Cesare Rizza is counsel based in the Rome office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. His practice focuses on Italian and EU competition law, including State aid law. He regularly lectures at conferences and is widely published in legal journals. He graduated with honors from the LUISS University of Rome in 1988 and obtained an LL.M. degree from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall) in 1994. From 1997 to 2001 he worked at the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg as legal secretary to late Italian Judge (formerly Advocate-General) A. La Pergola. In 2007 he acted as State aid law advisor for the EC Policy Department of the Office of the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy. Mr. Rizza is member of the Siracusa Bar, Italy.