Few global industries have been as strongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as the hotel industry. All over the world, chains and bespoke hoteliers have had to face the impact of travel restrictions on bookings, in most cases leading to dire falls in occupancy rates and, subsequently, income. Now that the pandemic has been wreaking havoc for over a year, how is the hotel industry in CEE coping, and what options do hoteliers have? We spoke with three CMS Partners – Ana Radnev, Gregor Famira, and Lukas Hejduk – to get their opinions on the current situation and outlook on the future of the sector.

Doru Toma, Project Manager of Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Leaders for Justice program, provides insight into the program’s values, goals, and structure.

EY Law’s Bogdan Malniev Interviews the Head of the PPP Unit of the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Taras Boichuk, on the 2020 Deal of the Year in Ukraine. 

Kabine Law Office’s Tuvan Yalim, Gulce Keskin, and Ozgecan Korkmaz Talk About The Deal of the Year in Turkey.

RTPR’s Costin Taracila Talks About The Deal of the Year in Romania.

DLA Piper’s Andras Nemescsoi and Gabor Molnar Talk About The Deal of the Year in Hungary.

CMS’s Lukas Janicek and Robert Gray Talk About The Deal of the Year in The Czech Republic.

Savoric & Partners’ Boris Savoric and Lovro Gasparac Talk About The Deal of the Year in Croatia.

CMS’s Kostadin Sirleshtov and Atanas Bangachev Talk About The Deal of the Year in Bulgaria.

Schoenherr’s Alexandra Doytchinova and Stefana Tsekova Talk About The Deal of the Year in Bulgaria.

Last week, Illia Salei of Borovtsov & Salei announced that he "was forced to leave Belarus where [he stands] to be prosecuted under Article 361 of Belarusian Criminal Code for the alleged appeals to actions aimed at harming the national security." He added: "I consider the case to be politically motivated." CEE Legal Matters spoke to Salei to learn more about the matter.

On March 5, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Schoenherr had advised Fintur Holdings B.V. on its USD 31.5 million sale of its 100% holding of Moldcell S.A., to CG Cell Technologies DAC. Gladei & Partners advised CG Cell Technologies. We spoke to Vladimir Iurkovski at Schoenherr and Roger Gladei at Gladei & Partners for more information about the deal.

An interview with Gianluca Carlesso of The Carlesso Law Firm, about his path from Italy to Romania.

On November 20, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that BDK Advokati, working alongside Sweden’s Gernandt & Danielsson Advokatbyra, had advised Embracer Group AB on its acquisition of all issued shares of Mad Head Games d.o.o., a game development studio from Novi Sad, Serbia. SunjkaLaw advised Mad Head Games shareholders Nenad Tomic, Uros Banjesevic, and Aleksa Todorovic on the deal.

An interview with Marcell Nemeth of Wolf Theiss, about his path from Budapest to Vienna.

On September 22, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Kinstellar’s Bratislava office had advised E.ON on its acquisition of a 49% stake in electric utility Vychodoslovenska Energetika Holding from the German electric utilities provider RWE. We reached out to Kinstellar Partner Viliam Mysicka for more information about the deal.

An interview with Ted Boone of Dentons, about his path to Hungary.

On February 8, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Oliver Koppany and Csaba Rusznak had joined KNP Law Nagy-Koppany Lencs & Partners in Budapest. Rusznak will lead the firm’s Dispute Resolution Practice Group, while Koppany, who joined as Foreign Legal Counsel, is preparing to take over the management of the firm from his mother, KNP Law Founder and Managing Partner Kornelia Nagy-Koppany. We spoke with Koppany and Rusznak to learn more about their background and plans for the future.