Eversheds Sutherland Slovakia Managing Partner Bernhard Hager talks about the evolution of the energy sector and their role as legal advisors in Slovakia over the last 10 years.

Guleryuz Partners Partner Zahide Altunbas Sancak talks about the evolution of the energy sector and their role as legal advisors in Turkiye over the last 10 years.

Musat & Asociatii Deputy Managing Partner Iulian Popescu talks about the evolution of PPP/Infrastructure and their role as legal advisors in Romania over the last 10 years.

Schoenherr Counsel Elena Todorova and Attorney at Law Dimitar Vlaevsky talk about the evolution of the real estate sector and their legal advisor roles in Bulgaria over the last 10 years.

Albota Law Firm Partner Oana Albota talks about the evolution of the real estate sector and her role as legal advisors in Romania over the last 10 years.

Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii Partner Catalin Baiculescu talks about the evolution of the TMT sector and their role as legal advisors in Romania over the last 10 years.

Baker McKenzie Partner Oleksiy Stolyarenko talks about the evolution of the TMT sector and their role as legal advisors in Ukraine over the last 10 years.

With a private practice background spanning over 20 years, John James McVeigh is the CEO and Head Trainer at Nixedonia – a business development company he established in 2015. He shares some of his insights on business development in the CEE legal world.

The CEE by the Numbers special issues – like the one we just launched last week – have always been close to my heart. Between our former editor David and I, he was always the writer. Some people just have a way with words. Others – words no have. I always found soothing serenity in numbers instead. But, just like words, numbers can tell a lot of stories. And each time we suffer in front of massive Excel sheets at 2 a.m. putting together the CEE by the Numbers reports, I find myself comparing the stories we are told with those that the numbers tell us.

For the followers of the CEE Legal Matters, the question of cooperation among local firms in deals that often have a regional nature is central. Such cooperation involves, first and foremost, the acquaintance between the law firms involved in the deal and their members.

ACI Partners Legal Manager Carolina Parcalab, Avellum Senior Partner Glib Bondar, Gecic Law Counsel Miodrag Jevtic, Vujacic Law Office Partner Sasha Vujacic, and Schoenherr Bulgaria Local Partner Tsvetan Krumov discuss the current status of capital markets in CEE.

With CMS’s recently published European M&A Outlook report taking the temperature of the M&A activity across the continent, CMS Romania Managing Partner Horea Popescu and CMS Vienna Partner Alexander Rakosi share their insights on M&A trends in the CEE region.

In The Corner Office, we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. Shifting our focus to the financial aspects of legal work, we asked: What percentage of your issued bills end up being overdue, what percentage end up never paid, and what is your firm’s/office’s standard methodology to handle both cases?

In our Looking In series, we talk to Partners from outside CEE who are keeping an eye on the region (and often pop up in our deal lists) to learn how they perceive CEE markets and their evolution. For this issue, we sat down with Reed Smith Partner Kevin-Paul Deveau.

Domanski Zakrzewski Palinka Managing Partner Krzysztof Zakrzewski, DWF Poland Managing Partner Michal Pawlowski, and MFW Fialek Managing Partner Miroslaw Fialek look at the current state of the Polish legal market and some of the challenges it faces despite increased volumes of work.

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland has found itself at the forefront of NATO’s eastern flank, sharing a border with a country embroiled in a full-scale war. DLA Piper Partner Marta Frackowiak and Dentons Partner Jaroslaw Witek talk about how this geopolitical reality has prompted a significant shift in Poland’s defense strategy.

Inflation rates, while high across Europe, have been particularly making headlines in Turkiye. Yalcin Babalioglu Kemahli in cooperation with CMS Managing Partner Done Yalcin, Ergun Law Firm Partner Lara Sezerler, Celepci Law in cooperation with Schoenherr Office Managing Partner Levent Celepci, KP Law Managing Partner Onur Kucuk, and Guleryuz & Partners Partner Zahide Altunbas Sancak discuss the current outlook.

In the context of economic and political uncertainties, coupled with the depreciation of the currency, interesting dynamics are unfolding within the Turkish legal landscape.