No one signs a commercial contract expecting or wanting a dispute. But a watertight contract with a solid arbitration clause can provide a vital sense of security to the signing parties. In some cases, however, an arbitration clause itself can cause procedural complications that have to be addressed even before a dispute between the parties can begin to be solved.

In this article we provide a brief summary of the Czech dispute resolution landscape, focusing on commercial disputes.

Approximately two and a half years ago, online gambling providers started being sued by their customers, in various courts in Austria and Germany, demanding reimbursement for their losses by arguing that these services are offered illegally. This article will highlight some of the main issues surrounding these claims.

What do you do if your country is invaded, your parents and kids are killed when trying to escape the occupation, your wife is gang-raped, and you are beaten to death because you speak a language the invaders hate? What do you do if the invaders have looted your house, plundered your farm, or taken your factory away from you?

In Bulgaria, one ordinary and two extraordinary parliamentary elections were held in the span of eight months in 2021, and the country is now preparing for yet another extraordinary election on October 2, 2022. Which outstanding legislative packages are critical – considering the absence of regular parliamentary activities – and what are their implications for the country?

On July 5, 2022, Avellum announced it was joining an international team of professionals from Allen & Overy, Morgan Lewis, and Norton Rose Fulbright to establish a legal education scholarship in the name of fallen Ukrainian hero, lawyer, and activist Roman Ratushnyi. CEE Legal Matters sat down with Avellum Partner Maksym Maksymenko to learn more about Roman and the team’s aims and hopes for the Roman Ratushnyi Scholarship.

With the war in Ukraine raging for more than six months, law firms across the region have reported increased workloads in corporate and M&A, tax, employment, immigration law, and inquiries on the sanctions regimes in relevant jurisdictions, noting that companies from Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus are variously looking for a new home. Whether to avoid sanctions or escape the war, those companies consider a variety of factors in determining where to go.

2018 saw the introduction of the Romanian movie production cash rebate system and a subsequent uptick in movie productions seeking to develop in Romania. The ambitiously outlined rebate system seemed quite appealing, initially. However, over the past three years, it failed to live up to its original goals.

The legal landscape has changed remarkably since 2008 when I made the jump from being an in-house lawyer at the Central Bank of Albania to a legal associate at a law firm. At the time, for a lawyer working in two small-sized non-EU countries such as Albania and Kosovo, work was predominantly focused on the local markets, with no or little exposure to international activities. This started to change as the CEE region became more attractive to foreign investors, who were looking at opportunities often spread across several countries. The legal work in M&A, privatization processes, and energy investments often involved teams from various law firms, both in CEE and in Western Europe or the US, and was my gateway to gaining knowledge of the regional market and understanding the space for growth there.

On June 23, 2022, CEE Legal Matters reported that Eversheds Sutherland entered the Bulgarian market by combining with Sofia-based "long-standing relationship firm" Tsvetkova Bebov & Partners. We spoke with the Bulgarian firm’s Co-Managing Partners Irina Tsvetkova and Nikolay Bebov to learn more about the tie-up and their plans going forward.

The QuickLegal online marketplace was launched in 2021 in Romania, aiming to provide answers to legal questions for individuals and small businesses by effortlessly connecting them with relevant lawyers. CEE Legal Matters spoke with two of QuickLegal’s three Co-Founders – Iulia Caizer and Luminita Busuricu – to learn more about their project, progress, and plans.

Hosted by Penkov, Markov & Partners, nine lawyers from Bulgaria – six working in-house and three in private practice – sat down for a round table conversation to discuss the EU Whistleblowing Directive and how it will impact companies in the country.