Taylor Wessing has advised the shareholders of the international Denkstatt Group on its integration with EY in Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia. EY Law reportedly advised EY.

Binder Groesswang, working with Hengeler Mueller and Baer & Karrer, has advised private equity investor Trill Impact on its partnership with cleanroom plastics manufacturer TT Medic.

Kinstellar has advised Dig Ventures on its strategic investment into Czech mobile application security start-up Talsec.

Gessel has advised Cavatina Holding on its bond issuance program, the prospectus recently approved by the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, and its new prospectus-based bond issuance, up to PLN 150 million in value, with issue organizer Noble Securities.

Komarevski Dimitrov & Partners has advised Witte Automotive on its accelerated buy-out of the minority stake in Witte Injection Molding Bulgaria – previously operating as Forez BG – from FH holding. PwC Legal reportedly advised FH Holding.

KWKR Konieczny Wierzbicki and Partners has advised EV charger manufacturer Euroloop on receiving investment from the Orlen VC fund and their resulting strategic partnership in a transaction valued at approximately EUR 5 million. Osborne Clarke advised Orlen VC.

Schoenherr, working with Dorsey & Whitney, has advised building software provider Eleco on the full acquisition of Vertical Digital.

Norton Rose Fulbright, working with Harneys Cyprus, has advised a syndicate of banks on a new multicurrency term loan and revolving credit facility amounting to EUR 730 million for Windstorm Trading & Investments and Zaklady Farmaceutyczne Polpharma. Clifford Chance advised the borrowers.

Wolf Theiss has advised the Arkema Group on its acquisition of a nearly 78% stake in ionic liquid start-up Proionic.

WKB Lawyers has advised Afcon Renewable Energy and EuroEnergy on the financing for the development of a 20-megawatt solar photovoltaic park located in the Boguszyn precinct in southwest Poland. Dentons advised mBank on the PLN 65.7 million credit facilities.

Domokos Neagu Sarbu has successfully represented Alpiq in a tax dispute with the Romanian tax authority in a case that ultimately required the input of the Romanian Supreme Court.

Asters, working with Heuking, has advised Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk football club on organizing its home matches during the UEFA Champions League and Europa League competitions in Hamburg, Germany, as a guest of the Hamburger SV football club.

Havel & Partners has announced it opened an office in Frankfurt am Main on May 1, 2024. The new German office will be managed by former Squire Patton Boggs Partner Philip Smitka.

DLA Piper has promoted Ekaterina Larens to Partner in Austria, effective May 1, 2024.

Former Schoenherr Local Partner Gergely Szaloki has joined Wolf Theiss to co-lead the firm's Banking & Finance in Budapest. 

Turunc's Yasemin Erden – a Partner at the firm for the past two years – has moved to an Of Counsel position within the Istanbul-based outfit. 

LSW Bienkowski, Laskowski, Lesnodorski, Melzacki and Partners has announced it hired eight new partners – Filip Badziak, George Havaris, Marcin Huczkowski, Piotr Leonarski, Krzysztof Marzynski, Adam Piwakowski, Aleksandra Polak, and Piotr Szelenbaum – all coming from B2RLaw, alongside a group of associates, administration, and marketing support.

Lakatos, Koves and Partners has announced Richard Lock is stepping up to become Senior Partner while former Senior Partner Peter Koves becomes Partner Emeritus and Honorary Senior Partner.

Clyde & Co has recently announced that Michal Kalicki, formerly of WKB Lawyers, joined its Warsaw office as a Counsel and the Head of the Banking and Finance team.

Tihana Posavec Vlasic and Marko Mecar have teamed up to launch the Posavec Vlasic & Mecar Joint Law Office in Zagreb.

CMS has appointed Tomas Matejovsky as the new Managing Partner of CMS Prague and Juraj Fuska as the new Managing Partner of CMS (CMNO) in Bratislava, effective May 1, 2024.

Clifford Chance has appointed Milos Felgr as its new Managing Partner of its Prague office, effective May 1.

Former Counsel Michal Synowiec has been promoted to a Partner position in DLA Piper's Warsaw-based Employment Law team.

Former Bondoc si Asociatii Managing Counsel Daniela Gladunea has been appointed to a Partner position with the Bucharest firm in a recent promotion round.

On January 1, 2024, the amendments to the Law on Fees for the Use of Public Goods, published in the Official Gazette of RS No. 92/2023 (“the Law”), came into effect.

This Top 10 Corporate Law Judgments 2023 summary provides a clear and concise overview of key Supreme Court decisions in corporate law for 2023.

As of 1 April 2024, the decree of the Hungarian National Bank on the processing of payment transactions has been amended, which particularly affects the process of immediate transfers.

We continue to deal with court decisions that creatively interpret the provisions of the Labor Law concerning the termination of employment contracts, thereby introducing significant legal uncertainty in practice.

In the ever-evolving landscape of legal technology, two notable players, SauLM-7B, and Harvey AI, have emerged with the aim of revolutionizing legal assistance through artificial intelligence. SauLM-7B and Harvey AI compete for prominence in the legal tech arena, their names both carrying a subtle nod to the realm of popular TV series – from Saul Goodman's legal antics in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul to Harvey Specter's suave maneuvers in Suits.

Recently, Law No 414/2023 on the conduct of representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers (hereinafter Law 414/2023 or the Law), transposing Directive 2020/1828/EU on representative actions for the protection of the collective interests of consumers and repealing Directive 2009/22/EC (hereinafter Directive 2020/1828), entered into force.

Convenience fee is the part of our everyday life that seems to be a usually small but inconvenient price to pay for shopping online. But is it indeed a necessity? The Prosecution Service of Hungary intends to find out exactly that.

Following the development of the EU legislation and reflecting market needs and increasing interest in trading with guarantees of origin, the Bulgaria’s Ministry of Energy adopted new Ordinance No. Е-РД-04-2 of 2 April 2024 on guarantees of origin of energy from renewable sources. The new Ordinance was promulgated in State Gazette No. 32 on 9 April 2024.

As technology advances, it becomes easier and easier to record any conversation. Today, anyone with a smartphone can easily record business meetings - even in secret. There are many reasons for making a secret recording: for some it may be a security measure to avoid disputes, for others it may be an ulterior motive to use it later. But is it legally permissible to make an audio recording in secret? And what are the consequences of using a secretly made audio recording in a civil or criminal case?

On 15 February 2024, the Albanian Parliament adopted law no. 18/2024 “On some amendments and addendums on law no. 155/2015 ‘On gambling in the Republic of Albania’, as amended” (the “Gambling Law”). The amendment overturned a five-year ban on sports betting activities in Albania and entered into force on 27 March 2024.

Based on a Hungarian case, on 14 March 2024 the Court of Justice ruled that the supervisory authority of a Member State, to ensure that the GDPR is fully enforced, may order the erasure of unlawfully processed data even if prior request by the data subject has not been submitted. Such erasure may cover data collected from the affected person and data originating from another source.

The reasoning behind the draft laws not included in the laws those provisions from the EU regulations that can be applied only by the member states of the European Union, as well as those that prescribe obligations only for the member states, is questionable.