It’s been a busy period here at CEE Legal Matters, as we ramp up for the Dealer’s Choice conference, the Deal of the Year Awards Banquet, and the two-day GC Summit, all happening between June 6-8 in Prague. Putting together one major event is already a serious challenge – putting together three major events, running back-to-back-to-back (while, of course, keeping up with the demands of the CEE Legal Matters website and this here monthly magazine), is … well, as I said, it’s been a busy period.
Next year, we’re planning on doing it a bit differently. While we keep the GC Summit in early June (probably in Vienna for the first time), we have tentatively scheduled the 2019 Dealer’s Choice conference and Deal of the Year Banquet for March 28, 2019, in Budapest with a new event – a special conference for CEE law firm marketing and business development experts – scheduled for the day before. Those dates aren’t final, of course – but that’s the plan. And there will, of course, be Early Bird discounts to both events for those who sign up this year. Those interested in learning more, or who would like to share their ideas for events with us should contact us.
In any event, I can’t imagine we’ll get much sympathy for how busy we are. It appears that M&A and Real Estate lawyers are staying, happily, equally busy across the region – the mood at the Round Table on the Hungarian Real Estate sector (page 48) could hardly have been more upbeat – and even the claims of activity from lawyers in those countries where investment is limited due to unique political challenges seem less dubious than before. Nobody would claim the glory days of 2006 are back, but nobody’s complaining, either.
And of course the GDPR is a major part of this. The Regulation, which inspires much of the content of this issue, is providing unprecedented amounts of work for lawyers at law firms across Europe. Still, while nobody would deny its commercial value for lawyers or turn away any of the business it’s generating, the combination of panic and confusion that is accompanying its May 25 implementation are causing anxiety and stress all down the line. But we’ll take it! Indeed, to some extent “anxiety and stress” is what law firms are designed to help with. It’s the Bat-signal, the dog whistle, for the legal industry. And glad we are for it.
So things are good! The EU is implementing laws that necessitate massive internal compliance changes both inside and outside the Union, economies are strong and getting stronger, and the two biggest and best networking and socializing events for lawyers in the history of CEE are about to begin in the City of 100 Spires. CEE, it appears, is rockin’ and rollin’. Let’s keep that train moving!
