North Macedonia

Saida Ayupova

February 17, 2026

Interview with Zorica Asenova of Macedonian Stock Exchange

Chief Legal Advisor of Macedonia Stock Exchange discusses the most frequent legal risks for market participants, explains her strategy for encouraging better corporate governance without overburdening issuers, and more.

Georgia

Saida Ayupova

February 12, 2026

Interview with Irakli Esartia of Cellfie

Head of Legal Department and Regulatory at Cellfie discusses his leadership strategy, how his take on risk has changed over the years, and what lessons senior legal professionals in highly regulated industries can learn from his experience.

Austria

Saida Ayupova

February 9, 2026

Interview with Philip Pauser of Alpega Group

General Counsel of Alpega Group discusses his legal career, the role in-house counsels play in driving a business forward, the regulatory trends in the logistics industry that are likely to create opportunities and challenges, and more.

20 General Counsel Explain What They Look for in Law Firms

What are General Counsel looking for when determining which law firm to hire? And what makes them think of a law firm as a long-term business partner? Over the last year, we posed these questions to 20 general counsels and found a striking consistency in their responses.

February 23, 2026

Crowdfunding in Kosovo: The Next Step After Capital Markets Legislation

Kosovo has no shortage of entrepreneurial talent. What remains limited is access to finance, especially for early-stage businesses that are too risky for traditional lending.

October 29, 2025

Romania

Microsoft Appoints Gabriela Popescu as Permanent General Manager RO, MD & CIS After Interim Role

Saida Ayupova

March 17, 2026

Gabriela Popescu has been appointed to the permanent position of General Manager, Microsoft Romania, Moldova & CIS at Microsoft – a role she held ad interim since 2025.

She joined the company in 2017 as the Legal Director. Since then, she has held multiple roles in the organization, including Legal Director, Multi Country Region, CEE between 2022 and 2023 and Corporate, External and Legal Affairs Lead, Central Europe between 2023 and 2026 (as reported by CEE In-House Matters on July 26, 2023).

Prior to Microsoft, Popescu worked as the Head of Legal & Country Head of Compliance at Novartis between 2013 and 2017.

Earlier, she spent almost 17 years at Colgate Palmolive, working as the Regional Legal Director between 1996 and 2013, Regional Legal Director, Central and Eastern Europe between 2007 and 2013, and Human Resources and Regional Legal Director between 2012 and 2013

Earlier still, Popescu was a Legal Advisor at The Coca-Cola Company between 1995 and 1996.

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Georgia

Saida Ayupova

March 10, 2026

TBC Leasing Appoints Nino Kochiashvili as Head of Legal Department

Kochiashvili joined the leasing company in 2023 as the Head of Litigation Unit. Earlier, she worked as a Coordinator of Litigation of Corporate and SME Problem Assets/Senior Lawyer at TBC Bank IR between 2021 and 2023.

Serbia

Saida Ayupova

March 6, 2026

Milos Gledovic Returns to Private Practice as Of Counsel at Kinstellar

Former Managing Director of Centurion Venture Capital Milos Gledovic returned to private practice by rejoining the Kinstellar team in Belgrade as Of Counsel.

Turkiye

Radu Cotarcea

March 2, 2026

Gokce Turkoglu Joins Uludag Enerji as Head of Legal and Compliance

Energy company Uludag Enerji has hired Gokce Turkoglu in the role of Head of Legal and Compliance. Turkoglu remains a Partner at Pelister Keki Sarac & Co – a role she has had since 2024.