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Year 6, Issue 12 EE January 2020 Legal Matters In-Depth Analysis of the News and Newsmakers That Shape Europe’s Emerging Legal Markets Guest Editorial: Miriam Simsa of Schoenherr Across the Wire: Deals and Cases in CEE On the Move: New Firms and Practices The Buzz in CEE Talking Tax: Interview with Balazs Kantor of LKT Practice Under Pressure: How the Legal Profession in Bosnia & Herzegovina Experienced the Bosnian War Market Spotlight: Poland Guest Editorial: Karolina Stawowska of Wolf Theiss The Effect of Law & Justice in Poland Inside Insight: Interview with Anna Wawrzynczak of the Polish Development Fund Inside Out: Grupa Lotos Refinancing Market Spotlight: Russia Guest Editorial: Alexander Zharskiy of Alrud Russia Reacts to International Sanctions Inside Insight: Interview with Anastasiya Shkarina of Unilever Experts Review: Shipping/Transportation The Confident Counsel: The Secret to Killer Presentationsk DEALER’S CHOICE LAW FIRM SUMMIT & 2020 CEE DEAL OF THE YEAR AWARDS APRIL 23, 2020 CEE/YOU IN LONDON! DEALER’S CHOICE SUMMIT CO-HOSTED BY: SPONSORED BY: REGIONAL SPONSOR REGIONAL SPONSOR CROATIA SPONSOR HUNGARY SPONSOR SERBIA SPONSOR TURKEY SPONSOR UKRAINE SPONSOR PRELIMINARY MATTERS JANUARY 2020 EE EDITORIAL: A REFLECTIVE Legal Matters In-Depth Analysis of the News and Newsmakers That Shape Europes Emerging Legal Markets FEVER DREAM As has been this editor’s tradition in recent The Best Presentation years, I managed to switch off my outlook Aaron Muhly, who took the over the last few days of the year and spend the graveyard shift and made one winter holidays right: on a sunny, warm spot of the final presentations at by the beach, getting my vitamin D fix. I paid this year’s CEELM Hungary my dues when I returned to cold Budapest, GC Summit, made the whole though, as the first signs of a flu appeared on room laugh when pointing out some of the my first evening back. common mistakes lawyers make in their busi- The good news, as I woke up the next morn- ness communications. We won’t even try to ing, back and ready to kick off 2020 in style, replicate his anecdotes here, but we’re happy was that I didn’t have the flu anymore. The bad we managed to corrupt him into a regular col- news was that it had evolved into the plague. umn for our magazine: “The Confident Coun- The Editors: sel.” So there I am, tucked in blanket and lying on The Most Random Requests David Stuckey my sofa at home, my warm, fluffy foot-hug- [email protected] gers on, wearing a thick scarf around my neck A close tie between a named partner writing to Radu Cotarcea to warm up my throat, alternating between us after we reported on the dissolution of his [email protected] chugging bucket-sized mugs of hot tea to try firm claiming that the simple use of his name to breathe and hot coffee to stay semi-lucid, in the story – again, this is a named partner Letters to the Editors: and address incoming emails – a few from in the firm – constituted “a serious breach of If you like what you read in these staff writers, more from back office colleagues personal data”; and a marketeer from a law trying to address clients’ needs, and a flood of firm writing to us to ask if we could generate a pages (or even if you don’t) we really do want to hear from you. questions from panicky marketeers who had report for them showing how many deals they Please send any comments, crit- just received our reminder that our first deals had worked on throughout the year. icisms, questions, or ideas to us submissions’ deadline was a week away – all The Most CEELM Fun at: while trying to wrap up the issue of the maga- [email protected] zine now in your hands. The annual bowling challenge for charity in Budapest was, as always, a blast. The third I gave up and decided I could no longer work competition’s proceeds went to the Bator Ta- Disclaimer: after realizing that I’d been staring at the same bor Foundation, which organizes special sum- At CEE Legal Matters, we hate boil- email for over 30 minutes. I took a time out, mer camps for cancer-afflicted and chronically erplate disclaimers in small print as closed my laptop, and stared at the ceiling, re- ill children, making it a valuable evening – but I much as you do. But we also recognize flecting on 2019. Here’s my CEELM highlights the importance of the “better safe than have to admit that seeing lawyers from 14 dif- sorry” principle. So, while we strive for for the year: ferent Hungarian law firms battling out on the accuracy and hope to develop our read- lanes with, ahem, significant amount of beer ers’ trust, we nonetheless have to be ab- The Best Pro Tip solutely clear about one thing: Nothing floating around, had its own special appeal. in the CEE Legal Matters magazine or website is meant or should be under- We learned of a marketeer who decided she Personal Highlights stood as legal advice of any kind. Read- would no longer rely on partners to inform her ers should proceed at their own risk, and Avengers Endgame was a blast and Harley – a any questions about legal assertions, of closed deals so she could prepare her sum- comic-book-inspired-named rescue dog – conclusions, or representations made maries of them, because it was always the last in these pages should be directed to the came into my life. Not legal- or CEELM-re- person or persons who made them. item on those partners’ to-do lists, so she made lated in any way at all – I’m just a nerd at heart an arrangement with the receptionist to notify We believe CEE Legal Matters can and these had to make the list. serve as a useful conduit for legal ex- her whenever either of the conference rooms perts, and we will continue to look for were booked for a closing. Radu Cotarcea ways to exapnd that service. But now, later, and for all time: We do not our- selves claim to know or understand the Correction: In the "Proof Positive: PRK Partners’ Relaxed Path to Success" article that appeared law as it is cited in these pages, nor do we accept any responsibility for facts as in the October 2019 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine PRK Partners was mistakenly they may be asserted. reported to have opened its doors for business 36 years ago. In fact, the Czech and Slovak firm was launched in 1993 – now 27 years ago. We apologize for the error. CEE Legal Matters 3 JANUARY 2020 PRELIMINARY MATTERS GUEST EDITORIAL: HEAR AND DARE – REFLECTIONS OF AN AUSTRIAN LAWYER WORKING IN C/SEE CEE is a highly-fragmented market. What sounds like a dull Generational Conflict. Being a geographical statement ac-tually highlights the main challenge trainee in a reputable international of being a lawyer working in a regional CEE law firm. firm has its perks –but it definite- ly has its challenges too. One of these is coordinating foreign Being a cross-border transactional lawyer means it is nev- lawyers that are your seniors in age and experience. Conversely, er enough just to know the laws of your home country. being a senior lawyer and having to answer to a newly-graduated Of course, lawyers qualified to advise in countries oth- lawyer who has very little experience in civil law jurisdic-tions ers than your own will be available to assist, but ideal- is equally painful. A little bit of understanding for the other ly you should also be up to date yourself, with, for instance, side goes a long way. After all, they bring the hot-shot big-name how long it takes to transfer shares in a Romanian srl; transactions. And, after all, they help you to make your client the newest developments in capital maintenance rules in Slovakia; happy. and the current state of Serbian capital controls. It means testing legal boundaries in countries where you can’t even un-derstand Size Matters. When I first started working in CEE, having a the menu. And it means trusting lawyers who may be far young- lawyer in another country answer a legal question with, “not er than you – or leading lawyers that could be your parents. sure - however it is solved in Austria is probably how we would do it,” made me furious. After all, I was asking a senior attorney, A few things I’ve picked up on my journey: so I ex-pected a clear-cut answer. Presence Matters. Never mind skype, facetime, and whatev- With a few notable exceptions, CEE countries are small. This er other new great pro-gram someone just launched – noth- means fewer international firms bother to have an office in ing beats an old-fashioned face-to-face meeting. Whether this these, and the overall legal market can be rather in-ward-look- means relocating for a week to sit next to your colleagues to ing and slow to incorporate international best practices. It also finalize a submission or flying in for just one meeting, the time means there are not as many precedents as in larger markets and effort is totally worth it. and not so many legal professionals writing commentary after commentary on each exotic legal question. Finally, it means that Mozemy? No one expects you to negotiate in the local lan- a lawyer can never specialize as much as, for example, a law- guage, but learning at least a few words in that language really yer working in a Magic Circle firm can.