Mihai Morar and Mihai Lemnaru have been promoted to Partner positions with Albu Morar.

Former Managing Associate Camelia Patrascu has been promoted to a Partner position with Popovici Nitu Stoica & Asociatii in Bucharest.

Drakopoulos has become a part of the South East Legal Alliance, thus expanding the network’s reach to Athens, Bucharest, and Nicosia.

Dan Minoiu has become a new Deputy Managing Partner at Musat & Asociatii, while Ana Maria Abrudan, Mateea Codreanu, and Stefan Diaconescu have all been promoted to Partner positions.

Wolf Theiss and Balicki Czekanski Gryglewski Lewczuk have advised MidEuropa Partners and Accel-KKR portfolio company Symfonia on its acquisition of Softeh Plus. PwC Legal Romanian affiliate D&B David and Baias advised the shareholders of the Romanian software company.

Filip & Company has advised Fondul Proprietatea on the sale of its minority shareholding in Engie Romania in a transaction exceeding EUR 86 million. Bondoc si Asociatii reportedly advised Engie.

Iasi-based Monica Constantinescu has joined Aptiq Legal in Romania as a Partner. 

Former Managing Associates Cristina de Jonge, Nicolae Ursu, and Iulia Dragomir have been promoted to Equity Partners at BPV Grigorescu Stefanica.

Did you know that while only five lawyers worked on ten or more CEE client matters reported by CEE Legal Matters in 2022, a total of fourteen lawyers reached that level in 2023? The 2023 leaderboard was led by Milos Felgr of Clifford Chance in Prague, who worked on a remarkable 20 CEELM-reported client matters last year, with Alper Onar of Istanbul’s Aksan Law Firm, who worked on 19, close behind. Fellow Turk Kerem Turunc, the Managing Partner of Turunc, worked on 17 reported deals, while Djordje Nikolic of NKO Partners in Belgrade worked on 16, and Tomasz Rogalski of Norton Rose Fulbright in Warsaw worked on 15.

Over this winter season, Romania has seen substantial legal changes to various aspects of its wider legal framework – from FDI and competition to consumer protection and taxation – according to Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen Partner Alina Radu.

On January 4, 2024, Boyanov & Co announced that the EUR 1.4 billion sale of Cargo-Partner subsidiaries to Nippon Express (reported by CEE Legal Matters on May 17, 2023) had closed.

Kinstellar, working with Linklaters' Madrid office, has advised a consortium of lenders on their EUR 800 million financing for AmRest. Uria Menendez reportedly advised AmRest.

Firon Bar-Nir has advised David Shmuely on the development of a Bucharest residential project through a partnership with a Turkish real estate developer.

In a significant development, a provisional agreement between the Council presidency and the European Parliament has set the stage for a proposed EU law targeting businesses involved in waste generation, operation, or disposal. The agreement, which took place late last year, reflects a commitment to stricter penalties for environmental crimes, doubling the number of offences from the soon-to-be-replaced Directive 2008/99/EC.

Stalfort Energy & Environmental Practice Group Coordinator Laura Neacsu has been promoted to a Partner position with the firm.

Former Counsels Andrei Croitoru and Iustina Oblu have been appointed as Partners with Act Botezatu Estrade Partners.

In The Corner Office, we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. With 2023 marching to an end, we looked ahead and asked about strategies for next year: As the budgeting period is around the corner, compared to 2023, what are the main budgeting lines you expect to increase for 2024 and why?

The VAT deduction right is probably the most important topic in the VAT system of the European Union. This is also confirmed by the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union, where it represents the most addressed subject.