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Year 4, Issue 6 CEE June 2017 Legal Matters In-Depth Analysis of the News and Newsmakers That Shape Europe’s Emerging Legal Markets Editorial: Brevity is the Soul of Wit Across the Wire: Deals and Cases in CEE On the Move: New Firms and Practices Guest Editorial: In-House and Privileged The Buzz in CEE Experts Review: Labor & Employment The Spiraling Controversy of Hungary’s Lex CEU Face to Face: Wolf Theiss Interviews 3M The Corner Office: Your Least Favorite Thing Market Spotlight: Poland Inside Out: Advent International Invests in Integer.pl Tending the Polish Bar: Interview with the President of the National Counsel of Legal Advisors Expat on the Market: Interview with Daniel Cousens of Linklaters PRELIMINARY MATTERS JUNE 2017 CEE EDITORIAL: BREVITY IS THE Legal Matters In-Depth Analysis of the News and Newsmakers That Shape Europe's Emerging Legal Markets SOUL OF WIT “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him But as in all things, Mark free.” – Michelangelo Twain said it better than I can. So allow me to present In addition to the hundreds of emails I send several of his comments on each week, I also write dozens of articles for the the importance of brevity CEE Legal Matters website, as well as a signifi- in writing, in the hope that cant amount of the content in every issue of this we all can take encourage- magazine. I also review/edit/revise the dozens ment from them. of interviews, Expert Review articles, Market Snapshots, and other content produced by other • “A successful book is not writers in each issue of the magazine. You may made of what is in it, but not be surprised to hear that writing is on my what is left out of it.” mind a lot. • “To get the right word in the right place is a rare It seems so easy, doesn’t it? Just put your thoughts achievement. To condense the diffused light of a on a page. A few thousand keystrokes, and –hey page of thought into the luminous flash of a sin- presto! – a fascinating article, an insightful edito- gle sentence, is worthy to rank as a prize compo- rial, a penetrating analysis. sition just by itself …. Anybody can have ideas. The difficulty is to express them without squan- The Editors: If only. dering a quire of paper on an idea that ought to David Stuckey [email protected] Those of us who write for a living can only laugh be reduced to one glittering paragraph.” at the memory of our early school days, when • “I notice that you use plain, simple lan- Radu Cotarcea the assignment of a mere 200-word essay was a guage, short words and brief sentences. [email protected] familiar source of mental stress. Finding those That is the way to write English – it is the 200 words seemed virtually impossible. Inevita- modern way and the best way. Stick to it; Letters to the Editors: bly, the placement of those last fifteen words re- don’t let fluff and flowers and verbosity creep in. sembled the final steps of a runner stumbling to- If you like what you read in these When you catch an adjective, kill it. No, I don’t wards the finish line of his first marathon: Slow, pages (or even if you don’t) we mean utterly, but kill most of them – then the awkward, and as painful to watch as to perform. really do want to hear from you. rest will be valuable. They weaken when they are Please send any comments, crit- Now, in our adulthood, we deal with the op- close together. They give strength when they are icisms, questions, or ideas to us posite agony. How to hit word limits. How to wide apart. An adjective habit, or a wordy, dif- at: narrow our thousands of words down into their fuse, flowery habit, once fastened upon a person, [email protected] most pointed, most effective, purest form. How is as hard to get rid of as any other vice.” to satisfy editors, maintain the interest of read- • “The time to begin writing an article is when ers, and most effectively persuade our audience. Disclaimer: you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that At CEE Legal Matters, we hate boil- It’s a painful process, for me as for everyone else. time you begin to clearly and logically perceive erplate disclaimers in small print as For just as we impose word limits on the lawyers what it is you really want to say.” much as you do. But we also recognize who contribute articles to this (and every) issue the importance of the “better safe than • “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I of the CEE Legal Matters magazine, our Man- sorry” principle. So, while we strive for wrote a long one instead.” accuracy and hope to develop our read- aging Editor imposes similar restrictions on me ers’ trust, we nonetheless have to be ab- as he carries out his formatting responsibilities. • “Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined solutely clear about one thing: Nothing in the CEE Legal Matters magazine or Being faced with a firm instruction to cut anoth- to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the website is meant or should be under- er 100 or 200 words (or sometimes 500 words) writing will be just as it should be.” stood as legal advice of any kind. Read- from whatever masterpiece I’ve prepared for a ers should proceed at their own risk, and It’s worth emphasizing that we appreciate all the any questions about legal assertions, particular issue is, by now, a familiar agony. conclusions, or representations made effort made by the authors of articles and edi- in these pages should be directed to the Still, I know (and encourage others to remember) torials in this and every issue of our magazine person or persons who made them. that, in fact, the end result is inevitably – inevi- – and I hope they forgive what must sometimes We believe CEE Legal Matters can tably – better. Keeping articles, essays, editorials, seem to be arbitrary flourishes of my red pen. serve as a useful conduit for legal ex- perts, and we will continue to look for briefs, and memos short forces clarity and focus But by cutting I cure. The goal, after all, is to find ways to exapnd that service. But now, upon us. Brevity keeps the reader engaged, and that angel in the marble and set her free. later, and for all time: We do not our- forces discipline upon the author. Think about selves claim to know or understand the Oh yes. The original draft of this editorial was that Michelangelo quote. law as it is cited in these pages, nor do 1200 words. we accept any responsibility for facts as they may be asserted. “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” – Mark Twain David Stuckey CEE Legal Matters 3 JUNE 2017 PRELIMINARY MATTERS GUEST EDITORIAL: IN-HOUSE AND PRIVILegeD By Daniel Szabo, South-East Europe Legal Counsel, HPE Last year the Hungarian Ministry of Justice prepared a new At- – creates many challenges. torney Act that would radically re-structure the current regulatory For example, how can the bar establish facts if most of the neces- approach to in-house counsel. GCs of leading companies in Hun- sary data is with an employer reluctant to disclose it? gary were given the opportunity to share their views in the process, Another aspect to look at is the relationship between in-house giving them a rare occasion to pause and collectively consider the counsel and private practitioners. A superficial observation would nature of this branch of the legal profession which in its few dec- suggest that the two should be in intense competition for the cor- ades of existence has grown so much in significance. porate legal budget. In reality, their roles are complementary and We found that the most distinctive characteristic of our activity is large organizations cannot function without both: In-house coun- that it is deeply embedded into the business of our only client: our sel provide day-to-day advice and have subject-matter expertise employer. Leading companies tend to employ lawyers at all levels specific to the business, while private practitioners take on large- of the organization, including the c-suite. We believe that this inti- scale litigations, restructurings, internal investigations, M&As, and mate alignment with corporate decision-making is our biggest value similar assignments. Of course, in-house counsel retain (or play a to business and society since we bring the aspect of legality to every key role in retaining), instruct, and approve the performance and significant corporate decision. invoices of law firms, which does create the potential for friction, for example in a high profile billing dispute. In the Communist Hungary of the 1950s, in-house counsel were referred to as “corporate prosecutors” – a concept overemphasiz- While Belgium opted for a standalone in-house counsel bar as- ing their role as guardians of legality at the expense of counselling sociation, recognizing in a very consistent way the distinct nature and advocacy. Because fundamentally in-house counsel are trusted of this branch of the legal profession, Hungarian lawmakers have legal advisors. chosen a somewhat different approach. In-house counsel in this country now have the option to apply to the Hungarian Bar Associ- However, the European Court of Justice, in its Akzo Nobel deci- ation for membership, and those admitted will share the institution sion, was skeptical of the ability of in-house counsel to strike a bal- with private practitioners.

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