Category: On the Move

Tomasz Dabrowski has been re-elected as Chief Executive Officer of Dentons Europe, following a vote of the partners of the firm’s Europe Region. His second term of office will begin on January 1, 2017 and continue until December 31, 2019.

According to Dentons, “during Dabrowski’s first term as CEO, Dentons has seen rapid expansion across continental Europe. The firm has opened several new offices and has significantly strengthened its capabilities and service offering in several key markets. Altogether the firm has increased partner headcount in Europe by 55% since the beginning of 2014.”

Dentons Global Chairman Joe Andrew said, “under Tomasz’s guidance Dentons has become the fastest growing global law firm on the continent in order to serve clients better. We have been joined by significant teams of talented lawyers in Hungary and Germany and opened offices in Munich, Milan, Rome and Luxembourg, greatly broadening our depth and reach throughout Europe.”  

“Tomasz has done an outstanding job in building Dentons into one of the top international law firms in Europe in just three short years,” said Evan Lazar, Chairman of the Board of Dentons Europe and Global Vice Chair of Dentons. “I look forward to continue working closely with him as we continue to build on our momentum in strengthening our market position. Tomasz has the full backing of the Europe Board and overwhelming support from our partners.”

“I am truly honored that my partners have again placed their trust in me as CEO,” said Dabrowski of his appointment, “If the last three years were about growth, the next three years will be about integration and innovation to continually enhance client service, while driving profitable growth.”

“Tomasz’s outstanding leadership is reflected in the tremendous success our Europe Region has enjoyed during the last three years. The firm has won numerous client service awards at the national and regional level throughout Europe,” said Dentons Global CEO Elliott Portnoy.

Tomasz Dabrowski is a Corporate, M&A and Private Equity Partner. He joined legacy firm Salans in Warsaw as an Associate in 1992, and has served the firm in a number of senior leadership roles, notably as the Managing Partner of the Warsaw office, Head of the CEE Region, and Europe Co-head of the Corporate practice, before taking over as CEO of Dentons Europe in 2014.

The Trubor firm has opened its doors in Moscow, led by a team of lawyers coming from Vegas Lex.

The founding Partners of Trubor are Kirill Trukhanov, former Partner and Head of Dispute Resolution at Vegas Lex, Alexander Trushkov, former senior bankruptcy and litigation lawyer at Vegas Lex, and Yuri Bortnikov, former Partner and Head of International Desk at Vegas Lex.

Trukhanov, who fills the role of Managing Partner at the new firm, said of its establishment that: “Our new firm is focusing on three areas – disputes, transactions and legal advice to foreign companies in Russia. This is where we are particularly strong – our team worked in these three areas for the last decade. We look forward to continuing our great relationships with our existing Russian and international clients and are happy to offer our expertise to new clients.”

Peterka & Partners has announced management changes in its Russian, Hungarian, and Polish offices, all of which became effective on November 1, 2016.

In Russia, Svetlana Seregina has been promoted to Partner and will Co-Manage the office with Partner Marina Tarnovskaya. In addition, according to a Peterka & Partners press release, Partner Vlad Rudnitskiy, the former Co-Director of the office, “will be focusing on providing legal services and will be in charge of quality management in Russia.”

In Poland, Agnieszka Siwinska has been promoted to Partner and will Co-Manage the office with Partner Dorota Ploskowicz. Former Co-Managing Partner Michal Bielinski will “be mainly focusing on the development of the firm´s litigation practice area in Poland.”

In Hungary, former Director Adam Illes has been replaced by Adam Kollar and Veronika Till, both of whom have been promoted to Partner.

According to the Peterka & Partners press release, “these changes in the management of Peterka & Partners’ offices reflect the firm´s strategy which provides women with equal opportunities and actively involves them in management. The number of women in top strategic positions at Peterka & Partners currently exceeds 50%.”

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, Peterka & Partners announced that Adam Illes, Director of the firm’s Hungarian office, who helped open the office in 2013, will be leaving the firm as of January 31, 2018. In a statement released by Peterka & Partners, the firm announced that Illes was leaving “in pursuit of new professional challenges,” and said that “we would like to thank Adam for his efforts and wish him all the best in his future professional career.”

Primus has announced that, after opening its Polish desk in Vilnius in August 2015, it has now launched a German Desk in the firm’s office in Riga.

According to a statement released by the firm, “in recent years Primus’ lawyers have been involved in a variety of cross-border projects and transactions with German and Austrian companies providing them with legal advice on all corporate, commercial, employment, banking and finance, real estate and construction law matters and representing their interests before courts, national, municipal and law enforcement authorities. This encouraged to establish a specialized channel of communication for German-speaking clients to help them deal with all legal aspects of Latvian and other Baltic countries’ Laws as well as Baltic companies with interest in German speaking countries markets.”

That same statement reports that “Primus German Desk offers specialist assistance to German speaking companies that would like to start doing business in Latvia and other Baltic states, implement projects, or conclude contracts with Baltic partners. Experienced lawyers at Primus provide legal assistance in German, understand the cultural differences between Germany and the Baltic countries, and are able to provide a full range of legal services to its clients.” 

Colic Law Office – a boutique specialized on corporate/M&A and litigation – has joined Gecic Law, the latter announced today.

The tie-up will take effect by November 1, 2016, according to a Gecic Law press release, which says that the joining of “two extraordinary teams with shared values and culture, with complimentary practice strengths will enable us to provide a new and broader set of services” to their clients.

Ognjen Colic, who will assume the position of the Head of Corporate practice at Gecic Law, commented: “With this step, we have set out to create an empowering platform to provide even more custom-tailored and innovative solutions.  This will allow us to push the envelope ever further and across practice areas, to best serve our clients – both in depth and breath.”

Managing Partner Bogdan Gecic added: “We’re extremely happy and excited to bring on board a state of the art corporate boutique firm with a strong litigation practice. Despite our strong growth momentum we stay firmly committed to one of our core values to attract individuals that can become an irreplaceable part of the team.”

White & Case has announced the promotion of 40 lawyers around the world to its partnership. The promotions, which are effective January 1, 2017, represent 11 of the firm’s global practices in 17 locations. Including in those 40 world-wide promotions are Czech Banking lawyer Jan Linda and Polish Disputes specialist Michal Subocz.

Linda, based in Prague, works in White & Case’s Global Banking Practice, where he provides legal services to banks and other financial institutions on cross-border, syndicated and bilateral financings, particularly in the areas of project, export, real estate and acquisition financings.

Subocz, in Warsaw, works in the firm’s Global Commercial Litigation Practice. He focuses on construction disputes, advising major international and domestic construction companies in disputes related to projects in Poland.

No new partners were announced for this year in the firm’s other CEE offices, in Slovakia, Turkey, and Russia. 

“Our new partners have demonstrated their leadership ability within the firm and their commitment to our clients,” said White & Case Chairman Hugh Verrier. “This is our largest partner class in six years and reflects our commitment to growing from within. More than half of our new partners are based in the United States and London, in line with our stated strategy to grow our offices in these locations.”

Three well-known law firms in the former Yugoslavia have announced the creation of a new alliance — the new South East Legal Alliance (SELA) — which they describe as “a formal regional network of independent law firms advising clients on their operations across South East Europe.”

The alliance consists of Dimitrijevic & Partners in Bosnia and Herzegovina (which split off from Karanovic & Nikolic in February of this year), Zuric i Partneri in Croatia, and Bojovic & Partners in Serbia/Montenegro. According to a statement released by the members of the alliance, “SELA’s member firms are carefully selected for their reputation and track record of success, as well as for their in-depth knowledge of local laws and business environments, enabling us to help clients successfully navigate the regional legal and business terrain. In addition, our members have broad experience across a range of industries and attorneys with diverse international educational backgrounds.”

Schoenherr is reporting that, on September 30, 2016, Michael Lagler was elected as the new Managing Partner at the firm, where he will take over from Christoph Lindinger, who has led the Central and Eastern European law firm for the past 16 years. Lagler’s term will begin at the start of the firm’s next fiscal year, on February 1, 2017.

Michael Lagler has been a Partner at Schoenherr since 2005, and the firm describes him as “a leading lawyer in the real estate practice group.” Schoenherr reports that “he has extensive transactional experience in Austria and across Central and Eastern Europe, and played a decisive role in Schoenherr’s development as a regional law firm. For the last six years, Michael Lagler has also been a member of Schoenherr’s Steering Committee, which is responsible for the firm’s strategic orientation. As partner in charge of HR matters, he has significantly shaped personnel development at the firm.”

“By appointing Michael Lagler as Managing Partner,” commented outgoing MP Christoph Lindinger,” Schoenherr gains a brilliant strategist and a competent, esteemed lawyer to lead the firm going forward.”

Operational management of the firm will continue to be carried out by COO Gudrun Stangl. Martin Ebner, who leads the firm’s banking & finance practice group, and Matija Vojnovic, who heads Schoenherr’s Belgrade office, will join Michael Lagler and Gudrun Stangl as Steering Committee members for the upcoming term. 

Michael Lagler described his plans as Managing Partner: “Our goal is to consolidate our current structures in the region and to continue positioning our attorneys as leaders and experts in their fields. It is more important than ever to respond flexibly to market conditions. Schoenherr’s top priorities will be to keep on developing innovative products, and to open new avenues in legal advisory. This will enable us to continue providing the highest quality of advice and to respond to our clients’ individual needs.”

Bojanovic & Partners, in Serbia, has announced the October 1, 2016 launch of a new alliance of nine leading independent law firms across the Balkans.  

The new Adriala – Alliance of Balkan Legal Experts consists of the following firms:  

• Baros Law Office, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina; 
• Baros & Bicakcic Law Office, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; 
• Bojanovic & Partners Law Office, Belgrade, Serbia;   
• Law Firm Kavcic, Rogl in Bracun, Ljubljana, Slovenia;  
• Law Firm Knezovic & Associates, Skopje, Republic of Macedonia; 
• Law Firm Madirazza & Partners, Zagreb, Croatia;  
• Prelevic Law Firm, Podgorica, Montenegro; 
• Spasov & Bratanov Lawyers’ Partnership, Sofia, Bulgaria; and
• Tashko Pustina – Attorneys at Law, Tirana, Albania.   

According to Vladimir Bojanovic, the Managing Partner of Bojanovic & Partners, Adriala is “one of very few existing alliances that cover the former Yugoslavia, plus Albania and Bulgaria.” He explains that “the cooperation is established with the aim to be responsive and capable of handling international projects which have touch-points in multiple markets. It is established only with the purpose to be reactive and responsive in handling this specific type of project, while ensuring the quality of legal assistance.” 

Bojanovic insists that the alliance not be confused with a partnership or “conglomerate law firm,” noting that “we did not create a legal entity,” and that “we remain local independent lawyers who advise only under the local laws where we are qualified.” Instead, he repeats, “this is a simple cooperation of independent premium law firms and law offices from these jurisdictions, and each firm will keep its own integrity and individuality – this very quality after all makes us who we are, and we believe that this is just an added value.”

Although the official launch of the alliance will take place with some fanfare sometime in the next month, its members signed the formal Cooperation Agreement last week and began operating under its terms on October 1st.   

Dentons has appointed Bulgarian lawyer Atanas Politov as Europe Director of Pro Bono. 

Politov will be based in Budapest and will join Dentons’ Europe Pro-Bono Committee formed in 2015 to coordinate the firm’s pro bono legal services across continental Europe. 

Politov joins from PILnet, which Dentons describes as “one the most respected worldwide facilitators of legal pro bono work.” As Director of Programs at PILnet, Dentons reports, “he developed large-scale legal aid reform projects in Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia, coordinated PILnet’s contributions to legal aid reform, and oversaw the development of PILnet’s pro bono clearinghouses in Hungary, Russia, China, and globally. He also led the PILnet team which organized the annual European Pro Bono Forum — bringing together law firms and NGOs to collaborate on addressing critical issues of social justice.”

Politov received legal training in his native Bulgaria and worked as a staff attorney for Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights. He has an LL.M. from Columbia Law School and is a former Fulbright Scholar. 

Tomasz Dabrowski, CEO of Dentons Europe, commented: “In line with our global commitment to making a meaningful contribution to the communities in which we work and live, we are delighted to welcome Atanas on board.  As one of the most recognized specialists in pro bono programs in Europe, he will help us make our pro bono and social responsibility efforts even more impactful.”

Politov said: “I am thrilled to join Dentons, where pro bono is truly part of the firm’s identity. We live in challenging times in Europe, and pro bono is the principal pathway for our lawyers to engage and make a difference in our communities. I am committed to see it grow and reach new heights.”

“Dentons’ commitment to the communities in which we live and work has been strengthened tremendously with the addition of Atanas Politov, who is deeply dedicated to access to justice and a true leader in the growing pro bono movement in Europe,” said Ben Weinberg, Chair of Dentons’ Global Pro Bono Program.