving to an in-house legal career after around a decade as an IT and intellectual property rights private practice lawyer, Francesco Paolino currently acts as regional legal lead for Italy and Spain at Avanade, a multinational IT consultancy firm created by a joint venture of Accenture and Microsoft. Operating a small team of legal professionals, Paolino prefers outside counsel that demonstrate a ‘clear understanding of the business’ and take a ‘flexible approach to the different needs of the company’. Since joining the firm Paolino and his colleagues have effectively made the function a ‘trusted pillar for the company business leadership’. In reference to his leadership, one source explains how Paolino ‘embraces the common goal and helps the whole team get there – all while fiercely defending the overall legal safety and security of the organisation as his core responsibility’.