Category: CEELM PR

Our partners at Yuridicheskaya Practika Publishing have announced that the Ukrainian Law Firms 2017: A Handbook for Foreign Clients has been published.

The Handbook is a unique combination of legislative analyses and in-depth research of the legal services market. 

The fresh publication contains:

• Recent developments and the prospects for the Ukrainian legal services market;

• Monitoring of notable public transactions throughout 2016;

• Review of Ukrainian law by practice areas and industries, carried out by prominent local and international legal counsels;

• National legal directory by practice areas/industries: 18 surveys and 25 rankings.

The research confirmed that the period of stagnation is over. The country has inherently entered economic stabilization with gradual revival of business activity and showing signs of very modest growth. The number of deals has certainly increased.

“Our goal is to produce a landscape of the market across practices and industries, to reveal market segmentation, landmark matters, solutions and existing expertise on the ground, the achievements of both teams and individuals”, said Olga Usenko, chief editor of the Handbook.

Ukrainian Law Firms. A Handbook for Foreign Clients has been published annually in English since 2003 and has acquired the reputation of being a reliable market guide to top law firms and practitioners in Ukraine.

The full version of the printed Handbook will be available on-line shortly at www.ukrainianlawfirms.com

We are excited to announce that the June 2017 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine is out and on its way to subscribers around CEE and the world.

Highlights from the issue, which is already available to subscribers in electronic format, include:

• Editorial: Brevity is the Soul of Wit
• Guest Editorial by Daniel Szabo, South-East Europe Legal Counsel, HPE: In-House and Privileged
• The Summary of Deals 
• The Buzz Across CEE 
• Summary of Lateral Moves and Appointments Across the Region 
• Article: The Spiraling Controversy of Hungary’s Lex CEU
• Face to Face: Wolf Theiss Interviews 3M
• The Corner Office: Your Least Favorite Thing
• Market Spotlight on Poland
• Guest Editorial by Adam Piwakowski, Head of International & Strategy at Kochanski Zieba & Partners: Poland — The Silicon Valley of Europe?
• Tending the Polish Bar: Interview with President of Poland’s National Counsel of Legal Advisors
• Polish Market Snapshots 
• Expat on the Market: Interview with Daniel Cousens of Linklaters
• Inside Out: Advent International Invests in Integer.pl
• Experts Review: Labor & Employment

Subscribers can access the full electronic version of the June 2017 here.

Non-subscribers should contact CEE Legal Matters to correct that egregious shortcoming today!

The 2017 CEE Legal Matters General Summit took place at the Intercontinental Hotel in Warsaw on June 1-2, 2017, once again bringing together well over a hundred General Counsel and Heads of Legal from across Central and Eastern Europe for two full days (and one entertaining evening) of seminars, panel discussions, best practices review, and networking. This year’s event — the third annual, following the 2015 GC Summit in Budapest and the 2016 GC Summit in Istanbul — was the biggest and most successful yet.

The 2017 GC Summit — organized and hosted, as always, by CEE Legal Matters, was sponsored this year by Slaughter & May, Wolf Theiss, CMS, WKB, Vasil Kisil & Partners, PRK Partners, Kocian Solc Balastik, TGS Baltic, and Zuric i Partneri. The Summit was opened with a Day 1 keynote presentation by Judith Gliniecki of CEE Equity Partners, and additional presentations by speakers from Russia, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Greece, and the United States, among others.

“This year’s event was remarkable,” said Radu Cotarcea, the Managing Editor of CEE Legal Matters. “We were delighted to see so many prominent, knowledgeable, and highly-regarded GCs come together, and the presentations and panels were uniformly excellent. Each year’s success only makes us more committed to build upon it the next year.” 

In addition, the Gala Dinner on the first night of the GC Summit featured a special surprise award ceremony for the CEE Legal Matters Market Makers —one senior lawyer from each Central and Eastern European country identified by peers as having played the most influential and significant role in creating his or her country’s commercial legal market. More information on the Market Makers event — including a complete list of all winners — can be found here, and in the special July 2017 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine dedicated to it and to the GC Summit itself.

Next year’s GC Summit will take place in late spring 2018 in Prague. 

On May 31 and June 1, 2017, CEE Legal Matters was proud to host a rare event: A gathering of those senior lawyers from each Central and Eastern European country identified by peers as being most influential, most important, most uniquely responsible for having created the country’s modern commercial legal market.

These individuals — these “Market Makers” — gathered for a special award ceremony held in Warsaw at the Gala Dinner of the 2017 CEE General Counsel Summit and a rare Round Table conversation of the winners, all highly charismatic and influential legal experts who played critical roles in pulling their countries’ legal markets into the modern era.

The Round Table conversation on May 31st was moderated by Partner Jonathan Marks of Slaughter & May — also a Chairman Sponsor of the General Counsel Summit itself.

The Market Makers awards were conceived of and designed by the editors of CEE Legal Matters — the most widely-read source of news and information about the lawyers and legal markets of Central and Eastern Europe — who conducted the year-long research that led to the identification of the winners. 

David Stuckey, Executive Editor of CEE Legal Matters, commented on the night’s events: “Having so many of the most influential, widely-recognized, highly-respected, and outrageously talented lawyers from across Central and Eastern Europe in one room was a special thrill. These lawyers did not just play a passive role in the transformation of their markets — to a large extent they made that transformation happen. In the course of our research in these 22 markets we discovered the Market Makers to be uniformly recognized for their intelligence, commercial instincts, business savvy, and commitment to the countries they live in. And, of course, their success and the reputation they’ve established over many decades is an obvious testament to their abilities, skill, dedication, and commitment to the highest standards of ethical advocacy. We were honored to have them join us last night, and proud to have brought them together for this one special evening.”

The Market Maker award winners were:

• Austria: Andreas Theiss (Partner, Wolf Theiss) 
• Belarus: Liliya Vlasova (Senior Partner, Vlasova, Mikhel & Partners) 
• Bosnia & Herzegovina: Branko Marić (Founding Partner, Marić & Co.) 
• Bulgaria: Borislav Boyanov (Managing Partner, Boyanov & Co.) 
• Croatia: Ratko Žurić (Founding Partner, Žurić i Partneri)
• Czech Republic: Martin Šolc (Partner, Kocián Šolc Balaštík) 
• Estonia: Jüri Raidla (Senior Partner, Ellex Raidla) 
• Hungary: András Szecskay (Managing Partner, Szecskay Attorneys at Law)
• Latvia: Filips Kļaviņš (Managing Partner, Ellex Klavins) 
• Lithuania: Eugenija Sutkienė (Managing Partner (Lithuania), TGS Baltic) 
• Montenegro: Dragan Prelević (Managing Partner, Prelević Law Firm) 
• Poland: Stanisław Sołtysiński (Of Counsel, Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak) 
• Romania: Ion Nestor (Co-Managing Partner, Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen) 
• Serbia: Dragan Karanovic (Founding Partner, Karanović & Nikolić) 
• Ukraine: Vasil I. Kisil (Senior Partner, Vasil Kisil & Partners)  
• Albania: Perparim Kalo (Managing Partner, Kalo & Associates) 
• Greece: John C. Dryllerakis (Managing Senior Partner, Dryllerakis & Associates) 
• Macedonia: Kristijan Polenak (Polenak) 
• Moldova: Alexander Turcan (Managing Partner, Turcan Cazac)
• Russia Andrey Goltsblat (Managing Partner, Goltsblat BLP) 
• Slovakia: Igor Palka 
• Turkey: Fadil Cerrahoğlu (Managing Partner, Cerrahoğlu Law Firm)

More information on the Market Maker event, including a transcript of that rare Round Table conversation and a profile of the award winners, will appear in the special July 2017 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine.

The May 2017 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine is out and already on its way to subscribers around CEE and the world. We assume you’re one of them, and that your hands are itching waiting for its arrival. 

If not … why not? Those subscribers can look forward to such highlights of the issue (which is available here in electronic format) as:

• Editorial: Hello Prague … and Goodbye
• Guest Editorial by Zoltan Faludi, Managing Partner of Wolf Theiss in Budapest
• The Summary of Deals 
• The Buzz Across CEE 
• Summary of Lateral Moves and Appointments Across the Region 
• Article: Maximizing the Match: The Dos and Donts of Working with Legal Recruiters
• Marketing Law Firm Marketing: The Legal Rankings
• Paving the Way: Schoenherr’s Pioneering Payment Services Practice
• Market Spotlight on the Czech Republic
• Guest Editorial from Christian Blatchford, Partner at Kocian Solc Balastik
• Article: Basically Bullish: The Czechs Revel in Good Times
• Czech Market Snapshots 
• Inside Out: Denemo Media’s Acquisition of a 50% Shareholding in FTV Prima from Modern Times Group
• Expert on the Market: Interview with Jeffrey McGehee of Squire Patton Boggs
• Experts Review: Intellectual Property

As always, with the publication of our new issue, the issue from two months prior becomes available to non-subscribers. Accordingly, the March 2017 issue is now available to all. As subscribers have known since March, that issue includes:

• Special Editorial: Calling the Better Angels
• Guest Editorial by Martin Kriz, Partner, PRK Partners
• The Summary of Deals 
• The Buzz Across CEE 
• Summary of Lateral Moves and Appointments Across the Region 
• Article: A Closer Look: Reported Client Matters in CEE
• The Corner Office: Change of Practice
• Market Spotlight on Serbia
• Guest Editorial from Branislav Zivkovic, Founding Partner, Zivkovic Samardzic
• The Fashion of the Day: Balkan Legal Alliances
• The Belgrade Bar: Discord & Dissent 
• Serbian Market Snapshots 
• Inside Out: The EBRD’s RSD-Denominated Bond Issuance
• Expert on the Market: Interview with Anthony O’Connor of Kinstellar
• Experts Review: Compliance

The full electronic version of the March 2017 issue can be found here and the .pdf can be downloaded here.

We are excited to announce that the March 2017 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine is out and on its way to subscribers around CEE and the world.

Highlights from the issue, which is available here in electronic format, include:

• Special Editorial: Calling the Better Angels
• Guest Editorial by Martin Kriz, Partner, PRK Partners
• The Summary of Deals 
• The Buzz Across CEE 
• Summary of Lateral Moves and Appointments Across the Region 
• Article: A Closer Look: Reported Client Matters in CEE
• The Corner Office: Change of Practice
• Market Spotlight on Serbia
• Guest Editorial from Branislav Zivkovic, Founding Partner, Zivkovic Samardzic
• The Fashion of the Day: Balkan Legal Alliances
• The Belgrade Bar: Discord & Dissent 
• Serbian Market Snapshots 
• Inside Out: The EBRD’s RSD-Denominated Bond Issuance
• Experts Review: Compliance

As always, with the publication of our new issue, the issue from two months prior becomes available to non-subscribers. Accordingly, the special January 2017 issue is now available to all. As subscribers already know, that issue includes:

• Special Essays by Uros Ilic of ODI Law, Panagiotis Drakopoulos of Drakopoulos, Mykola Stetsenko of Avellum, and Jean-Francois Marquaire of CMS
• Extended Expert Summit Round Table — Considering an Inconsistent and Threatened Recovery in CEE’s Legal Markets
• Final Summary of Deals for 2016

The full electronic version of the January 2017 issue can be found here and the .pdf can be downloaded here. In addition, that full 2016 list of all deals and client work reported by law firms in CEE is uploaded separately, indexed and fully searchable, here.

White & Case, CMS, and Sorainen are among the top ten law firms in the number of reported projects across CEE last year, according to the comprehensive report that will appear in the March 2017 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine. 

Is one of those firms first? Who else is ranked? What firm reported working on the biggest deals in 2016? What firms worked on the largest number of EUR 1 million+ deals? Who worked on the largest deals in the banking/finance area, the largest bond issuances, the largest M&As? What firms reported working on the most deals in Poland, in Estonia, in Bulgaria, and in every other CEE market? 

Subscribers to the CEE Legal Matters magazine will have the answers to these questions, and more, later this week, when the March issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine is published. If you’re not yet a subscriber, it’s not too late! Register as an Individual or Corporate Subscriber by Tuesday at 5 pm CET to make sure you get your copy of this and every issue of the leading source of news and information for and about lawyers in Central and Eastern Europe. 

We think CEE Legal Matters — don’t you?

We are excited to announce that registration for the 2017 CEE Legal Matters General Counsel Summit, scheduled to take place in Warsaw on June 1-2, is now open. 

The GC Summit brings together legal executives from across the region for two days of meetings, professional development, networking, and fun. The 2015 GC Summit in Budapest and 2016 GC Summit in Istanbul were phenomenal successes — and this year’s event is shaping up to be the best yet, in no small part due to the support of our already confirmed sponsors: Slaughter and May, Wolf Theiss, CMS, Tark Grunte Sutkiene, Vasil Kisil & Partners, and Zuric i Partneri.

If you are interested in attending the Summit, or would like to get involved either as a speaker or sponsor, please let us know by filling in this form. Early Bird Discounts are available for those who register to attend before April 14, 2017. 

More information about the event, including soon-to-come updates to the agenda, can be found on the event website here. 

Help us make it better

You will notice that on the registration form there is an optional box for “Suggested Topics.” So that we can develop a truly added-value agenda for attendees, we are asking delegates to suggest subjects they would like to see addressed at the Summit. Please take a few minutes to help us out by sharing your thoughts.

We are excited to announce that the February 2017 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine is out and on its way to subscribers around CEE and the world.

Highlights from the issue, which is available here in electronic format, include:

• Guest Editorial by Kerem Turunc, Partner, Turunc
• The Summary of Deals 
• The Buzz across CEE 
• Summary of Lateral Moves and Appointments Across the Region 
• Article: London Bridge: CEE Firms Put Feet on the Ground in the UK
• Guest Article: The Bounce-Back: Confidence Returns to CEE’s M&A Markets
• Marketing Law Firm Marketing: Your Favorite Thing
• Market Spotlight on Hungary
• Guest Editorial from Andras Posztl, Country Managing Partner, Horvath & Partners DLA Piper
• Hungarian Round Table: The In-House Perspective
• Interview with Budapest Bar Association President Laszlo Reti
• Hungarian Market Snapshots 
• Inside Out: Oppenheim Facilitates the Messer Group’s Acquisition of Air Liquide’s Hungarian Subsidiary
• Guest Article: Legal Marketing Trends in Hungary
• Expert on the Market: Interview with Anthony O’Connor of Kinstellar
• Interview with Martin Strnad, General Counsel of YSoft
• Face-to-Face: Gabor Orosz, Associate General Counel for Europe at National Instruments Corporation, and Janos Toth, Partner at Wolf Theiss, Hungary
• Pawel Stykowski, Head of Legal at InterRisk, and Vladimira Jicinska, Head of Legal for Czech Republic and Slovakia at AHOLD Czech Republic
• Experts Review: Data Protection in CEE

As always, with the publication of our new issue, the previous issue becomes available to non-subscribers. Accordingly, the December 2016 issue is now available to all. As subscribers already know, that issue includes:

• Guest Editorial by Kostadin Sirleshtov, Partner, Head of Energy, Projects and Construction for CEE, CMS Sofia
• The Summary of Deals
• The Buzz across CEE
• Summary of Lateral Moves and Appointments Across the Region 
• Article: Fighting the Good Fight: Schoenherr Dispute Resolution Team Considers the Rise of ADR Across CEE
• Building Blocks of CEE: The Rise of Regional Austrian Firms Across CEE
• The Corner Office: First Clients 
• Market Spotlights on Poland and Czech Republic
• Guest Editorial from Artur Kulawski, Managing Partner of Linklaters Warsaw, and Alexandr Cesar, Managing Partner of Baker & McKenzie, Poland
• Czech Partner Round Table
• Article: Joining the Judiciary: Wolf Theiss Partner Tomas Rychly Joins Czech Supreme Administrative Court
• Czech Market Snapshots from Rovenska Partners (on Real Estate) and Noerr (on Compliance)
• Polish Market Snapshots from Noerr (on Data Protection and Competition), CMS (on Patent Protection), and Wolf Theiss (on Corporate/M&A and Tax)
• Czech Inside Out: Baker & McKenzie Advises Worldline on Groundbreaking Agreement with Komercni Banka
• Polish Inside Out: KZP Helps Echo Polska Properties Acquire Seven Office Buildings in Poland
• Article: Bigger and Better in Warsaw: DJBW Joins Noerr
• Interviews with Pawel Stykowski, Head of Legal at InterRisk, and Vladimira Jicinska, Head of Legal for Czech Republic and Slovakia at AHOLD Czech Republic
• Experts Review: Dispute Resolution in CEE

The full electronic version of the December 2016 issue can be found here and the .pdf can be downloaded here.