Category: Did You Know?

On the occasion of this year’s recent Deal of the Year Awards Banquet and GC Summit in Warsaw, did you know that, according to the Activity Rankings feature of the CEELMDirect website, partners of pan-Baltic law firms dominated the list of the ten lawyers who worked on the most client matters reported by CEE Legal Matters in the first decade of its existence?

In fact, five of the ten lawyers on top of the list of lawyers who worked on client matters reported by CEELM from December 1, 2013, through December 1, 2023, are based in the Baltics, including Cobalt Estonia’s Kristel Raidla-Talur, who worked on an amazing 75 client matters, putting her in first place. Sorainen Estonia’s Toomas Prangli, who worked on 71 client matters reported by CEELM in that time, wasn’t far behind.

Sorainen Lithuania’s Mantas Petkevicius, who worked on 62 client matters reported by CEE Legal Matters from 2013 to 2023 is tied for third place with Avellum’s Glib Bondar in Ukraine, making him the first non-Baltic lawyer on the list.

Clifford Chance Warsaw Partner Andrzej Stosio, who worked on 61 CEELM-reported client matters between 2013 and 2023, is in fifth place on the list, and the Turunc law firm’s Kerem Turunc, who worked on 53 over that time, is in sixth. Seventh place is held by White & Case Warsaw Partner Marcin Studniarek, who worked on 52 CEELM-reported client matters in the first decade of its existence, and eighth place is held by CMS Bulgaria’s Kostadin Sirleshtov, who worked on 51. Sorainen Latvia’s Eva Berlaus and Cobalt Estonia’s Peeter Kutman, both of whom worked on 50, rounded out the top ten. (BDK Advokati’s Vladimir Dasic, who worked on 49 CEELM-reported client matters in those ten years, finished 11th).

Want to learn more about what other lawyers are on that ten-year leaderboard, or explore the leaderboards in specific practice areas? Just visit the Activity Rankings section of the CEELMDirect website – the world’s only truly dynamic legal directory – and find out for yourself!

Did you know that, according to the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, of the 88 law firm partners who have reported working on disputes in CEE over the past 12 months, only nine have reported working on more than one?

Litigation is an under-reported practice area, in large part as, generally, only the attorneys who win for their clients choose to report their work. In this context, it is perhaps particularly impressive that nine lawyers have reported working on multiple litigation matters since April 2023.

That group is led by CMS’s Kostadin Sirleshtov and Sayenko Kharenko’s Yaroslav Ognevyuk, both of whom reported working on four disputes concluded over the past year. Sirleshtov has been particularly busy in 2024, in fact, as three of the four disputes he’s worked on over the past 12 months were reported in the first three months of 2024.

Bogdan Gecic of Gecic Law, who has worked on three matters in the past twelve months (including two reported so far in 2024), is close behind in third place.

A total of six lawyers have reported working on two litigation matters over the past twelve months: Asters’ Julia Semeniy, Zivkovic Samardzic’s Kruna Savovic, Baker McKenzie’s Marcin Trepka, Ilyashev & Partners’ Mikhail Ilyashev, Gecic Law’s Ognjen Colic, and Cobalt’s Sandija Novicka.

Did you know you can learn more about which matters these litigation leaders have worked on, or explore the leaderboards in other practice areas, by yourself? Just visit the Activity Rankings section of the CEELMDirect website – the world’s only truly dynamic legal directory – and find out for yourself!

Did you know that the CEE Q1 leaderboards are available through the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website?

The overall 2024 leaderboard is topped by Schoenherr, which has worked on 20 client matters reported by CEE Legal Matters across the region so far this year, and CMS close behind with 19. Allen & Overy is in third place with 17, and Clifford Chance and Dentons are tied for fourth place with 16. As far as individual lawyers go, Kerem Turunc of Turkiye’s Turunc Law Firm worked on 10 reported client matters in Q1 of 2024, the most of any lawyer in the region, with Miroslaw Fialek of Poland’s MFW Fialek, who worked on nine, close behind in second place.

Unsurprisingly, Schoenherr, which has worked on eight Austrian client matters, leads the pack in that country, with Binder Groesswang in second place with five. Schoenherr also worked on four reported Hungarian client matters in the first three months of 2024, putting it in first place in that country as well, with CMS, which has worked on two, in second place.

Maric & Co, which has worked on two reported client matters in Bosnia & Herzegovina, is in first place in that country, with nine other firms all having worked on one BiH deal.

The Bulgarian leaderboard is led by Djingov, Gouginsky, Kyutchukov & Velichkov, which has worked on five reported client matters, with two firms – CMS and Wolf Theiss – tied for second place with three.

Savoric & Partners, which worked on three reported client matters in Q1 2024, is in first place in Croatia, with BDV, DTB, and Vukmir & Associates all tied for second place with two.

Working on five reported client deals in Q1 2024 puts CMS in first place in the Czech Republic, with Havel & Partners, Kinstellar, Kocian Solc Balastik, and White & Case, all of which worked on four, tied for second.

In the Baltics, TGS Baltic leads the Estonian leaderboard with four reported client matters (with Rask in second place with two), the Latvian leaderboard with seven (with Rask in second place with two), and the Lithuanian leaderboard with five (with Ellex in second place with four).

Papapolitis & Papapolitis is atop the 2024 Greek leaderboard after three months with four reported client matters, with Bernitsas, Kyriakides Georgopoulos, and Zepos & Yannopoulos tied for second with three.

Gecic Law, Allen & Overy, and Deloitte Legal all worked on the only reported client matter in Kosovo this year, tying them atop the leaderboard in that country.

We’ll finish our review of the Q1 leaderboards across CEE next week. In the meantime, did you know that time is running out to buy tickets to the 2024 CEE Deal of the Year Awards Banquet, to be held on April 25 in Warsaw? The attendee list is already impressive – can you afford to skip the can’t-miss social and networking event of the season?

Remember, to learn more about the leaderboards across CEE, visit the Activity Rankings section of the CEELMDirect website – the world’s only truly dynamic legal directory – and find out for yourself!

Did you know that the early 2024 deal leaderboards are already available via the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website?

In Austria, the two-month leaderboard is led by Binder Groesswang and Schoenherr, both of which have reported working on four completed client matters. Schoenherr’s Marco Thorbauer, who has worked on two deals reported this year, is the only partner to have worked on more than one.

In Bosnia & Herzegovina, Maric & Co., which worked on two, is the only firm to have worked on multiple client matters reported in 2024, and no lawyers from the country have reported working on more than one. Nine law firms have worked on one reported completed 2024 client matter.

In Bulgaria, Djingov Gouginsky Kyutchukov & Velichkov, which has worked on four reported client matters so far this year, leads the way, while CMS is close behind with three. CMS’s Kostadin Sirleshtov, with three, is the only lawyer in the country to have worked on multiple reported client matters so far.

Savoric & Partners, which has worked on three reported client matters, and Divjak Topic Bahtijarevic & Krka, which has worked on two, are the only firms in Croatia to have worked on multiple reported client matters so far this year. Savoric & Partners’ Nina Radic Kuzik, who has worked on all of the matters reported by her firm, is the only lawyer in the country to have worked on multiple reported deals.

The Czech leaderboard is headed by Havel & Partners and White & Case, both of which have worked on four reported client matters so far this year. CMS’s Helen Rodwell, The Evan Law Firm’s Jan Evan, and Havel & Partners’ Vaclav Audes are all reported to have worked on two client matters in 2024.

In Estonia, TGS Baltic, which has worked on three client matters reported by CEE Legal Matters, leads the way, while Rask has worked on two. TGS Baltic’s Andra Rubene, Kadri Kallas, and Triinu Jarviste, each of whom has worked on two client matters reported by CEE Legal Matters so far this year, are the only lawyers in the country to have done so.

In Greece, Bernitsas and Kyriakides Georgopoulos, both of which have worked on three client matters reported this year, are tied atop the leaderboard, and Bernitsas’s Nikos Papachristopoulos, who worked on two of his firm’s three reported deals, is the only lawyer in the country reported to have worked on more than one.

In Hungary both CMS and Schoenherr have worked on two reported client matters so far this year, and no lawyers in the country reported working on more than one.

Meanwhile, Clifford Chance, Deloitte Legal, and Gecic Law have all worked on one reported 2024 client matter in Kosovo, and no lawyers have worked on more than one deal in that country either.

TGS Baltic (with six) and Cobalt (with five) lead CEELM’s 2024 Latvian leaderboard. Cobalt’s Dace Silava-Tomsone, who has worked on three client matters reported by CEE Legal Matters in Latvia so far this year, leads the way for partners, while her Cobalt colleagues Gatis Flinters and Sandija Novicka and TGS Baltic’s Triinu Jarviste have all worked on two.

CEE Legal Matters’ Lithuanian leaderboard is led by TGS Baltic as well, which has worked on four client matters reported by CEELM so far this year, giving that firm the Baltic trifecta, although Ellex, which has worked on three Lithuanian client matters reported by CEELM so far this year, is close behind. While no lawyers in the country are reported by CEELM to have worked on multiple completed client matters in 2024, the website has identified a total of 21 lawyers who reported working on one.

Only one deal has been reported involving both North Macedonia and Montenegro, and it involved eight firms, with five lawyers being identified as having worked on it. Needless to say, no lawyers in either jurisdiction have worked on more than one reported client matter.

In Poland, Rymarz Zdort Maruta leads the way with nine client matters reported in 2024, and MFW Fialek is close behind with eight. Miroslaw Fialek himself has worked on seven completed client matters so far this year, and CK Legal’s Wojciech Chabasiewicz has worked on five.

Schoenherr heads the Romanian leaderboard with four completed client matters so far this year, and Filip & Co. and RTPR are close behind with three. RTPR’s prolific Roxana Ionescu has worked on three reported client matters in 2024 – more than any other Romanian lawyer – while Filip & Co.’s Alexandru Birsan and Cristina Filip, BSMP Bohalteanu & Asociatii’s Ionut Bohalteanu, and Schoenherr’s Monica Cojocaru have all worked on two.

In Serbia, Gecic Law and NKO Partners, both of which have worked on three 2024-reported client matters, are tied for first place. NKO Partners’ Djordje Nikolic, who has worked on all three of his firm’s reported client matters so far this year, is in first place among partners, with AP Legal’s Aleksandar Preradovic and Gecic Law’s Bogdan Gecic tied for second place with two.

The 2024 Slovakian leaderboard is topped so far by Dentons, Eversheds Sutherland, Havel & Partners, and Nedelka Kubac Advokati, all of which have worked on one reported 2024 client matter in that country. Seven lawyers have worked on a reported Slovakian client matter so far this year, but no lawyers have worked on two.

In Slovenia, a total of eight firms (and six lawyers) have worked on one reported 2024 client matter, though none has worked on more.

The Turunc Law Firm, which has worked on seven client matters reported so far this year in Turkey, sits atop the early 2024 leaderboard in that country, with Allen & Overy in second place with five. Turunc’s Kerem Turunc (who has worked on seven reported matters) and Yasemin Erden (who has worked on four) are atop the partner leaderboard in Turkey so far this year as well.

Finally, in Ukraine, Avellum and Sayenko Kharenko, both of which have worked on three reported client matters so far this year, are tied for the lead, with Mykola Stetsenko (who has worked on two) being the only lawyer in the country to have reported working on more than one client matter. A total of seven lawyers have reported working on one.

So far this year, there have been no client matters reported in either Albania or Moldova.

In terms of the regional leaderboard, CMS, which reported working on 15 client matters in Central and Eastern Europe in the first two months of 2024, is the overall leader out of the box, with Schoenherr and Allen & Overy, each of which reported working on 11, in second place.

Want to see which client matters these firms and lawyers have worked on, and what other CEE firms and lawyers have reported working on client matters in 2024? Visit the Activity Rankings section of the CEELMDirect website – the world’s only truly dynamic legal directory – and find out for yourself!

Did you know that, using the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, you can look up the 2023 deal leaderboards in each CEE market, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Slovenia?

Schoenherr, which worked on two reported client matters in both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Moldova in 2023, was the only firm to have done so in either market. And Schoenherr Partner Matija Vojnovic, who worked on both of the BiH deals, led the partner leaderboard in that market as well. 

The Montenegrin market was more active. The 2023 firm leaderboard in that country was led by Komnenic & Partners, which worked on five reported deals, with both BDK and Karanovic & Partners working on three, and Harrisons and Schoenherr working on two. Milos Komnenic of Komnenic & Partners, who worked on four of his firm’s five client matters, led the partner leaderboard in that country, with BDK’s Luka Popovic, who worked on three, coming in a close second. 

Karanovic & Partners and ODI Law, which both worked on two reported client matters in North Macedonia in 2023, were the only firms to have worked on more than one. The partner leaderboard in North Macedonia was led by Veton Qoku of Karanovic & Partners and Giogji Georgievski of ODI Law as well. 

The 2023 leaderboard in Slovenia was led by Fatur Menard and ODI Law, both of which worked on four reported client matters in 2023. Both Karanovic & Partners and Schoenherr worked on three, while CMS, Kinstellar, Wolf Theiss, and Ketler & Partners, a member of Karanovic, each worked on two. In terms of partners, Maja Menard of Fatur Menard and Primoz Mikolic of ODI Law both worked on three reported client matters in 2023 to lead the market, with Markus Piuk of Schoenherr and Suzana Boncina Jamsek of ODI Law both working on two. No other lawyers worked on more than one reporter client matter in Slovenia last year. 

Want to see which client matters these lawyers worked on, and what other lawyers worked on reported client matters last year in those markets – or any others? Visit the Activity Rankings section of the CEELMDirect website – the world’s only truly dynamic legal directory – and find out for yourself!

Did you know that, according to the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, a total of twenty law firms and seventeen individual lawyers worked on five or more reported Romanian client matters in 2023? 

The Romanian law firm leaderboard was led by Schoenherr, which worked on 19 reported client matters in 2023 to take first place – only a year after being in a three-way tie for thirteenth place. Clifford Chance and Filip & Company – which led the 2022 leaderboard – followed closely with 18 reported client matters, and RTPR sat one behind with 17.

Both Dentons and Stratulat Albulescu worked on 13 reported client matters in 2023, while Wolf Theiss worked on 11, and CMS and NNDKP both worked on ten. Vlasceanu & Partners was in tenth place with nine reported client matters, PNSA and Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii worked on eight, while DLA Piper and Kinstellar both worked on seven. BPV Grigorescu Stefanica, CEE Attorneys, Musat & Asociatii, and PwC Legal all worked on six, and both Nyerges & Partners and Suciu Popa worked on five.

Just as she did in 2022, RTPR’s Roxana Ionescu led the 2023 partner leaderboard by working on 12 reported client matters, and both RTPR’s Alina Stavaru and Vlasceanu & Partners’ Loredana Vlasceanu worked on nine. Filip & Co’s Alexandru Birsan worked on eight reported client matters last year, while Stratulat Albulescu’s Silviu Stratulat worked on seven.

Wolf Theiss’s Claudia Chiper, Stratulat Albulescu’s Cristina Man, Schoenherr’s Georgiana Badescu, CMS’s Horea Popescu, Schoenherr’s Madalina Neagu, Clifford Chance’s Madalina Rachieru-Postolache, Filip & Co’s Olga Nita, and Vlasceanu & Partners’ Raluca Spinu all worked on six. Dentons’ Bogdan Papandopol, RTPR’s Costin Taracila, Nyerges & Partners’ Mijaela Nyerges, and Schoenherr’s Monica Cojocaru all worked on exactly five reported client matters in 2023. 

Want to see which client matters these lawyers worked on, and what other Romanian lawyers worked on reported client matters last year? Visit the Activity Rankings section of the CEELMDirect website – the world’s only truly dynamic legal directory – and find out for yourself!

Did you know that, according to the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, a total of eleven law firms and five individual lawyers worked on five or more reported Serbian client matters in 2023?

NKO Partners, which finished second in 2022, led the 2023 year-end leaderboard by working on an impressive 17 reported client matters, with Karanovic & Partners close behind with 14. Schoenherr worked on 11 and BDK Advokati worked on eight reported deals, while Zivkovic Samardzic reported working on seven. Cvjeticanin & Partners, Harrisons, Kinstellar, and Radovanovic Stojanovic & Partners all reported working on five client matters in 2023. 

The partner leaderboard in Serbia was led by NKO Partners’ Djordje Nikolic, who reported working on 16 of his firm’s 17 reported client matters in 2023, with BDK Advokati’s Vladimir Dasic working on six of his firm’s eight. NKO Partners’ Branko Jankovic and Schoenherr’s Luka Lopicic and Igor Zivkovski (formerly of Zivkovic Samardzic) reported working on five client deals in 2023, while Schoenherr’s Matija Vojnovic and Sasa Stojanovic of Radovanovic Stojanovic & Partners both worked on four. 

The fact that seven lawyers worked on four or more reported client matters in 2023 represents an impressive step up, as only four – Vladimir Dasic (ten), Djordje Nikolic (nine), Igor Zivkovski (eight), and Harrisons’ Mark Harrison (seven) – had reported doing so in 2022. 

Want to see which client matters these lawyers worked on, or what other lawyers worked on reported client matters last year? Visit the Activity Rankings section of the CEELMDirect website – the world’s only truly dynamic legal directory – and find out for yourself!

Continuing our review of 2023, did you know that a total of twelve lawyers worked on seven or more reported client matters in Poland in 2023 – a step up from the ten lawyers who worked on that many in 2022? The 2023 partner leaderboard was led by Tomasz Rogalski of Norton Rose Fulbright, who worked on a market-leading 15. Clifford Chance’s Andrzej Stosio, whose 11 reported deals in 2022 led the market, repeated that number in 2023, tying him for second place with White & Case’s Marcin Studniarek.

According to the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, Gessel’s Krzysztof Marczuk and Gide’s Pawel Grzeskowiak tied for fourth place by working on nine reported client matters in 2023. White & Case’s Bartosz Smardzewski, Greenberg Traurig’s Rafal Sienski, and SSK&W’s Szymon Syp all worked on eight reported deals in 2023, and Norton Rose’s Grzegorz Dyczkowski, Rymarz Zdort Maruta’s Iwona Her, WKB’s Jakub Jedrzejak, and DWF’s Rafal Wozniak all worked on seven.

Did you also know that 11 firms worked on 20 or more reported client matters in Poland in 2023, compared to only ten the year before? Clifford Chance – after leading the Polish leaderboard in 2022 with a total of 41 reported client matters – topped the board in 2023 as well by working on 40.

Dentons, which worked on 37 reported client matters in 2023, was close behind, with Greenberg Traurig (30), Gessel (29), and Norton Rose Fulbright (26) taking third, fourth, and fifth place, respectively. CMS worked on 23 reported deals, while Allen & Overy, Rymarz Zdort Maruta, and White & Case all worked on 22. DLA worked on 21 reported deals, and Wardynski & Partners worked on 20.

Want to see which client matters these lawyers and firms worked on, or what other lawyers worked on multiple deals last year – in Poland or any other CEE market? Visit the Activity Rankings section of the CEELMDirect website – the world’s only truly dynamic legal directory – and find out for yourself!

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.

According to the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, Turunc’s Esin Camlibel worked on 13 CEELM-reported client matters in 2023, while Okan Arican, Partner at Balcioglu Selcuk Ardiyok Keki in Istanbul, RTPR’s Roxana Ionescu in Bucharest, and Tytus Cytowski of Cytowski & Partners all worked on 12. Andrzej Stosio of Clifford Chance, Marcin Studniarek of White & Case, and Kostadin Sirleshtov of CMS all worked on 11, while Igor Lozenko of Sayenko Kharenko in Kyiv and Turunc’s Yasemin Erden in Istanbul both worked on exactly 10. 

Interestingly, only one of the fourteen lawyers who worked on ten or more CEELM-reported client matters in 2023 reached that level the previous year: Roxana Ionescu of RTPR, who led the 2022 leaderboard with 12 reported deals. 

Want to see which client matters these lawyers worked on, or what other lawyers worked on multiple deals last year? Visit the Activity Rankings section of the CEELMDirect.com website – the world’s only truly dynamic legal directory – and find out for yourself!

It was another strong year for the leading law firms in Central and Eastern Europe, which, combined, worked on over a thousand deals and other client matters across the region reported on by CEE Legal Matters this year. According to the Activity Rankings function of the CEELMDirect website, Clifford Chance, which worked on an impressive 95 CEELM-reported CEE client matters in 2023, led the international firms in the region, with Schoenherr, which worked on 90, close behind. Dentons (82), CMS (71), Wolf Theiss (65), Cobalt (66), Kinstellar (50), White & Case (45), and Allen & Overy (42) took notable places on the leaderboard as well.

Domestic firms across the region were equally active. Poland’s Gessel worked on more CEELM-reported client matters than any other national champion in 2023 – 29 – with Czech-and-Slovakian firm Kocian Solc Balastik and Turkey’s Paksoy each working on 23. Turkey’s Aksan Law Firm and Poland’s Rymarz Zdort Maruta both worked on 21 reported deals, while Poland’s Wardynski & Partners worked on 20. 

Despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, that country’s Sayenko Kharenko reported working on 19 client matters, and the regional top-ten domestic leaderboard was rounded out by Romania’s Filip & Co. and Turkey’s Turunc – both of which worked on 18 reported client matters in 2023 – and Austria’s Binder Groesswang, Bulgaria’s Djingov Gouginski Kyutchukov & Velichkov, Serbia’s NKO Partners, and Romania’s RTPR, all of which worked on 17.

We’ll be breaking down each country’s leaderboard in the coming weeks. Don’t want to wait? You don’t have to! The Activity Rankings function on the CEELMDirect website, which tracks all matters reported by CEE Legal Matters in real time, allows visitors to obtain accurate and up-to-date listings from any time period over the past 10 years. 

Visit CEELMDirect yourself and explore!