Raffaele Zallone

Raffaele Zallone is the founder of Studio Legale Zallone, a Milan practice concentrated at the meeting point of technology, data and the law. His recognition as Information Technology Law Expert of the Year in Italy at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2026 reflects a distinctive career that combines senior in-house leadership with specialist private practice in one of the fastest-moving fields of modern law.

From corporate legal director to founder

According to the firm, Raffaele Zallone founded Studio Legale Zallone in 1997, following a period as legal director of IBM Italia and a range of managerial and executive positions held in Italy, elsewhere in Europe and in the United States. That grounding in the technology industry is unusual among practising lawyers and shapes the firm's outlook: it approaches IT and data questions not only as legal problems but as business and operational ones, informed by direct experience of how technology companies and their customers actually work.

The firm, based at Via Podgora 1 in Milan, structures its practice around privacy and data protection, IT law, and cybersecurity and emerging technologies. In privacy, it advises on data protection compliance and represents clients in disputes before the Italian data protection authority (the Garante), and it offers data protection officer (DPO) services. In IT law, it supports clients on IT contracts, websites, e-commerce, electronic signatures and related litigation. Its third pillar addresses the legal impact of cybersecurity, artificial intelligence and complex data use and analysis.

Privacy, data protection and emerging technology

Italy applies the EU General Data Protection Regulation alongside its own national data protection code, and the Garante is among the more active supervisory authorities in Europe. Businesses operating in or into Italy therefore face a demanding compliance environment, spanning lawful data processing, cross-border transfers, breach response and, increasingly, the governance of artificial intelligence and large-scale data analytics. A firm that pairs contentious experience before the Garante with day-to-day advisory and DPO work is well positioned to help clients both prevent problems and resolve them when they arise.

Raffaele Zallone's engagement with emerging technology extends beyond client work. The firm notes his membership of LEXING, an international network of technology law firms, and his role in the Support Pool of Experts of the European Data Protection Board since 2022, a body that assists European data protection authorities on complex and novel issues. This kind of institutional involvement places him close to the development of European data protection thinking rather than merely reacting to it.

Academic and thought leadership

The firm also highlights an academic and authorial dimension to his career. It records that he formerly taught IT law at Università Bocconi and is the author of works including a code of IT, internet and privacy law and a contribution on global privacy and security law for Italy, along with further writing on data and digital rights. Teaching and publishing in a field defined by constant change require a practitioner to keep pace with legislative and technological developments and to explain them clearly, both valuable qualities in an adviser.

Recognition at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2026

Information technology law now touches almost every sector, as organisations grapple with data protection, cybersecurity, e-commerce and the rapid rise of artificial intelligence. Advisers who can bridge the technical, commercial and regulatory dimensions of these questions are in high demand. Raffaele Zallone's blend of industry leadership, specialist practice, European-level expert engagement and academic contribution makes him a natural fit for that role. Winning Information Technology Law Expert of the Year in Italy at the Corporate INTL Global Awards 2026 recognises both his individual standing and the focused, forward-looking practice he has built at Studio Legale Zallone.