JMV Law Firm Profile Brochure
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Page | 2 www.jmv.co.me Content About Montenegro Page | 3 Our country Page | 3 Our profession Page | 3 About us Page | 4 Who we are? Page | 4 What we believe in? Page | 4 What we stand for? Page | 5 People Page | 6 Partners Page | 6 Senior lawyers Page | 7 Lawyers Page | 9 Administration Page | 11 Expertises Page | 12 Commercial law Page | 12 Corporate law Page | 13 Tax law Page | 13 Financial law Page | 14 Foreign investment law Page | 14 Family and hereditary law Page | 15 Property & land law Page | 15 Intellectual property law Page | 16 Communications law Page | 16 Energy law Page | 17 Information technology law Page | 17 Media law Page | 17 Civil & commercial litigation Page | 17 Criminal law & litigation Page | 18 Competition law Page | 18 Insurance law Page | 18 Labor law Page | 19 Foreigners law Page | 19 Sports law Page | 19 Clients Page | 19 Contacts Page | 22 Page | 3 www.jmv.co.me About Montenegro Our country Montenegro, meaning "Black Mountain", is a sovereign state in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the southwest and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast, Kosovo[a] to the east, and Albania to the southeast. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the Old Royal Capital. Total area is 13,812 km2, with population of about 680,000. In the 9th century, three Serb principalities were located on the territory of Montenegro: Duklja, roughly corresponding to the southern half; Travunia, the west; and Rascia, the north. In 1042, archon Stefan Vojislav led a revolt that resulted in the independence of Duklja from the Byzantine Empire and the establishment of the Vojislavljević dynasty. After passing through the control of several regional powers and the Ottoman Empire in the ensuing centuries, it became a part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1918, which was succeeded by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1945. After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, the republics of Serbia and Montenegro together established a federation as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, although its status as the legal successor to Yugoslavia was opposed by other former republics and denied by the United Nations; in 2003, it renamed itself Serbia and Montenegro. On the basis of an independence referendum held on 21 May 2006, Montenegro declared independence on 3 June of that year. It was officially named Republic of Montenegro until 22 October 2007. Classified by the World Bank as an upper middle-income country, Montenegro is a member of the UN, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, the Central European Free Trade Agreement and a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean. Official language is Montenegrin but Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian and Albanian are in local use as well. Our profession In Montenegro, legal profession is an independent and autonomous activity of providing legal aid to physical and legal persons. Legal profession may be only practiced by a lawyer who had obtained degree in Bachelor of Laws (4 years course). A lawyer can be enlisted as the attorney-at-law upon the passing of the bar and attorney exams, and following the admission to the Bar Association. Autonomy and independence of profession of the attorney-at-law is provided by: Independent performance of the legal profession, The client's right to free choice of attorney-at-law. Organization of attorneys-at-law in the Bar Association of Montenegro, as autonomous and independent organizations of attorneys-at-law, Adoption of general legislation by the Bar Associations, Deciding on admission to the Bar Associations and the termination of the right to practice law under the reference of the attorney-at-law. Provision of legal aid includes: Providing oral and written legal advice and opinions, Writing petitions, requests, suggestions, applications, legal remedies, and submissions, Drafting contracts, testaments, settlements, statements, general and individual acts and other documents, Representation and defense of individuals and legal entities, Mediation for the purpose of concluding a legal transaction or the peaceful settlement of disputes and contentious relationships, Providing other legal aid on behalf of national or foreign physical or legal persons, based o which to exercise their rights and protect freedom and other interests. Page | 4 www.jmv.co.me About us Who we are? We are the team of devoted professionals, having working for decades in legal industry of Montenegro. Our objective will remain the same - to provide legal services with precision and high quality. We have been operating as a new entity in the legal advisory market of FR Yugoslavia since 1984, when we were founded by the attorney-at-law Novica Jovovic. Between 1992 and 2009 we had worked in Montenegro and Serbia under the name law firm Jovovic & partners, and since January 2010 we are working under the name law firm Jovovic, Mugosa & Vukovic. From the very beginning we have been recognized as a successful and highly respected law office, with diverse portfolio of legal services and also as a reliable, loyal and competent partner of our clients. If one measure success of a law firm by the size of workforce, then our law firm is the biggest in Montenegro. In addition to that, our law firm shall be between three biggest legal services providers in Montenegro, if one apply criterion of size of client database and annually generated revenues. Eventually, if one perform benchmarking on the ground of quality of IT sector, internal procedures, case management, client care etc., our law firm again needs to be envisaged as indisputable market leader. With bespoke approach to our clients we have assured a leading position and good reputation. Our operative results yielded a possibility to participate in process of privatization and restructuring of ex state-owned property, resolving strategic economic controversies and other high value disputes, protection of human rights and intellectual property and the disputes that were of particular media and public interest. From the beginning of our work, the law firm has been reinforced with young staff, with talented lawyers that are capable to resolve diverse problems with energy and knowledge. Important moment in the life of the firm was in 2016, when we had moved to the new 1000 sq.m building on the present downtown address. We sincerely believe that services based on proficiency and qualifications are the pillars of success. In year to come, our objectives shall remain the same - to provide a service of precision and high quality, and we will do that only if we stay current with the legal environment in Western Balkans. In order to be capable to propose complex legal solutions, we need to cooperate with reputable business, tax, financial and accounting advisors in Montenegro and abroad. In addition to that, from time to time, we have cooperated with other specialists in areas that require specific non-legal qualifications and knowledge. What we believe in? Our approach to providing of legal services is based on the fundamental belief that client’s interest must be at all times represented and protected in highly professional and ethical manner. We believe that relation between the client and the lawyer must be accordingly precisely and transparently regulated. Cooperation between the law firm and the client must follow minimal number of phases: 1. The client and/or outsourced attorney makes first formal contact to the law firm. They provide name of the parties and attorneys involved in the case. General briefing about the case is done. Non-disclosure agreement is executed between the client and/or outsourced attorney and law firm. 2. Conflict of interest checking is performed. Law firm performs KYC (know your customer) and AML (anti money laundering) inspection with respect to personal information provided by the client. 3. The client and/or outsourced attorney discuss the case in more detailed manner with our lawyers, in order to identify scope of work, define case deadline and budget for the services. No fee is charged for the initial consultation. Page | 5 www.jmv.co.me 4. Law firm and client executes agreement on providing of legal services. The General terms and Conditions must be incorporated in the agreement. 5. At this phase, the client and/or outsourced attorney needs to produce to the law firm respective powers of attorney, deliver detailed information and disclose all relevant documents (e.g. evidences etc.). 6. Law firm performs analyze of information and documents and request explanations, clarification etc. If possible, additional meetings are held, conference calls are scheduled etc. 7. Engaged lawyer creates preliminary opinion ("first draft"). 8. Preliminary opinion of the lawyer is inspected and formally verified by the law firm's partners ("second draft"). Document is sent to the client and/or outsourced attorney for review and amendments. 9. Client and/or outsourced attorney deliver review and amendments to the second draft. 10. Agreed services is provided by means of serving of the final draft ("third draft") to the competent authority and/or person in charge, or undertaking of procedural actions etc. During aforementioned ten phases, certain ethical standards must be followed. In addition to ethical standards imposed by the Bar Association of Montenegro, we apply standards of the Ethical Code of the International Bar Association. What we stand for? We do not generalize. In fact, we provide competent, reliable, documented, prompt and bespoke service, having been designed to meet specific needs of a particular client. We structure teams of lawyers and outsourced advisors in a way that they are able to act immediately and to provide legal services at the highest ethics and professional level.