Category: On the Move

Bratislava-based lawyer Katarina Bielikova and Warsaw-based lawyer Grzegorz Skowronski have been promoted to Partner at Wolf Theiss.

Katarina Bielikova, who joined Wolf Theiss in 2015, is member of the firm’s Slovakian Banking & Finance and Corporate and M&A teams. According to Wolf Theiss, “she has over 13 years of experience advising on incoming investments into the Slovak Republic, handles large-scale mandates spanning multiple jurisdictions and provides full coverage in key legal areas including corporate, banking and finance, M&A and private equity, commercial and financial law issues, real estate acquisitions and development.“

“Katarina is a long-standing member of our firm,” says Claus Schneider, Managing Partner of Wolf Theiss. “We welcome her as partner and are looking forward in developing together further services which benefit our clients”.  

Bielikova graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Commenius Univeristy, and holds a doctorate from the Paneuropska Vysoka Skola. Before joining Wolf Theiss, she worked as at Bielikova & Partners and DLA Piper. She was also a legal advisor to the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunication of the Slovak Republic, and was involved in the preparation of energy legislation for the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic. 

“I am very delighted to be a part of Wolf Theiss and further build and strengthen our regional practices in Slovakia, especially the M&A and Banking & Finance practice groups for the benefit of our local as well as international clients,” Bielikova stated. 

Grzegorz Skowronski, who also joined the firm in 2015, is a member of Wolf Theiss’s Polish Real Estate and Construction team where, according to Wolf Theiss, “he has extensive experience with real estate M&A transactions and development deals, as well as joint ventures, leases and general construction agreements.“

“Grzegorz has been one of the pillars of our Real Estate team during the strong growth of the practice in past years,” said Tomasz Stasiak, Co-Managing Partner and Head of the Real Estate and Construction Practice at Wolf Theiss Warsaw. “There are more exciting projects ahead of us in this dynamically growing real estate sector. With our team strengthened by Grzegorz’s promotion, we’re certain to deliver top quality service to our clients.” 

Skowronski is a graduate of both the University of Warsaw and Edinburgh University. Before joining Wolf Theiss, he worked in Baker McKenzie, Hochtief Development Poland, and Copernicus Securities.

“My period at Wolf Theiss has been tremendous, both in terms of our practice’s growth, as well as the expansion of the firm in Poland,” Skowronski said. “It’s been a real privilege to work with a team of such ambitious and talented lawyers and be able to participate in the largest transactions on the domestic property market.” 

Moscow lawyers Nadia Goreslavskaya and Marina Tokunova, Prague lawyer Milena Hoffmanova, and Vienna lawyer Lukas Feiler have been promoted to partner at Baker McKenzie as part of the firm’s global round.

Baker McKenzie describes Goreslavskaya as being “experienced in antimonopoly regulation, corporate law, and general commercial law matters,” and states that her “practice focuses on antitrust & competition, general corporate, and general commercial laws.” She graduated from the Moscow State University of International Relations and has been with Baker McKenzie since 2001.

Fellow Moscow lawyer Tokunova was promoted to Tax Partner at the firm. She is also a member of the firm’s Global Reorganizations Group. “Marina has extensive experience in advising Russian and multinational clients on complex tax issues, including direct and indirect (VAT) tax advice, tax advice for M&A, and corporate reorganizations, “ reported Baker McKenzie. Tokunova is a graduate from the State University Higher School of Economics and the New York University School of Law. Before joining Baker McKenzie, she worked as a Senior Tax Consultant in EY.

Hoffmanova is the Head of the Baker McKenzie Prague Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare group. “Her practice covers pharmaceuticals and healthcare matters, compliance, general commercial law, administrative law, as well as data protection and privacy law matters,” per Baker McKenzie. Hoffmanova studied law at the University of Limerick prior to graduating from the Law Faculty of Charles University in Prague in 2008. She has been with Baker McKenzie since 2005. 

Lukas Feiler is the head of the IP and IT team at Baker McKenzie Diwok Hermann Petsche in Vienna. According to the firm, he “advises clients on data protection, telecommunications law, IT outsourcing, software licensing, cybersecurity, copyright, trademark law, patent law, and e-commerce matters,” and also works on “IP and IT aspects of mergers, acquisitions, financings, joint ventures, and reorganizations.” Feiler is a graduate of the Vienna Law School and was a visiting fellow at the Stanford Law School. Before joining Baker McKenzie, he worked with the European Commission and Wolf Theiss.

Goreslavskaya, Tokunova, Hoffmanova, and Feiler were promoted as part of Baker’s global round, which included a total of 81 partners in over 35 offices around the world. This grows the total number of partners worldwide to 1550. “Over 400 of these are women – the most of any law firm,” claimed Baker McKenzie. ”This year women make up almost 40% of the newly promoted cohort of 81 partners; The promotions take effect from July 1.” 

CMS lawyers Andrea Potz in Austria, Jelena Nushol in Croatia, Marek Oleksyn and Lukasz Dynysiuk in Poland, Petra Corba Stark and Michal Hutan in Slovakia, and Tetyana Dovgan in Ukraine have been promoted to the firm’s partnership as part of its 2019 global promotion round.

Andrea Potz, in Austria, specializes in employment law and represents employers in court and before administrative authorities. Her main areas of expertise include personnel management, equal treatment, and diversity. She also deals with labor law issues and supports clients in the pharmaceutical, electrical, and electronics industries, as well as in the IT industry. She graduated from the University of Vienna and joined CMS in 2010.

Croatian lawyer Jelena Nushol has been with Bardek, Lisac, Musec, Skoko in cooperation with CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz for the past ten years. She specializes in banking/finance, M&A transactions, restructurings, and various compliance matters specific to the banking and financial market. She graduated from the University of Zagreb.

Polish lawyer Marek Oleksyn has over 14 years of experience and specializes in intellectual property matters. He also represents clients in both Polish courts and arbitrations as well as in trademark invalidation and expiration proceedings before the Polish Patent Office. Before joining CMS in 2014, he worked at Soltysinski Kawecki & Szlezak.He graduated from the University in Warsaw.

His colleague in Warsaw, Lukasz Dynysiuk, advises on general corporate and tax issues, particularly tax structuring. He supports clients on corporate and tax aspects in M&A transactions and restructuring. He joined CMS in 2011 after several years as a Tax Consultant at Deloitte Legal, PwC, and the Polish Ministry of Finance. He graduated from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan. 

Petra Corba Stark, in CMS’s Bratislava office, specializes in complex M&A transactions and innovative corporate restructurings. She has over 14 years of experience in the energy & transport, life sciences, and financial services sectors. She joined CMS in 2017 after working for a year and a half at Havel, Holasek & Partners and for five years each at Ruzicka Csekes and in-house with Slovnaft. She has degrees from both the Pavol Jozef Safarik University in Slovakia and the Hebrew University in Israel. 

Michal Hutan, Head of Real Estate in Bratislava, specializes in real estate development projects, transactions, and joint-ventures. He joined CMS in 2017 after working at Ruzicka Csekes, and for nine and a half years at Hamala Kluch Viglasky. He graduated from the Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, and at the International Institute of Human Rights in France. 

Tetyana Dovgan is a Corporate/M&A practice coordinator at CMS Ukraine and a member of CMS’s international private equity team. She advises on joint-ventures, corporate restructurings, private equity, and M&A transactions and focuses on infrastructure, agriculture, IT, and banking. She also advises on general corporate matters, corporate finance, currency controls, securities, and employment law. She joined CMS in 2014 after working at both Chadbourne & Parke and Magisters. She graduated from the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University. 

According to CMS, the firm’s 2019 promotion round included 49 lawyers in all. The new partners come from 23 cities across Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. In addition, the firm reports, as “progressing female talent has long been a strategic priority of the firm … women account for 76% of all CMS promotions in the UK, and 47% globally.” Four of the seven new partners in CEE are women.

“It is great to see such a strong representation of women in this year’s partner promotions,” commented CMS UK Senior Partner Penelope Warne. “We strive to build an inclusive and progressive culture, underpinned by policies, training and support, that empowers our people to rise through the ranks. The significant number of promotions this year highlights the strength and depth of talent we have across the firm, and reflects the confidence we have in our business. We would like to congratulate our new partners on their well-deserved promotions.”

Budapest lawyer Balazs Csuday, Bratislava lawyer Daniel Lipsic, and Prague lawyer Jan Prochazka are among the 25 European lawyers promoted to partner by Dentons as part of its 2019 cycle.

Csuday, who specializes in Regulatory matters, is the former Hungarian Ambassador to Ecuador and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary with the Permanent Mission of Hungary to the UN and Other International Organizations in Vienna. He joined Dentons in September 2017 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on September 5, 2017)

Lipsic, like Csuday, comes from the public service background, having served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice (2002-2006) and Minister of Interior (2010-2012) of the Slovak Republic, and Member of Parliament (2006-2010 and 2012-2016). He joined Dentons in 2016, and he is co-head of Dentons’ Litigation and Dispute Resolution team in Bratislava. According to Dentons, “during his practice, Daniel litigated several landmark cases before the Constitutional Court, mostly property rights, affirmative action, right to life, voting rights, freedom of speech, and he also litigated several precedential criminal cases and some civil rights cases regarding defamation and freedom of speech before the lower courts and the Supreme Court.” Among the matters he has worked on is the successful defense of businessman Robert Ciz and Ciz’s wife Adriana Cizova, who were acquitted of large-scale fraud early in 2018 (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 5, 2018)

Prochazka, who is Co-Head of Dentons’ Corporate group in Prague, focuses on Corporate/M&A and Private Equity. He first joined Dentons (as legacy Altheimer & Gray, and then as legacy Salans) in 1998, then spent five years, from 2005-2010 with Clifford Chance, before returning to legacy Salans in 2010.

Speaking of all 25 new partners, Dentons CEO for the UK and Middle East Jeremy Cohen said: “Our ambition is to become the leading global law firm across the European continent. This means delivering what our clients want today, helping them to work out what they are likely to need tomorrow, and responding to both by supporting our people, and particularly the next generation, to achieve their full potential. I am therefore delighted to congratulate this exceptionally talented group of lawyers on their well-deserved promotions.”

“Dentons is in the talent business, so the development of this highly capable group of lawyers into our next generation of leaders is something we are extremely proud of,” added CEO of the Europe region Tomasz Dabrowski. “These promotions reflect not only the legal knowledge, leadership skills and business acumen of these lawyers, but also the organic growth of our firm across the continent.” 

Vladimira Chlandova was hired as the new Head of Legal Affairs at T-Mobile Czech Republic and Slovak Telekom.

Chlandova, who is based in Prague, joins from the Trelleborg Group, where she acted as a Senior Corporate Counsel for almost two years. Before that, she was a board member, General Counsel, HR Director, and CCO with UPC Ceska Republika, where she spent over 17 years. Earlier still, Chlandova was the Chief Legal Counsel for Ringier in the Czech Republic.

Commenting on her move, Chlandova told CEE Legal Matters simply: “It’s great to be back in telecommunications!”  

Bulgarian lawyer Antonia Mavrova and Czech lawyer Tomas Cihula have been promoted to partner at Kinstellar.

Mavrova has been with Kinstellar since the launch of the firm’s Sofia office in 2014, and the firm describes her as “instrumental in the development of the Sofia office and its real estate practice.” She serves as head of the firm’s regional Automotive & Industrials sector.

According to Kinstellar, she has 20 years of experience advising on real estate investments. The firm reports that “her expertise includes the structuring and acquisition of large real estate portfolios; the sale and purchase of commercial properties (office buildings, shopping centers and hotels) including title reviews, zoning, planning, and easements; and acting for institutional real estate investors.” She studied law at Sofia University.

Cihula, who has over 18 years of professional experience, has been with Kinstellar since 2009. He is the head of the firm’s Competition practice in Prague and is the firm-wide head of Kinstellar’s Life Sciences and Healthcare sector.

According to Kinstellar, he “focuses mainly on competition, state aid, public procurement, European law, and life sciences and healthcare regulatory matters.” He studied law at Charles University in Prague and at Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich. 

“My heartfelt congratulations to Antonia and Tomas on joining the Kinstellar partnership,” said Patrik Bolf in a statement released by the firm. “Both are outstanding advisors within their respective fields, and their promotions, which are a natural step in their professional development, reflect their sustained contribution, dedication, and hard work over many years. Their experience, mind-set, and reputation are first class and are aligned with our firm’s values, and I am confident that as partners both will continue to enhance our offering to existing and future clients. I look forward to their on-going contributions to our firm.’’ 

Dvorak Hager & Partners has changed its name to Eversheds Sutherland.

Dvorak Hager & Partners’ offices in Prague and Bratislava joined Eversheds Sutherland in December 2018 as reported by CEE Legal Matters on December 4, 2018. The formal name of those two offices now becomes Eversheds Sutherland Dvorak Hager, advokatni kancelar, s.r.o. (in the Czech Republic) and Eversheds Sutherland Dvorak Hager, advokatska kancelaria, s.r.o. (in Slovakia)

“Joining Eversheds Sutherland was a major step forward for our office, our people, and particularly our clients,” said Managing Partner Stanislav Dvorak, commenting on the formal name change. “We have become part of a large international organization and are glad that we will now also bear its name.” 

According to an Eversheds Sutherland press release, “the merger with Eversheds Sutherland gives clients access to professional legal services not only in Central and Eastern Europe, but also on the global market. The ownership of the firm, with its more than fifty lawyers in Prague and Bratislava, as well as its management, remains unchanged.”  

Viktor Fuzi and Petr Hrncir have been promoted to Partner at Noerr in Budapest and Prague, respectively.

Fuzi heads Noerr’s Employment and Litigation Practice in Budapest and has been with the firm for over two years. Prior to joining Noerr, Viktor worked for Rodl & Partners for over nine years.

Hrncir has been with Noerr since October 2012, when he joined from Kocian Solc Balastik. He is a part of the Corporate/M&A team in Prague.

CEE Regional Managing Partner Jorg Menzer described the promotion of the two as “a strong commitment indication of Noerr in Central Europe, and a due recognition for their great professional development and professional performance.”

Czech lawyer Filip Cabart and Slovak lawyer Juraj Steinecker have been promoted to partner in the Prague and Bratislava offices of Havel & Partners respectively, bringing the firm’s partnership to 29.

Cabart will co-manage the Havel & Partners Banking and Finance team. According to the firm, he “specializes in all types of financing, including syndicated loans, dealing with claim portfolios, and legal and regulatory aspects of providing financial services and collective investment, securities offerings and admission to trading on public markets. In recent years, he has been involved in numerous international and domestic transactions, providing legal advice to major international and domestic financial institutions and major companies.”

Steinecker specializes in Competition law and M&A. The firm reports that “in the past, Juraj has represented clients from different sectors before competition authorities and courts in matters of anti-competitive agreements, and in merger notification matters,” and says that “he also advises on competitive aspects of mergers and acquisitions, and on compliance matters.”

“We are aware that only top lawyers will keep the top-ranked law firm on top,” says Jaroslav Havel, Managing Partner of the firm. “That’s why within the firm we are developing a motivating environment with a clear vision of career growth that can be much faster than at our competitors. In terms of clients and work, the firm has always grown to such an extent that we could create other partner positions and offer them to our best and most talented colleagues. Some of them have achieved partnership faster than the average eight to ten years.” Speaking of the overall round of promotions, which included Counsels and Senior Lawyers as well, Havel commented that: “the second highest managerial position of counsel was then created in 2014, together with the economic and personnel development of the firm, when in some areas it was necessary to extend the competencies of the most experienced lawyers who typically do not aspire to the position of partner, or for whom the position of counsel is a pre-level to the position of partner, and also to support their academic growth, pedagogical or other professional activities.” Currently, seven of our colleagues are in the position of counsel.” Ultimately, he concluded, “I am glad that all the newly promoted lawyers have given the long-standing support to individual legal teams and that we are successfully pursuing the strategy of raising the next generation of top senior colleagues in the firm.”

BNT Attorneys Riga Managing Partner Theis Klauberg has announced that he will be taking his team from that pan-Baltic firm on January 1, 2019, to launch an independent firm, Klauberg Baltics, leaving behind former senior associates and now partners Henning Jensen and Karlis Svikis to lead BNT Riga going forward. 

Klauberg Baltics will have offices in Riga, Vilnius, and Tallinn.

“The move away from BNT is the result of my decision to focus on the Baltic States, Klauberg told CEE Legal Matters, “which was incompatible with the BNT approach to cover several countries in CEE as well as Germany. We feel that being outside of an international network makes sense in the Baltic states. It is a unique situation in the Baltic states, because we don’t have international brands here and the Baltic states have always been blank spots for international law firms. That is one of the reasons why we decided to leave BNT, and start an independent law firm only in these three countries.”

The new law firm will focus on the Baltics and target German-speaking clients. “We focus on the business between German speaking countries — Germany and Austria and Switzerland — and the three Baltic states,” Klauberg explains. “We are just geared towards that market.”  And Klauberg notes that Germany by far is the biggest investor in the Baltics. “The largest number of investments are coming from Germany,” he says, “and we expect that to become even more, because Germany and Austria are doing very well. We see our clients relocating production to the Baltic states and shifting work to the Baltic states and they are all very successful with that. We expect other companies to do the same.”

The entire Klauberg Baltics team consists of 15 people in all three offices, which will start their operations in January 1, 2019. The Riga office will be managed by Klauberg, who is also CEO of Klauberg Baltics. The Tallinn office will be led by German Attorney Max Wood, who moves to Estonia from Latvia. Sigita Sriubaite, who was part of BNT Riga in 2003-2005, rejoins Klauberg as Managing Partner of the Vilnius office and as CFO of Klauberg Baltics.

BNT Attorneys continues to operate as before in Vilnius and Tallin. In Riga, the office will provide legal services under the name BNT Attorneys in CEE/ Jensen & Svikis Legal. The Latvian team will also be supported by Frank Heemann, Managing Partner at the Lithuanian office of BNT.

Heemann is optimistic about the new leadership in Riga, declaring: “I have a very positive look at working with Henning and Karlis. I worked with them for many years. Of course we would not have made this adjustment if we did not think it was not right thing to do — with two new partners’ own networks and new ideas we will be successful in the future.” He adds, “However, I am sad that Theis decided to leave, but of course we accepted his decision and wish him good luck.”