Estonian firm Jesse & Kalaus has announced that it has dissolved after three years, with Partner Piret Jesse bringing two members of her team to Sorainen as of June 1 and Tanel Kalaus bringing a separate team to Triniti.

Mari Matjus, a former Partner at Jesse & Kalaus, has joined Nove as an Associate Partner to head the firm's Data Protection, Competition, and Pharmaceuticals practice group.

The European Commission has just published its comprehensive proposal for the so-called "New Deal for Consumers", which aims to strengthen EU consumer rights and enforcement. This includes the proposal for a new Directive enabling certain qualified entities to seek redress on behalf of consumers who have been harmed by an unlawful commercial practice.

While there have been no “tremendous” changes in Estonia recently, according to Hannes Vallikivi, Managing Partner at Derling in Tallinn, the government that came into power in the fall of 2016 has changed the tax system.

TGS Baltic Senior Partner Paul Varul has received Estonia's Guardian of Law award for his contribution to the development of the rule of law in the country as professor and practitioner.

Sorainen has promoted Estonian lawyers Mihkel Miidla and Paul Kunnap and Lithuanian lawyers Augustas Klezys and Mantas Petkevicius to the firm's partnership.

TGS Baltic has announced that Estonian Associate Partners Kadri Kallas and Sander Karson have been promoted to Partner and that Senior Associate Peeter Viirsalu has become Associate Partner.

On January 1, 2018, a new taxation act will enter into force in Estonia – the Entrepreneurial Income Simplified Taxation Act (hereinafter the “Act”). From an IT point of view, the Act will create a new and innovative automatic mechanism for natural persons in the calculation and payment of taxes. The main concept of the Act is that natural persons can set up an entrepreneurial income bank account, where the taxation amount is calculated automatically and transferred to the Tax Authority without the natural person having to physically make or authorize any transfers. However, use of this new account may be limited in practice. 

Senior Associates Tanel Kuun and Tauno Tark have been promoted to partner at Tark.

Women’s Day is behind us, but the subjects of gender equality and equal opportunity are of year-round concern. This, the first part of a special two-part CEE Legal Matters article on women in private practice in CEE, provides the numbers and percentages from leading law firms across CEE, as well as a more thorough snapshot of one representative market. Part II of the report, in the June issue, will pull back the curtain even more, providing feedback and perspectives from lawyers across the region.