Polish lawyer and former Goodwin Senior Associate Joanna Eilts has become the new Head of Legal at Optio in London.

Former Baker McKenzie's Turkish affiliate Esin Attorney Partnership Senior Associate Ceyda Sila Cetinkaya has joined Merzigo as a Senior Vice President.

BBH Managing Partner has moved in-house and joined Kaprain.

Former KUKE CFO Jan Sarnowski has joined B2RLaw as the new Head of Tax Practice.

Former Mars Wrigley Head of Legal for Poland Magdalena Dedynska has become the company's new Senior Counsel for Central Europe.

Former Clifford Chance Counsel Aneta Disman has joined Wikov as its Chief Legal Officer in the Czech Republic.

Former Baker McKenzie Senior Associate Katerina Schenkova has joined Thyssenkrupp as its new Regional Compliance Officer.

Former Schoenherr Partner Jelena Arsic has joined MaxBet in Serbia as its new Chief Legal and Risk Officer.

Former Wolf Theiss Counsel Nevena Skocic has joined IFC's Vienna office as Counsel.

Former Panattoni Legal Director Kamila Dutkowska-Wawrzak has joined Atlas Ward as Legal Director and Board Advisor.

Former DLA Piper Counsel Magdalena Zablocka-Foulkes has joined Orlen as its new General Counsel.

Former Cora General Counsel Bianca Vlad has become the new General Counsel at Brico Depot Romania, part of Kingfisher Group.

Former Estateguru General Counsel Artur Sanglepp has returned to private practice and joined Rask as an Attorney at Law.

Dragana Poljak has joined AirSerbia as its new Ethics, Compliance, and Corporate Law Manager.

Former LSW Partner Aleksandra Polak has joined Billtrust as a Director and Assistant General Counsel.

Hungarian Lawyer Peter Paroczi has been promoted to the Head of Compliance and Corporate Governance at the Qatar Fertilizer Company.

Aslihan Evcimen has joined Saint-Gobain as their Country Legal Director in Istanbul, Turkiye.

Former White & Case Associate Petra Zunova has become the Director of Legal Affairs at Phrase.

Former Senior Legal Counsel Can Aksoy has been appointed as Delivery Hero's Principal Legal Counsel M&A.

Turkish lawyer Damla Aygun Yararca was appointed to the role of Head of Legal, Ethics, Compliance & Quality by Novo Nordisk. 

Turkish lawyer Soley Guzel was appointed by Roche Pharmaceuticals as its Legal Director of Roche Diagnostics Asia-Pacific.

Former RWS Language Services Legal Director Nada Matusikova has been appointed Co-Head of Legal at the RWS Group.

Strategyzer has appointed Joanna Czaplicka to Head of Legal in Warsaw.

Microsoft has appointed Romanian lawyer Gabriela Popescu to Corporate, External and Legal Affairs Head, Central Europe.

British American Tobacco has appointed Zora Ilic as its Head of Legal and External Affairs for Adria Cluster.

CIG Pannonia Insurance has appointed David Kozma as Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

ISS Turkey has appointed Gamze Sandurac Baykal to Chief Legal Officer in Istanbul.

3M Hellas has appointed Antigone Papangelopoulou as the Country Leader in Greece.

Paysafe has appointed Vienna-based Christopher Fisher to Associate General Counsel & Senior Vice President.

Takeda has appointed former Dubai-based Head of Ethics & Compliance, ICMEA Gonca Sonmez Uyguc to Senior Director in Istanbul.

Delivery Hero has appointed Katalin Kiss as Director, Interim Head of Corporate Law in Berlin.

First Investment Bank has appointed Anton Petrov as Chief Compliance Director in Bulgaria.

Molson Coors Beverage Company's former CEE Region Legal and Corporate Affairs Director Anton Karlov has been appointed Chief Legal and Corporate Affairs Officer, EMEA APAC Division within the company.

Adam Grzeskiewicz has been appointed to Head of Legal & Corporate Relations at DNB Bank Polska.

McKinsey & Company has appointed Burcu Karaaslan Altan to Assistant General Counsel in Turkey.

Fresenius Medical Care has appointed Belgrade-based Mirko Lalatovic to the role of Head of Compliance, Central & South East Europe, EMEA.

In the Inside Track, General Counsels across CEE share the nuances of their roles, challenges, and strategies for success. As summer is a time to unwind, we asked: With summer here, what is your one favorite yearly activity to disconnect and switch off?

Overseeing diverse sectors across multiple countries, Petrol Group Director of Legal Affairs Mojca Logar discusses the challenges and strategies in managing the group’s legal affairs and navigating complex regulatory landscapes, while emphasizing internal legal expertise and collaborating with external firms for specialized projects and new legislation.

As Pfizer’s Legal Director overseeing Greece, Cyprus, Malta, and Israel, Stathis Mihos explores EU health policy advancements and the complexities arising from the pandemic and examines how artificial intelligence is dynamically influencing lawyers’ work.

On March 17, CEE Legal Matters reported that Adon Legal has advised Taiwanese capital company FinCause on obtaining an electronic money institution license from the Bank of Lithuania. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Waylon Yeh FinCause Founder and Member of the Management Board to learn more about the matter. 

On May 2, CEE Legal Matters reported that Zivkovic Samardzic has advised Fifth Quarter Ventures on the legal process for becoming an alternative investment fund in Serbia. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Pedja Predin, Co-Founder & General Partner at Fifth Quarter Ventures, to learn more about the matter. 

On November 23, CEE Legal Matters reported that Cobalt had advised BaltCap Latvia Venture Capital Fund and funds managed by Imprimatur Capital, together with other shareholders, on the sale of Blue Bridge Technologies to Everfield. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Henning Schreiber, Head of Acquisitions at Everfield, to learn more about the acquisition.

On February 3, CEE Legal Matters reported that Walless had advised the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant on a project tender for reactor dismantling technology design services. CEE In-House Matters spoke with INPP CEO, Audrius Kamienas to learn more about the matter.

On February 16, CEE Legal Matters reported that Dentons had advised a banking consortium on their EUR 155 million financing for the 103.3-megawatt Krivaca wind farm project co-owned by Serbia’s MK Group and Slovenia’s ALFI Green Energy Fund. The lending consortium consisted of Erste Group Bank, Erste Bank Novi Sad, and other banks. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Ladislav Tolmaci, Executive Director at Erste Bank, to learn more about the financing. 

On March 3, CEE Legal Matters reported that BPV Grigorescu Stefanica has advised Omnia Capital on its acquisition of Dumagas from Bancroft. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Matei Ladea, Chief Evangelist at Omnia, to learn more about the acquisition.

On February 21, CEE Legal Matters reported that Tokushev & Partners and Musseva & Ivanov had helped MFG Ins obtain an insurance license from the Financial Supervision Commission of Bulgaria. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Ivelina Kavurska, Director of Strategic Projects and a member of the Management Board of MFG, to learn more about the matter.

On January 18, CEE Legal Matters reported that Fatur Menard had advised the Svetlik family on the sale of their 42% stake in Hidria owner H&R to Spanish corporation Gonvarri. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Gasper Svetlik, Co-Founder and CEO at Svetlik Family Office, to learn more about the matter.

On January 4, CEE Legal Matters reported that Dorda, working with Loyens & Loeff, had advised Croma-Pharma on entering into a business combination agreement with the European Healthcare Acquisition & Growth Company. CEE In-House Matters spoke with Andreas Prinz, Managing Director at Croma Pharma, to learn more about the deal.

Completing complex transactions, investment procedures, and deals is never easy. With the amount of work and pressure exerted over businesses, in-house legal teams must be versatile, nimble, and ready for everything.Taking a closer look at all the Deal 5 interviews that CEE In-House Matters has conducted over the years, we sought to map out the biggest challenges that got in the way of smooth sailing. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, the most frequent challenge that in-house teams and General Counsels working on some of the most important deals across CEE have mentioned was multitasking, or working in multiples. 

Looking at the CEE In-House Matters Deal 5 interviews over the past three years, approximately two-thirds of GCs said that the reason behind choosing a specific legal counsel was their successful cooperation in the past. We identified and structured those key elements and criteria they used in making their decision, with the most salient arguments presented below.

Based on 130 CEE In-House Matters Deal 5 interviews, we analyzed the fundamental factors that play a role in GCs’ decision-making process in terms of choosing a new law firm to work with. The most frequently brought up factors are described below.

Adam Brzezinski of MoneyGram, Alex Florescu of Nepi RockCastle, Asli Sahinkaya of Setur, Christian Blatchford of Energo Pro, Deniz Sanli of American Gaming Systems, Eleni Stathaki of Upstream Systems, Ernest Jedrzejewski of Amgen, Ioana Regenbogen of ING, Joanna Przybyl of Revetas Capital, Mark Erdelyi of Yettel Hungary, Marta Ziolkowska-Nasinska of Fererro, Mary Chaidou of AIG, Stefan Orosi of Prima Bank Slovensko, Wioletta Kaloska of Symfonia, Zita Toth of Primaenergia, describe what is at the top of the agenda for their compliance and risk functions and how they nurture a culture of compliance within their companies.

Adam Brzezinski of MoneyGram, Andrzej Klimek of Idea Getin Leasing, Clementina Canel of Fepra, Eleni Stathaki of Upstream Systems, Dora Szebeni of the Vanguards Fashion Group, Ingo Steinwender of CA Immobilien, Ioana Regenbogen of ING, Iwona Gajek of BNP Paribas, Judit Miskolci of Teva, Mark Erdelyi of Yettel Hungary, Mary Chaidou of AIG, Nadia Matusikova of RWS Moravia, Radu Culic of Roche, Stefan Orosi of Prima Bank Slovensko, Sylvia Nanovska of Telelink, Tiina Pukk of Kou Mobility, Viktor Fonth of HB Reavis, Zeynep Derman Kucukonder of Coca-Cola, Zita Toth of Primaenergia, Zsuzsanna Lippai of Mercedes-Benz, Zuzanna Kopaczynska-Grabiec of Wonga.pl, and others talk about how they manage their companies' legal functions' budgets.

The last time I wrote for CEELM, we had been discussing how COVID-19 changed a General Counsel’s scope of activity. How everything shifted in a short time frame and how we were waiting to see the world return to a regular pace – different, but still comfortable enough – without the pandemic threat paralyzing us all.

Alex Florescu of Nepi RockCastle, Andrzej Klimek of Idea Getin Leasing, Bora Kaya of Gama Power Systems, Clementina Canel of Fepra, Dora Szebeni of Vanguards Fashion Group, Eirini Florou of Holcim, Eleni Stathaki of Upstream Systems, Gamze Bedirkurum of Ericsson, Gunel Rzayeva of VavaCars, Ioana Regenbogen of ING, Iwona Gajek of BNP Paribas, Judit Miskolci of Teva, Mary Chaidou of AIG, Milan Lomic of L’Oreal, Radu Culic of Roche, Ramona Ene of ADM, Sylvia Nanovska of Telelink, Viktor Fonth of HB Reavis, Wioletta Kaloska of Symfonia, Zita Toth of Primaenergia, Zuzanna Kopaczynska-Grabiec of Wonga.pl, and others share their approach to working with and managing external legal counsel.

Adam Brzezinski of MoneyGram, Alex Florescu of Nepi RockCastle, Andras Levai of Market Epito, Andrzej Klimek of Idea Getin, Eleni Stathaki of Upstream Systems, Gunel Rzayeva of VavaCars, Ingo Steinwender of CA Immobilien, Ioana Regenbogen of ING, Iwona Gajek of BNP Paribas, Mark Erdelyi of Yettel, Marta Ziolkowska-Nasinska of Fererro, Nadia Matusikova of RWS Moravia, Stefan Orosi of Prima Bank Slovensko, Sylvia Nanovska of Telelink, Tiina Pukk of Kou Mobility, Zeynep Derman Kucukonder of Coca-Cola, Zita Toth of Primaenergia, Zuzanna Kopaczynska-Grabiec of Wonga.pl, and more share their insights into how their in-house legal teams have been evolving and their best practices on managing in in-house legal function.

I suppose it comes as no surprise to anyone working in an in-house legal team that we are often asked to do “more with less.” Although this may be feasible on some occasions, it is clearly not an ideal or sustainable way of doing (legal) business. In fact, what often happens is that we end up just doing “less with less” – which may not be a bad thing, after all, provided it is done in the proper way.