"April showers bring May flowers," American children sing, but this year April also brings the annual special Corporate Counsel Handbook issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine! Thus, while keeping dry under their umbrellas, subscribers to the CEE Legal Matters magazine will be able to enjoy:

Allen & Overy and CMS were the big winners on Thursday night’s CEE Deal of the Year Awards Banquet in Budapest, with Allen & Overy taking home a remarkable ten awards on the night, including the award for Baltic Deal of the Year for its work on Blackstone Group’s acquisition of a majority stake in Luminor, and CMS taking home seven, including the 2018 CEE Deal of the Year for its work on Advent’s Acquisition of Zentiva from Sanofi.

In November 2014, at the conclusion of their publication’s first year of existence, the editors of CEE Legal Matters decided to celebrate by inviting a select number of legal experts from across CEE to join them in Vienna for dinner, drinks, and a rare Round Table conversation on the state of CEE’s legal markets. The event, which took place the next year in Prague, then in Warsaw, and then again in Prague, grew over time, with an ever-growing core group supplemented each year by new friends.

There are only 11 days left until the 2019 Deal of the Year Awards Banquet in Budapest — the largest annual gathering of law firms in Central and Eastern Europe. Tickets remain available for the March 28 event at the Budapest Marriott on the banks of the Danube, but time is running out.

Can you feel it? The bounce in your step? The fresh air in your lungs? The days seeming brighter, longer? Yes, after months of darkness ... the March 2019 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine is here!

Tickets are still available for the 2018 CEE Deal of the Year Awards Banquet, scheduled for Budapest on March 28, 2019 - exactly one month away.

The "Early Bird" discount on tickets to the 2019 Deal of the Year Awards Banquet will expire on Friday, February 15, so those planning on attending the largest annual gathering of law firms in CEE should purchase their tickets soon.

CEE Legal Matters is pleased to announce the finalists for CEE 2018 Deal of the Year in 17 different CEE countries.

CEE Legal Matters is starting 2019 off right, with a special issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine — our first of 2019 — providing unique coverage of the End of Year Party which saw over 70 lawyers come together in Budapest from all over Europe to help CEELM celebrate its fifth anniversary in style. All the reportage, photos, trivia contests, essays, and other bells and whistles are in the issue, available to subscribers (here) now!

We're only hours away from the formal announcement of the final nominees for the CEE Deal of the Year Awards, as the final shortlists from each country will be published on the CEE Legal Matters website at 10:00 AM CET tomorrow morning. 

The CEE 2018 Deal of the Year Shortlists will be announced and published live on the CEE Legal Matters website at 10 am on Wednesday, February 6, 2019.

March 28, 2019, Marriott Hotel, Budapest, Hungary

CEE Legal Matters’ 3rd Annual Budapest Law Firm Bowling Challenge took place in the bowling alley of Budapest’s Mammut Shopping Mall on the evening of January 28, 2019, with teams from 14 of Hungary’s leading law firms competing for the champion’s trophy, and proceeds going to a charity selected by the participants.

Tickets are on sale now for the most important and entertaining annual gathering of lawyers and celebration of lawyering in Central and Eastern Europe: The CEE Legal Matters Annual Banquet and Deal of the Year Awards Ceremony, scheduled for March 28, 2019 in Budapest.

The deadline is now retreating into the past, and the Shortlist Panels are now reviewing and evaluating a record 207 submissions for Deal of the Year Awards. While they complete their assigned task, it's time for you to do yours, and sign up for tickets to the 2019 CEE Legal Matters Annual Banquet and Deal of the Year Awards Ceremony, to be held this year on March 28, 2019, at the Marriott Hotel in Budapest.

One last reminder: Today, January 4, 2019, is the very last day to send in submissions for 2018 CEE Deal of the Year Awards in each CEE jurisdiction.

The presents are unwrapped, the ribbons put away, and the trees are coming down, but the biggest present of 2018 — the CEE Legal Matters Deal of the Year Award — is still out there, still waiting to be claimed at the March 28, 2019 Deal of the Year Awards Banquet in Budapest. 

With 2018 about to come to a close and we're turning our attention to our plans for the next year, here's a quick summary of the articles that you, our readers, turned to most often in this year.