Category: On the Move

Marianna Erdei has joined EY as Country Legal Director and head of the company’s General Counsel’s office in Hungary.

Erdei moves to EY from EGIS Pharmaceuticals, where she has been in-house counsel since 2010, after spending the first two years of her legal career at Salans — now Dentons — in Budapest. She graduated from the Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE) in Budapest in 2007, and followed that up in 2008 with an LL.M. from the Aix-Marseille University. 

According to Erdei, “I made this career move in the anticipation of working in a dynamic and highly professional environment and to find new challenges in providing a new approach to in-house legal services within the fast-growing EY Hungary. My aim is to provide a higher quality of legal assistance to EY colleagues working in the different service lines of the firm.”

Karanovic & Nikolic has announced that M&A, competition, and business regulation specialist Rastko Petakovic has been made Senior Partner at the firm.

Petakovic began his career as a trainee in Karanovic & Nikolic’s Belgrade office in 2005. He spent his internship within the firm’s corporate and M&A practice and in parallel specialized in competition law at programs with major international law firms and engaged in advocacy ahead of the adoption of the 2005 Competition Law. 

In early 2007, as a Senior Associate, Petakovic founded the firm’s highly regarded Competition team.

In January 2010 he made Partner. According to Karanovic & Nikolic, “under Rastko’s leadership, our Competition team acted in virtually all major antitrust and merger cases in Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, and other countries, in which the firm successfully defended a number of clients in highly visible cartel, dominance and merger control cases.”

Among the matters Petakovic has worked on is Serbia Broadband’s 2015 acquisition of EUnet (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 30, 2015) — a deal he provided additional information about in the August 2015 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine.

He also worked on Telemach’s successful claim that HD Win had abused its dominant position before the Bosnian Competition Council (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 16, 2016), Mid Europa Partners’ acquisition of a controlling stake in the Danube Foods Group B.V. and Clates Holding B.V. (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on February 3, 2015), and Agrokor’s successful application for merger clearance in relation to its combination with Slovenia’s Mercator (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on June 9, 2014). 

Commenting on his appointment, Petakovic said: “I am delighted to take on this new role at the firm, one I’ve admired from the first day of orientation, more than eleven years ago, to this very day. The successes of Karanovic & Nikolic were driven by the vision of all of our partners but they would have been impossible without relying on teamwork — so above all I am grateful to all of my colleagues with whom I have worked over the years who have made this possible.”

Karanovic & Nikolic Managing Partner Dejan Nikolic commented: “When we founded the firm more than twenty years ago, we believed our success would depend on our ability to recruit and develop the most talented lawyers from the region, and seeing someone’s career evolve so fully within our organisation – from being a promising trainee to making Senior Partner – has been delightful to witness.”

Cobalt Lithuania has announced that former Glimstedt Partner Deividas Soloveicik has joined the firm to head its Public Procurement practice, bringing with him a team of five public procurement specialists.

According to Cobalt, “Deividas Soloveicik has over 15 years of experience practicing commercial law and is one of the most highly regarded Public Procurement law experts in the market.” He becomes the 10th Partner at Cobalt Lithuania and is joined at the firm by former Glimstedt lawyers Karolis Smaliukas, Karolina Kersyte, Dovile Jankauskyte, Neringa Basinskaite, and Kasparas Biliunas. 

“I am delighted at the addition of another group of experienced lawyers, who will further enhance our professional team,” said Irmantas Norkus, Managing Partner at COBALT Lithuania. “We are consistently growing as a firm, and our robust M&A, Banking and Finance, Dispute Resolution and other practices are highly valued in the market. The team led by Deividas has a wealth of experience and boasts a strong reputation as public procurement law experts. Its arrival will enable us to expand further and will add strength to our capabilities to efficiently serve our clients on the most challenging legal matters.”

Cobalt reports that Soloveicik “has represented clients before national courts at all instances and arbitral institutions, provided legal advice to Lithuanian and foreign private clients and contracting authorities, including the Commission of the European Union, on the legal aspects of public procurement and pre-commercial procurement.” According to the firm, “Soloveicik focuses his practice on civil and administrative litigation in the areas of public procurement, matters related to misuse of EU funds and application of financial corrections against beneficiaries of EU funds, and performance of public contracts.”

“The motivating factors in our decision to join Cobalt were its successful performance in recent years, its partner approach towards integrated services, its largest pool of talent and resources in the Baltic States and Belarus, and its excellent reputation in the field of public procurement,” Soloveicik said. “I am certain that our professional skills, experience and consistent work will contribute to the exceptional service delivery to Cobalt’s and our mutual clients. We are joining our forces to create a market-leading Public Procurement practice group which is deeply experienced across all aspects of public procurement and able to offer legal services responsive to the needs of clients. Our joint efforts will deliver synergies and opportunities to grow as a team of professionals and to serve as a trusted advisor to our clients on significant projects.”

At Glimstedt, Soloveicik was replaced as head of the Public Procurement practice by Associate Partner Mindaugas Jablonskis (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on June 29, 2016).

Four firms in Central and Eastern European — Pepa & Dobre from Romania, JebwabnyLegal from Poland, Krutak & Partners from Czech Republic, and DKKR Partners from Hungary – have joined forces to create Arcliffe, which they describe as “a premiere legal practice in CEE.” Together, the firm claims 40 lawyers, including 18 partners.

According to a press release issued by the new firm, “Arcliffe has been set up by the first three law practices, with DKKR Partners cooperating on an exclusive basis.” In addition, in Cyprus, Arcliffe will cooperate with the Tornaritis Law Firm.

Tomas Krutak, the Managing Partner of the former Krutak & Partners in Prague, describes the new firm as “an opportunity for us to bring to expanded geography our practice strengths and that’s for the benefit of our clients.” 

Tomasz Jebwabny of Warsaw added that “our combination is about the Emerging Europe role in a globalizing economy and the European Union.”

“Arcliffe will focus on Emerging Europe, now a matured and increasingly sophisticated market with more demands on law practices to provide a unified and cost effective platform,” said Steven Pepa, a Canadian lawyer based in Bucharest.

“All our lawyers are well aware of the Anglo-American legal service standards and expanding regionally our local knowledge and expertise was the main drive for our combination,” said Edward Dobre, one of the pivotal lawyers involved in setting up Arcliffe, who is also based in Bucharest. “It happened under the auspices of the big family of international law firms that started to do business in Emerging Europe in the 90s, a venture to which we have all participated in one way or the other.”

DKKR Partners will cover the Hungarian market for Arcliffe. “We are positioned to support and assist the fellow members of the new firm. Our clients and prospective clients are becoming increasingly interested in investing in the Emerging Europe economies.” said DKKR Partners’ Daniel Kaszas.

Glimstedt has announced that, as of July 1st, 2016, its Public Procurement practice will be led by Associate Partner Mindaugas Jablonskis, taking over from Deividas Soloveicik, who is leaving the firm.

“Through strengthening our practice in the public procurement area and integrating our competence in the area of energy, infrastructure, and other fields of national legal regulation, we create new opportunities to synergize our client’s businesses, which is vital in a competitive business environment and the growing needs of our clients,” says Egidijus Bernotas, Managing Partner of Glimstedt.

Bernotas continued on the subject of the practice’s new head, saying, “Mindaugas Jablonskis has an ability to put all legal matters in business perspective. We recommend Mindaugas Jablonskis as a person with a strong business orientation who provides crisp and clear legal advice. The public procurement rules establish a regime to facilitate competitive, transparent, and non-discriminatory purchasing and tendering procedures by public sector and utility bodies across the EU. The rules can be somewhat rigid and formal, creating uncertainties and imposing a degree of inflexibility which can frustrate the development of large-scale EU investments in Lithuania. Practical and commercially targeted advice is necessary in order to guide clients with confidence through this difficult area of the law.”

Jablonskis will also continue to lead the Energy, Infrastructure & Regulatory law practice of Glimstedt.

Spenser & Kauffmann has announced the opening of a Labor and Employment Practice, headed by Counsel and former Vasil Kisil & Partners lawyer Tetyana Ivanovych.

According to a S&K press release, its Labor and Employment team will advise “on all aspects arising out of employment relations, including: (1) Risk assessment during hiring, transfer and dismissal of personnel of all levels, including senior and top-management; (2) Assisting in international mobility of executive personnel and compliance of the procedure with labor, corporate, and tax laws; (3) Employment agreements and contracts, non-disclosure agreements, non-compete agreements, service provision agreements; (4) Incentive Programs, Motivational Schemes, Employee Share Plans; (5) Collective bargaining agreements, strikes and trade unions; (6) Transfer of employees, downsizing, restructuring; (7) Employment of foreigners, work permits; (8) Compensation programs, taxation, local policies; (9) Lay-offs and peaceful settlements; (10) Labor disputes; and (11) Disciplinary proceedings.

Spenser & Kauffmann reports that Ivanovych, who worked at Vasil Kisil from 2007 until joining S&K this month, has “over 10 years of success in advising a range of international and domestic clients on various aspects of labor law including elaboration and negotiation of individual employment contracts and service agreements, employee compensation and benefits, employee handbooks, disciplinary and grievance procedures, agency workers and outsourcing, sensitive terminations, redundancy procedures, expatriation, and immigration.” According to the firm, “Tetyana frequently represents employer’s interests in complex labor disputes arising from various aspects of employment relations.”

“I am most excited in my new role as the Head of Labour and Employment Practice,” said Ivanovych. “I see this as a great opportunity to continue one of the main areas of my work and want to thank the firm for all the support and confidence shown in my ability to lead this practice. Especially since we anticipate the long-awaited new Labor Code to be passed already this year. In terms of harmonizing Ukrainian legislation with EU legislation, labor law is no exception, and Ukraine has committed to aligning its legislation to seven EU directives. These transformations will push for greater openness of the labor market at the same time, however, providing decent working conditions.”

The TGS firm in Estonia — made up of the team that split off from Tark Grunte Sutkiene shortly before that firm announced its tie-up last month with Varul in Estonia — has changed its name.

According to the firm, “we are pleased to announce that our team continues operating under a new business name: DERLING. From May 25, we are welcoming our guests in the new and modern office at Nordea House (13th floor), Liivalaia 45, Tallinn.”

The news of Derling’s launch continues the fall-out of Tark Grunte Sutkiene’s announcement in mid-April that it would be merging with Varul’s Estonia office — reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 14, 2016, which resulted in a whirlwind of new players, spin-offs, and alliances in the Baltics. First came TGS’s somewhat confusing announcement that it was splitting off from and competing with Tark Grunte Sutkiene as TGS. Then came the announcement that the remainder of Tark Grunte Sutkiene’s pre-Varul office would be operating independently as “Tark”. Shortly thereafter, Varul’s Lithuanian and Latvian offices announced that they had joined up with Primus and BDO Legal, respectively. Derling’s announcement appears to bring this process to an apparently close.

A brief consideration of the fall-out of these changes was included in the recent The Buzz article for Estonia, based on a conversation with Varul Managing Partner Martin Tamme (published on May 23, 2016).

Hannes Vallikivi, the Managing Partner of Derling, explained his firm’s decision to rebrand:  “I can say on behalf of our highly capable and motivated team that we are extremely excited about starting operations under the new name and would like to continue finding the best innovative solutions for the challenges faced by our clients. I am sure that establishing a new law firm was the right decision. It has contributed to increasing the efficiency of our team and modernising the firm, allowing us to offer even more efficient and personalized services. Our name means ‘favourite’ in Old English and was inspired by a lawyer named Magnus Derling who practiced in Tallinn in the 17th century. Our attorneys have been the favourite providers of legal services to many of our local and international clients, and we are confident we will keep holding this position in the future!”

CMS has announced that Dora Petranyi has been appointed CMS Cameron McKenna’s CEE Managing Director to manage and develop the firm’s operations in Central and Eastern Europe. Petranyi — who begins her four year term this month — succeeds Warsaw-based Partner Andrew Kozlowski, who has managed CMS Cameron McKenna’s CEE operations since 2011.

Dora’s role will cover CMS Cameron McKenna offices in Bucharest, Budapest, Kyiv, Poznan, Prague, Sofia, Istanbul, and Warsaw, but will not cover CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz’s offices in Sofia or Kyiv (or elsewhere), nor the CMS Ruzicka Csekes office in Bratislava.

Petranyi, who is based in Budapest, joined CMS in 2009, after spending the previous two years as a Partner at Squire, Sanders & Dempsey (prior to that firm’s transformation into Squire Patton Boggs), and the previous 8 years at Magyar Telekom and its online service provider subsidiary, T-Online Hungary. She began her legal career with five years at PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal in Budapest, after graduating from the Eotvos Lorand University in 1993.

She has held a number of leadership positions at CMS, including Deputy Managing Partner for CEE and Co-Head of the CEE TMC Group, and her areas of specialization include IT law, competition law, IP law, public procurement matters, general commercial contracts, corporate restructuring, and M&A.” 

“CMS is well positioned to meet all the complex challenges and opportunities faced by our clients,” commented Petranyi. “My priorities are to build on our firm’s commitment to consistently provide our clients with the highest quality service and ensure that our teams work in a supportive and dynamic culture.”

The Lithuanian office of Varul has announced its merger with the Primus law firm, already operating in Estonia and Latvia, giving Primus — which until January 1, 2016, operated under the “Red” brand — full pan-Baltic coverage.

The news comes less than a week after the Estonian and Latvian offices of Varul announced that they would be leaving the firm to tie up with Tark Grunte Sutkiene and BDO Legal, respectively (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 14 and April 19, 2016).

“Recent changes in the legal market are influenced by the dynamic competitive environment,” said Robert Juodka, Managing Partner at Varul Lithuania, in reference to the dramatic developments of the past week. “In recent years we observe steady and sustainable growth of our office in Lithuania. We believe that combining our forces with new partners in Estonia and Latvia, we are strengthening our positions in the Baltic region and have the possibility to create innovative and ambitious network of legal services, which will be able to offer innovative legal solutions not only in the Baltic countries, but for clients in other European jurisdictions as well.”

“Currently we are very active in the Polish market,” Juodka continued. “Our Vilnius office is one of the founders and members of the Polish-Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce. Almost a year ago we have established Polish Desk, which offers specialist assistance to Polish companies, who would like to start doing business in Lithuania, implement projects or conclude contracts with Baltic partners.”

The office will continue to operate under the Varul trademark until the legal procedures related with the name change are completed.

Tark Grunte Sutkiene and Varul’s Estonia office have signed a memorandum of understanding to tie up and, in their words, “form a stronger Baltic partnership.” Going forward, Tark Grunte Sutkiene — which will continue to operate under that name — will employ over 140 lawyers across the Baltics.

The news of the merger — which does not include Varul’s Latvian and Lithuanian offices — follows the ongoing trend of consolidation and strengthening of pan-Baltic firms that started with a similar merger in September 2014 between the Vilnius offices of Tark Grunte Sutkiene and Baltic Legal Solutions (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on September 10, 2014).

That was followed, last year, by news that two of the region’s other major law firms — Lawin and Raidla, Lejins, & Norcous — had traded Estonian offices and reformed as Cobalt (as reported on May 19, 2015). and Ellex (as reported on May 20, 2015). Subsequently, following Borenius’s decision to withdraw from the Baltics, both Sorainen and Cobalt picked up significant members of that firm’s team as well (as reported on September 21 and September 23, 2015, respectively). An analysis of many of these changes, and the forces leading to them in the Baltics, was published in the June 2015 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine.

According to a statement released by Tark Grunte Sutkiene, it’s “expanded team creates the strongest mergers and acquisitions, litigation, energy, capital market, banking and finance, competition, and other practice groups in the Baltics.”

In the statement released by the firm, Ivars Grunte, the Chairman of Tark Grunte Sutkiene’s management board, welcomed his new Estonian colleagues: “TGS has always been at the forefront of Baltic law firms. The competition in Estonia and the Baltic market in general is fierce, therefore new and brave approaches to serving the client’s needs are necessary. I am convinced that the renowned brain power behind our new partners in Estonia will give a positive lift to our Baltic team of trusted advisers.”

What connects all the recent changes on the Baltic legal market, is the pursuit of the highest quality in legal services,” said Eugenija Sutkiene, Managing Partner of Tark Grunte Sutkiene in Lithuania. “I feel that excellence is best accomplished by working as a team together with partners that share the same values. Therefore, I’m very pleased about the present developments and looking forward to the next stage of our partnership.”

Martin Tamme, the Managing Partner of the former Varul Estonia, commented on the rationale behind his office’s decision to join with Tark Grunte Sutkiene: “Varul Estonia has witnessed excellent growth within the past few years, however, our ambition is to be number one in the Baltics. We are very enthusiastic about taking this substantial leap towards our goal.” Founder and Senior Partner Paul Varul added: ‘We see the three teams complementing each other nicely and are excited to be working together with professionals of this calibre.”

Tark Grunte Sutkiene’s announcement came several days after announcements that the firm’s Partner and Head of M&A in Estonia Risto Vahimets had moved to rival Raidla Ellex (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 8, 2016) and that Partner and Head of Competition in Estonia Rene Frolov had moved to Fort (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 1, 2015) — and on the same day that a large team reported having split off from Tark Grunte Sutkiene in Estonia to found a new firm, somewhat confusingly called TGS. For more on that story, which involved 16 of Tark Grunte Sutkiene’s 23 lawyers (before its merger with Varul Estonia), click here.

Editor’s Note: After this article was published, CEE Legal Matters received clarification from the Tark law firm that it remains in “strategic cooperation” with Tark Grunte Sutkiene, despite the latter’s agreement to tie up with Varul’s Estonia office as well. Thus, at least at the moment, Tark Grunte Sutkiene does not operate under that trademark in Estonia, and the firm/network has, essentially, two Estonian offices: One operating as Varul, and one operating as Tark.  

On a related note, following Varul Estonia’s agreement to enter into a strategic cooperation with Tark Grunte Sutkiene, the firm’s former Latvian and Lithuanian offices left the network to tie up with other firms (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 18th and 19th, respectively).