Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen Partner Anca Diaconu talks about competition in Romania in 2025.

In The Corner Office, we ask Managing Partners at law firms across Central and Eastern Europe about their backgrounds, strategies, and responsibilities. This time around we asked: If you have a formal partnership track, how do you handle lawyers on it who do NOT end up living up to the requirements to make a Partner?

We are living in very interesting times with spectacular innovations in technology. The law is hardly keeping up with all these changes. Companies and authors of intellectual property works are also challenged and need to adjust to the new evolving environment.

Contributed by Bancila, Diaconu si Asociatii.

Filip & Company has advised the Adrem group on the sale of 20% of the shares in Adrem Energy Solutions to ROCA Investments. Popovici, Nitu & Asociatii advised ROCA Investments.

The latest DLA Piper GDPR Fines and Data Breach Survey provides a comprehensive overview of data protection enforcement trends across Europe, including the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. CEE countries are in the mid-range in terms of total GDPR fines imposed since the regulation became applicable in 2018 and for last year, but enforcement activity is steadily increasing. Here are the latest trends and legal developments in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.

There are not many legal sectors that experience the ground-breaking changes which employment law faces every year on the Romanian market. In the past 3 years, our legislator’s appetite to regulate and overregulate matters like avoiding harassment at work, amending long established legal templates, or the new law on social dialogue have strongly shaken the peaceful climate of employment relationships.

In an eagerly awaited development, Romania has taken a step forward in fostering more clarity on essential concepts relevant for foreign direct investment (FDI) screening, by publishing draft guidelines (the "Guidelines"), anticipated to enter into force in March 2025. While the Guidelines may not bring major surprises for practitioners who have been working in the FDI trenches since the regime came into force in April 2022, the formal codification of the authority's practice is a welcome step toward greater transparency and predictability.

Effective from 2 February 2025, the provisions of Chapter 1 and 2 of the EU Regulation no. 2024/1689 laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence (“EU AI Act”) regarding AI literacy and the ban on use of AI systems that pose unacceptable risks have entered into force.

Dentons, working with Kirkland & Ellis, Grette, and Akund Forbes, has advised Helmerich & Payne on the USD 1.97 billion acquisition of UK-headquartered KCA Deutag International Limited. Allen Overy Shearman Sterling reportedly advised KCA Deutag International Limited.

Former Reff & Associates Senior Managing Associate Andreea Serban has joined Stratulat Albulescu as a Partner in the firm's Financial Services and Mergers & Acquisitions departments.

On February 18, 2025, Taylor Wessing announced that Sennder's acquisition of C.H. Robinson's European surface transportation operations (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on August 5, 2024) is now closed.

If your company sells products that contain, have been fed with or have been made using cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya or wood, then your company should most likely start preparing for compliance with the EU Deforestation Regulation[1]. The same applies if others in your company's supply chain produce or sell these commodities or related products.

Dentons has advised Piraeus Bank on project financing for a solar power plant developed by Metlen Energy & Metals in Romania.

Bulboaca & Asociatii has advised Superbet Group on a EUR 1.3 billion investment from American investment funds Blackstone and HPS Investment Partners.

1 January 2025 marked the entry into force of the obligation for Romanian established taxpayers that carry out taxable operations in Romania to report in the Romanian invoicing System the invoices issued in B2C transactions.

Filip & Company has advised Dante International and HeyBlu IFN on the acquisition of Orange Money IFN.

A new regulation, in force from January 28, 2025 establishes additional obligations and reporting requirements on Romanian companies with 50 or more employees in respect of hiring disabled people.