Category: Lithuania

Walless has entered into a partnership agreement with Lithuania’s Civil Aviation Association to “collaborate in improving aviation business development in Lithuania.”

In a statement on the Walless website, President of CAViA Joris Gintilas is described as seeing the partnership as “a mutual long-term investment aiming to make civil aviation regulation more effective, as well as creating a better aviation business environment in Lithuania.”

The firm describes itself as being “honored to join CAViA and use [its] knowledge of the law to help the association achieve its goals.”

Former Sorainen Lithuania Head of Employment Jurgita Venckute and former Cobalt Senior Associate Lina Taletaviciute-Misiuniene have joined Averus as Partner in the firm’s Corporate practice and Associate Partner in the firm’s Banking/Finance practice, respectively.

Averus describes Jurgita Venckute as an “acknowledged employment and migration law expert with extensive experience in advising clients on corporate law matters with solid litigation know-how.” She graduated from the Mykolas Romeris University with a Bachelor’s degree in Law and has an LL.M. from the University of Durham. She spent the last four years leading the Venckute & Karnickas law firm, after spending the previous seven with Sorainen.

New Associate Partner Lina Taletaviciute-Misiuniene has over ten years of experience in Banking/Finance. She holds an LL.M. from the Mykolas Romeris University as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration from the Vytauto Diziojoj University. Before joining Averus she spent nine months with Cobalt, one year with Iustum, and ten years with Vialex Baltic. 

Averus Klaipeda Partner Raimondas Kivylius commented that “after the arrival of two new partners with strong backgrounds in finance, employment, and corporate law, Averus becomes an unrivaled leader in Western Lithuania.”

Sorainen, representing Klaipedos Administratoriai, has persuaded the Lithuanian Court of Appeal to rule that a minor creditor cannot initiate the removal of a bankruptcy administrator.

According to Sorainen, in 2012 the Lithuanian Enterprise Bankruptcy Law established the right for a creditor or creditors to petition the court for removal of a bankruptcy administrator if the court-approved creditor’s claim amounts to more than half of the total amount of the creditors’ claims. In the case at hand, the firm reports, the Lithuanian Court of Appeal found that a creditor seeking to remove Klaipedos Administratoriai did not have the right to apply for the administrator’s removal because its claim was less than the minimum amount set by law. According to Sorainen, the newly-created case law “states that a minor creditor cannot initiate removal of bankruptcy administrator.”

According to Sorainen, “the Lithuanian Court of Appeal found that an individual creditor whose claim is less than half the amount of claims approved by the court may not initiate court proceedings for removal of the insolvency administrator for improper performance of duties. Moreover, the court found that if information about the activities of a bankruptcy administrator is submitted by a minor creditor, the court cannot assess it and must terminate proceedings for removal of the bankruptcy administrator.”

The Sorainen team consisted of Partner Kestutis Svirinas, Senior Associate Kazimieras Karpickis, and Associate Ausra Gauryte.

Former Forst LT Associate Vytis Leonavicius has left that firm to join Arcliffe in Vilnius as a partner.

Leonavicius focuses on Corporate M&A, Infrastructure & Projects, Labor & Employment, Reorganization, Restructuring & Insolvency, Competition, and Litigation & Arbitration practices. Arcliffe describes Leonavicius as “an experienced litigator focused on the practical and legal aspects of the clients’ issues,” who has worked on “complex cases in Lithuanian courts of justice and arbitration courts, involving public law disputes, complex fiscal conflicts, bankruptcy and restructuring cases, banking and finance litigation, civil law and property restitution cases.”

Before Joining Forst in June of 2017 he worked for seven years in-house with JSC Lithuanian Railways. He graduated from the Mykolas Romeris University’s Faculty of Law in Vilnius.

Justinas Jarusevicius and Rimantas Daujotas have been promoted to Partner at Motieka & Audzevicius in Vilnius.

According to Motieka & Audzevicius, “the new partners have achieved crucial victories in complex international disputes, and both are unique in terms of their work and academic development.”

“Obviously, together with our new partners, we are also growing as a law firm,” said Partner Ramunas Audzevicius.

Jarusevicius, who joined the the firm’s litigation team in 2008, graduated from Vilniaus University, Kings College in London, and the Harvard Law School. He joined Motieka & Audzevicius in 2008 and has been with the firm since, with a two-year break during his studies in the USA. According to Motieka & Audzevicius, he is currently “the only New York attorney licensed in the Baltics [to have obtained] a Master‘s degree at Harvard Law School.”

Daujotas has a BA in Law from the Mykolo Romerio University in Vilnius, an LLM from the University of Edinburgh, a JD from Vilniaus University, and a Ph.D. from the Queen Mary University. He has been with Motieka & Audzevicius since 2011.

According to Jarusevicius, the increase in the number of dispute resolution partners will allow them to “share responsibilities, increase visibility, and encourage the team to deal with even more complex cases both in Lithuania and abroad.” Daujotas added that the “long-term goal of the firm‘s dispute resolution team is to be the first choice in the event of a complex legal dispute,” especially with “business litigation continuously becoming more complex.”

Sorainen has advised Lords LB Baltic Fund IV on its lease of space in the renovated G9 shopping center in Vilnius to Swedish clothes retail giant H&M, which used the space to house its COS premium segment brand store ‒ the first COS store in Lithuania.

Lords LB Baltic Fund IV acquired the G9 shopping center in 2017.

The Sorainen team consisted of Partner Kestutis Adamonis and Senior Associate Karolis Kunigelis.

Sorainen did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.

TGS Baltic has advised Klaipedos Nafta on negotiations with the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania and the European Commission to change the financing mechanism for the Klaipeda Liquid Natural Gas terminal in Lithuania.

On September 19, 2019, the EC approved the modification of the financing mechanism for the Klaipeda LNG terminal in Lithuania.

According to TGS Baltic, under the 2013 agreement, the leasing costs of the LNG terminal for 2019-2024 period were exclusively financed through a fee levied on Lithuanian gas consumers. According to TGS Baltic, to reduce the financial burden on consumers, Lithuania proposed to replace it with a loan guaranteed by the Lithuanian State. The EC found the proposed measure compatible with the Internal Market and approved the modification.

TGS Baltic did not reply to our inquiries about the deal.

Sorainen’s Lithuanian office has successfully represented Ekonovus in a lawsuit brought by utility company VSA Vilnius, which was seeking to suspend the implementation of a EUR 16.3 million contract for waste transportation in the Vilnius city center.

According to Sorainen, “VSA Vilnius sought to prove that the amount of the bid submitted by Ekonovus was ‒ so they alleged ‒ abnormally low and unreasonable, and that the decision to award the contract to the company should be reversed. However, Vilnius Municipality argued that suspension of the contract with Ekonovus would harm the public interest. The Court of Appeal agreed with the municipality’s arguments and acknowledged that urgent provision of services was important in the public interest.”

The Sorainen team was led by Partner Laurynas Lukosiunas and included Senior Associate Zilvinas Briedis and Associate Domantas Putrius.

Sorainen has successfully persuaded both a first instance court and a court of appeals in Lithuania to dismiss an action for damages brought by a customer and the customer’s insurers against international packaging systems producer Slootweg Machinefabriek.

According to Sorainen, “our client’s customer and its insurers sought to prove that the quality of the product sold by our client was faulty and caused a fire ‒ the total amount of the claim amounted to EUR 420,000. The purchaser claimed compensation to cover the portion of the price paid for the product ‒ which their insurers refused to compensate ‒ and for losses incurred as a result of the fire. The insurance company filed an independent action against our client claiming reimbursement of losses by way of subrogation.”

The Sorainen team consisted of Partner Zygimantas Pacevicius and Associate Ausra Gaurytė.

Glimstedt has assisted an unnamed private investor and the KUB Business Angels Fund II, managed by UAB Business Angels Fund Management UAB, on their agreement to invest approximately EUR 1 million into optical coating company UAB Optonas. Legitus reportedly advised Optonas on the deal.

The Glimstedt team included Managing Partner Linas Sesickas, Partner Arturas Baksys, and Senior Associate Lina Zuboviene.