In March of 2019, relative unknown Zuzana Caputova won the Slovakian Presidential election, becoming the first woman and – at 45 – the youngest person ever to hold that office. With a background as an environmental lawyer and human rights activist, Caputova is largely viewed in Slovakia as a unifier, taking strong and reasonable approaches to even apparently intractable problems. Her success has inspired a degree of hope for the future from her former peers and colleagues in Slovakia’s legal community.
Guest Editorial: M&A Market in Slovakia Following COVID-19
When I was asked some time age to write an editorial for CEE Legal Matters on the Slovak legal market I thought it would be a nice opportunity to review my last 20 years, approaching the end of another very successful financial year.
Advancing Avellum
In 2009, deep in the throes of the global financial crisis, Mykola Stetsenko, a partner at Baker & McKenzie in Kyiv, stepped away from that secure position to start his own law firm. His ambitious move paid off, and now, eleven years later, the firm he launched – Avellum – is among the most successful and highly regarded in Ukraine.
Guest Editorial: Crises And the Ukrainian Legal Market
The many crises that have arisen during the more than twenty years of my legal practice show that, if you remain professional, you will be in demand regardless of the market or jurisdiction in which you practice.
Marketing Law Firm Marketing: Childhood Dreams
We decided to lighten the mood this time around by asking our Law Firm Marketing experts from across the region a non-law-firm related question: “What did you most want to be when you were little?”
A Hungarian Life In Focus
A CEELM Profile of Daniel Szabo, Central Europe Team Lead at Hewlett Packard Enterprise in Budapest.
The Big Deal: Interview with CMS’s Eva Talmacsi About OTP/Societe Generale Acquisitions
Over the past few years CMS advised the OTP Bank Group on an extensive series of acquisitions across Bulgaria, Moldova, and former Yugoslavia. This series of separate deals was shortlisted for CEE Legal Matters’ CEE Deal of the Year in each of the countries involved, actually winning the 2018 Deal of the Year for Bulgaria and the 2019 Deal of the Year Award for Montenegro. We reached out to Eva Talmacsi, who led CMS’s multi-jurisdictional team, to learn more about the firm’s impressive work on OTP’s behalf.
Raising The Bar: Hungary’s New CLE Requirements for Lawyers
On January 1st, 2020, the Hungarian government adopted new legislation making continuing professional education compulsory for lawyers, post-qualification, along the lines of post-certification training and education that tax advisors and accountants had been forced to obtain for many years.
Guest Editorial: Massive Open Pro Bono
The Spring of 2020 brought the pandemic to CEE, with its “perfect storm” of ingredients – including significant legal ramifications. Whether you are an individual, a business, or a governmental official, the storm made you ask at least one of these questions: “What are my rights in pre-existing contract?”, “Am I still bound to pay?”, “Can I get my money back?”, “Will I be liable for this?”, and “What legislation is needed to help ease the impact on the public?”
Deal Expanded: Extreme Digital/eMAG Merger
Allen & Overy Counsel Balazs Sahin-Toth Talks About the Deal of the Year in Hungary
Deal Expanded: Duet Private Equity’s Acquisition of Red Union Fenosa SA and Gas Natural Fenosa Furnizare Energie SRL from Naturgy Inversiones Internacionales SA
ACI Partners’ Igor Odobescu Interviews Duet Private Equity Limited Operating Partner Boris Salas, about the Deal of the Year in Moldova
Deal Expanded: United Group’s Acquisition of Tele2 Croatia from Tele2 AB
Schoenherr Partner Alexander Popp in Austria and Attorney at Law Ivan Einwalter in Croatia talk about the CEE 2019 Deal of the Year in Croatia
Deal Expanded: United Group’s Acquisition of Vivacom Bulgaria
Schoenherr Partners Ilko Stoyanov in Bulgaria and Slaven Moravcevic in Serbia Talk About The Deal of the Year in Bulgaria
The Big 4: An Emerging Alternative in Austria
The move by the Big 4 firms – Deloitte, KPMG, EY, and PwC – to capitalize on their client lists and their multi-disciplinary capabilities by extending the ability of their legal arms to compete with traditional law firms is by now well-established. In Austria, their legal arms have begun competing aggressively for talent as well.
Guest Editorial: The Ever-Changing Legal Market
Everybody talks about the speed at which life moves in our globalized world. And the Austrian legal market isn’t evolving more slowly – so keep up the pace!
Tapping Capital: Sources of and Problems with Financing in the Hungarian Market
The Hungarian financial market finished 2019 in a strong position. Intrigued by what many have described as a “special” year, CEE Legal Matters sat down with several of the nation’s leading Banking/Finance lawyers at Lakatos, Koves & Partners’ offices in Budapest to learn more.
Guest Editorial: Triple Bottomline Impact – Time to Change
Sounds frightening, huh? When I first encountered this expression a couple of years ago, I thought it was one of those buzzwords that had been created by accountants or other financial wizards to tackle invasively curious tax administration people. “Bottomline” also sounded familiar: that is the very last figure in your financial statements; the one that interests you the most.
Volodymyr Zelensky: Servant of the People?
Before being elected President of Ukraine last May, Volodymyr Zelensky had virtually no experience in public office. Despite his inexperience – or perhaps because of it – over 73% of the electorate concluded that the comedian and entertainer was the right man to replace Petro Poroshenko, the previous President, and now Zelensky finds himself, at 41, leading an entire nation.