Women in Legal Business - Raffaella Quintana

Raffaella Quintana is a partner and Head of White-Collar Crime, Investigation and Compliance at ADVANT Nctm. More than 35 years ago, when she built the first criminal law team inside a large Italian multi-practice firm, she had to make two arguments simultaneously: the legal one and the cultural one. The legal argument was technical. The cultural argument was harder, persuading partners and clients that business criminal law was not a niche for handling emergencies but a fundamental governance discipline, one that belongs in the room where strategy is made, not called in after the damage is done. That argument is now settled. What she continues to build is the architecture around it.

Looking at your career path, what unique leadership trait has been most instrumental in allowing you to "move the needle" within your organization?

The ability to translate technical complexity into strategic language for senior management. Over more than 35 years in practice, I have learned that a business criminal lawyer cannot merely manage risk: she must anticipate it, quantify it, and communicate it to the board in terms of impact on corporate value. When I built the first criminal law team in a large multi-practice firm in the Italian market, the challenge was not only technical but cultural: persuading colleagues from other practice areas, and clients, that business criminal law is not a niche specialisation for handling crises, but a fundamental governance tool. That vision — combining rigorous criminal law expertise with genuine business sensitivity — has defined my leadership and continues to guide the project I am building today.

Reflecting on the past year, what is the most significant positive change you have observed regarding gender equality and female representation within the upper echelons of the Italian legal market?

In 2025 I observed an important qualitative shift: women are no longer simply present at the tables that matter — they are beginning to lead the most sensitive conversations, on reputational risk, corporate crises, and organisational liability. In my practice area, historically dominated by profiles with a judiciary or academic background and largely male, I am seeing a growing number of female colleagues taking on leadership roles in criminal compliance teams. The journey is still incomplete, but the direction is unmistakable. The turning point, in my view, is not so much numerical as substantive: women bring to the top a systemic approach to risk management that the market is finally recognising as a competitive advantage.

How do you personally advocate for the inclusion of more women in high-stakes decision-making?

I do it with data and concrete cases, not with statements of principle. In the contexts where I operate — Supervisory Boards, crisis committees, advisory boards — I have learned that the most effective argument is the quality of decisions: diverse groups identify risks more rapidly and with less cognitive bias. I demonstrate this every time I lead an internal investigation or design a 231 Compliance Model: plurality of perspectives does not slow the process down, it makes it more robust. Moreover, in every firm where I have worked, I have always ensured that female candidates for the most exposed roles are assessed against explicit, transparent criteria. True meritocracy requires clear rules of the game — otherwise, those already at the table will keep winning.

In a sector historically rooted in traditional structures, what is the single most important cultural shift still required to ensure that the Italian legal business becomes a truly meritocratic environment for the next generation of women?

Dismantling the culture of total availability as an implicit measure of professional value. The Italian legal business — and business criminal law in particular, with its sudden emergencies, dawn searches, and files that cannot wait — has built a model of excellence based on permanent on-call availability. This model structurally disadvantages women, not because of any lack of ability, but because of an asymmetry in care responsibilities that society has yet to resolve. The solution is not to ask women to adapt to the model, but to redesign the model itself. Firms that manage to do so — building resilient teams where no one is irreplaceable and where delegation is an act of organisational intelligence — will gain an enormous competitive advantage in the years ahead. I am demonstrating this in the project I am building right now.

Success is rarely a solo journey. How has collaboration with other women (in-house or external) influenced your approach to business, and how are you paying that forward within your team?

Throughout my career I have had the fortune to learn that professional solidarity and acknowledgment of the skills of colleagues is not weakness but a multiplier. Today I invest time with the associates in my team not only for technical training, but to prepare them for the relational and negotiating dynamics that no textbook teaches. I sponsor candidacies — I do not stop at mentoring. There is a fundamental difference between advising someone and putting your reputation on the line for them.

One "hard truth" or piece of advice for young women entering the legal profession today?

Talent is necessary but not sufficient: learn to make it visible. Do not wait for someone to discover you. Build your reputation with the same care you put into building your legal arguments. Choose an area of specialisation where you can become truly authoritative — genuine technical excellence is still the best antidote to discrimination. And above all: never apologise for taking up space. Claim it with determination and with respect, but claim it.