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Editorial: The Chronicle of Our Own Obsolescence

Editorial: The Chronicle of Our Own Obsolescence

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David’s editorial in our last issue included a brief explanation as to how CEELM came to be, and included the words: “Because CEE as a thing certainly existed.” I am uncertain to what extent that provided an inspiration for it, but ironically in this issue we have two pieces (see pages 4 and 38) that address, more or less directly, the question whether it still exists “as a thing” today.

This CEELM editor thinks it does – but it’s definitely changing. 

I’ve spent the better part of the last six months living out of a suitcase traveling between many of the 24 jurisdictions we cover, during which time I have heard many similar conversations, revealing that many lawyers in the region continue to share similar concerns, opinions, and ideas.

A perfect example is the recent round table in Belgrade (see page 48), where lawyers spoke about the need to create inter-regional alliances within the Balkan region to serve clients, many of whom tend to invest in multiple markets at the same time. This doesn’t just create the element of convergence within the legal sphere they spoke about. It also underlines the sense that the markets themselves, for the most part, are simply too small as stand-alones. The drive, then, is to consolidate an offering sufficient to catch attention by virtue of economy of scale when firms do road shows in London. Lawyers bragging about their “one-stop-shop” capabilities demonstrate their assumption that both clients and UK-based firms that refer work continue to look at the region in bulk.

Another revealing aspect comes from looking at the most notable deals in the past year. Of the 54 deals included in the shortlists for the Deal of the Year Award for the 17 CEE markets that are involved, 39 included cross-border elements and legal advice. Of those, 19 involved more than one CEE jurisdiction. 

It is hardly surprising, then, that our reporting over the last few years has touched on an ever-increasing number of alliances. 

Nonetheless, both of the articles about the existence of CEE I referred to in my first paragraph make a compelling argument that the CEE legal markets have been evolving – and likely will continue to do so – at different speeds, and that the intrinsic cultural bonds between them are becoming blurrier. And the EU further adds to harmonization of the formerly emerging legal markets and those of the West. As an example, from the Czech Republic to Romania to even beyond-the-EU Turkey, one cannot, when talking to firms, avoid hearing about their well-established or new GDPR capabilities.

Still, ultimately, the reality is that the need for some form of consolidation of offering – whether in the form of alliances or actual office openings – is unlikely to go away in the near future. 

So we at CEELM will carry on looking at each CEE country to better understand what makes its legal services industry tick. We’ll continue to enjoy the convenience of being based in Budapest, right in the heart of the region, and we’ll continue to spend as much time on the road ourselves as possible (because who doesn’t prefer a face-to-face cup of coffee?). And ultimately, we’ll continue to look at the CEE region as a whole, both to follow the region’s consolidation but also to report on the evolution of these markets as they inch ever-closer to the West, in the process pushing our brand ever closer to the edge of obsolescence. We’re enjoying the ride. 

This Article was originally published in Issue 5.2 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.

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