Fabio Maggesi is a lawyer, founder and managing partner of the international law firm MEPLAW, with offices in Italy, Europe and the United States. Joined the Order of Lawyers of Rome, Maggesi has consolidated its experience in international law, corporate law, leading the study towards a strong vocation to internationalization and legal assistance for Italian companies operating abroad. Alongside his forensic career, he served as Chairman of the Board of ITALIC-US Foundation, an American organization dedicated to promoting Italian culture and entrepreneurship in the United States, promoting economic and cultural relations between the two countries. With a strategic approach and a global vision, Maggesi is a reference figure in the dialogue between Italy and the United States, both on the legal and institutional level. We interviewed him for IlNewyorkese.
How is your professional path born?
I am a lawyer, but not exclusively in the absolute acceptance of the term. Today I am managing partner of my firm, MEPLAW, which over time has become a real legal enterprise. The idea from which everything started is very simple: create a network of Italian professionals worldwide – lawyers, accountants, consultants – who could assist Italian companies abroad, offering a local reference point with the same language and culture. The internationalization project began around 2013, when I started traveling to understand how to connect Italian communities around the world. The first study outside Italy I opened it in London in 2016, with the aim of connecting the Italian communities in England with those in Italy. From there we started opening other locations: today we are in Rome, Milan, Viareggio, London, Valencia, Luxembourg and the United States.
In the United States you have an important presence. How do you structure your business there?
In the USA, the study mainly operates on three jurisdictions: District of Columbia (Washington D.C.), New York and Florida. The goal has always been to become the largest Italian law firm in the world, not in Italy, but in the world. In each country where we open – United Kingdom, United States, Luxembourg, Spain – the team consists of only first-generation Italian professionals. It is an identity choice: we want to assist Italian customers who live abroad by offering them the opportunity to rely on those who speak their language and share their culture. The Italian companies that face the foreign markets find in us a study of trust, with an international structure but with the warmth and understanding of the Italian context. We are about 70 professionals and we can follow in real time the needs of Italian entrepreneurs in the various countries. MEPLAW, born as a boutique studio, today is a consolidated reality. In recent years we have received numerous awards: in 2019 I was awarded at La Borsa di Milano as Lawyer of the Year for Internationalization of the study, MEPLAW entered the List of 100 Professionals of Forbes (in 2022 and 2025) and we received several awards also from Milano Finanza and IlSole24Ore.
From the law firm to the foundation: how was Italic-US born?
The foundation was born as a natural evolution of the course of study. After building an international network for years, we realized that companies often perceived us as an exclusively commercial reality, almost too structured to be approached with simplicity. Hence the idea of creating a philanthropic foundation: Italic-US Foundation. The goal is to support Made in Italy in the world and help Italian companies who want to internationalize but do not know where to start. The foundation is American, not Italian and was incorporated in Washington D.C. as 501(c)(3). It was born to remind Italian companies that our intention is not to promote and support Italian excellence, create connections between Italy and the United States and enhance Italian quality, both in goods and services.
What is the mission of the Foundation and how do you intend to value Made in Italy between Italy and the United States?
Our goal is to connect Italy with America to enhance the territorial product, both in terms of goods and services. Bring in America the best Italy, the one that often has no visibility in the big circuits. With Italicus we want to change this approach: our audience is American and every story we tell will be an opportunity to make known the true Made in Italy in the world. We organize events, exhibitions and artistic initiatives in Italy and the United States, involving artists who are often not known in America.
Because unfortunately — and fortunately — who lives in America for years knows: the message on Italy is still very stereotypical. We are collecting a series of Italian excellences to bring them overseas, with the aim of making them known and appreciated. The message we want to launch is clear: if the Foundation speaks of something, that something is certainly an excellence. For this reason we have established scientific committees and are expanding the team within each committee: are they who identify and select the Italian excellence to be valued. . Our goal is to bring in America a message of authentic excellence, often not spoken of, creating a true fil rouge between Italy and the United States. In Italy we are already organizing events dedicated to art and culture, in which artists and prominent figures from the cultural world perform, with the aim of promoting them in the United States, so that they can be known and recognized even beyond the ocean.
How does the foundation interact with the Italian production fabric?
We actively involve associations, confederations and Italian institutions – from Confindustria to Federterziario – in promotion projects, events and art exhibitions. Many territorial associations have already contacted us: For example, Confindustria Brindisi has proposed to us to select and present in America the most representative companies, to promote the brand and skills of its territory. It is a concrete way to tell Italy authentic and productive. If I had to summarize in three words the DNA of Italy in the world I would say: tradition, art and fashion. Tradition is not only food, but also culture, folklore, territorial diversity: from north to south, each region is a world to itself. And this heritage of differences makes Italy unique. In Italy, we started organizing events that combine law, art and culture, hosted in prestigious locations such as Palazzo Colonna in Rome together with the Artistic Director Michele Crocitto, with the aim that Americans directly ask us how to collaborate with Italian realities of the same value.
What are the next steps of the foundation?
There are many projects for the future, all united by the goal of creating real value and connections between Italy and the United States. Among these, one of the most ambitious is to collaborate with Italian and American educational institutions and universities through the start of courses dedicated to internationalization of enterprise. The idea is to develop a practical and intensive program, a path of a few days in which teachers, tax collectors, lawyers and American entrepreneurs share their direct experience on how to do business in the United States. The Italian students or entrepreneurs themselves would return home with a concrete operational baggage, a real know-how to put into practice in the world of work. With this project, the Foundation aims to strengthen the link between training and enterprise, promoting a new generation of professionals capable of best representing Made in Italy in the global market.
L’articolo Fabio Maggesi: build lasting connections between Italy and the United States with Italic-US Foundation comes from IlNewyorkese.
