"Albania right now has a loaded political and economic situation,” says A.R.S. Legal & Financial Services Manager and Attorney at Law Elisabeta Nezaj, "considering the earthquake that hits on November 26th." That 6.4-magnitude earthquake that hit northwestern Albania was felt mainly in Durres and Tirana and as far away as Taranto and Belgrade, ultimately killing 51 people in the country — making it the world’s deadliest earthquake in 2019 — and causing massive damage to homes and infrastructure. According to her, "all government bodies are focused on providing help for the people who suffered from this event, and we are taking support from other governments to reconstruct the buildings that were damaged.”

Albania's A.R.S. Legal & Financial Services has become the "partner office" of Cabinet Stoyanovitch Avocats, a member of the Justinian Lawyers network.

Former Wolf Theiss Poland Co-Managing Partner Ron Given has joined Deloitte Legal as its CE Senior Legal Counsel, responsible for all of the firm’s offices in 19 Central and Eastern European countries.

A.R.S Legal & Financial Services has become the official "advisory office" of the French Embassy in Albania and will provide legal and financial assistance in matters related to the embassy.

During the last decade, Albania has undertaken several initiatives to liberalize the electric energy sector and increase local generation capacities. Such measures have created a lively market, especially in the renewal energy segment.

After almost a century of reclusion, Albania has achieved formal candidate status to join the 28 member states in the European Union. Is the time finally right?

“Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?” the Cravath partner in New York asked after fifteen or so minutes, thereby signaling that the interview was coming to an end, expecting to hear the standard reply emphasizing the applicant’s desire to work hard if offered the position. “Home,” I replied. “In Albania.”

The fiscal aspects of the hydrocarbon sector in Albania will be soon governed by a new law. The new draft “On the Fiscal Regime for Petroleum Operations” law (the “New Draft Law”) was initially published in the Electronic Register of Public Announcement and Consultations on April 4, 2019 and has been circulated for comment among stakeholders, chambers of commerce, and experts’ associations in Albania.

The Tirana office of Wolf Theiss has advised the European Investment Fund on its EUR 25 million loan to Albania's Alpha Bank.

Sabina Lalaj, who has led Deloitte Legal in Albania and Kosovo since 2015, has been promoted to Local Legal Partner at the firm.

“The political situation in Albania is currently overcharged,” says Wolf Theiss Partner Sokol Nako, commenting on the opposition’s decision to leave the parliament earlier this year, which led to widespread protests.

Bojovic Draskovic Popovic & Partners and the other members of the South East Legal Alliance have become official partners of Italy's Grimaldi Alliance.

Tonucci & Partners advised Union Bank on the acquisition of the International Commercial Bank in Albania, and Wolf Theiss provided legal advice to Union Bank during the regulatory approval phase.

Kalo & Associates has advised the YURA Corporation, a South Korean auto-supplier, on launching the first stage of the operation of its plant on a 4.9 hectare site near Fier, in southwest Albania.

Law firm members of the SEE Legal Group, acting on behalf of Netlog Logistics, have completed a due diligence analysis of the Intereuropa group of companies, upon the announcement of a banking consortium that it is selling 72% share capital in Intereuropa d.d.

Kalo & Associates and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, both acting on behalf of the Republic of Albania, have persuaded an ICSID arbitral panel to dismiss a case brought by the Anglo-Adriatic Investment Fund, which was claiming about EUR 220 million for foreign investment expropriation.

Boyanov & Co., Kalo & Associates, and Hugh Owen of Go2Law have advised Albania Telecom Invest, a joint venture of entrepreneurs Spas Roussev and Elvin Guri, on its EUR 50 million acquisition of Telekom Albania from OTE (Deutsche Telekom). White & Case and Wolf Theiss advised the sellers on the deal, which remains subject to closing conditions, including the approval by the competent local authorities and financing, and is expected to be completed within the first half of 2019.

“Nothing really big is happening at the moment,” says Anisa Rrumbullaku, Partner at CR Partners in Tirana. "Not much has happened recently — it’s been pretty stable for the past three months.”