Radu Cotarcea

Przemyslaw Witas, General Counsel at CEDC International, is directly involved in keeping a production line running during the COVID-19 Crisis.

Mark Erdelyi, Legal Director of Telenor Hungary, reports on the wide range of hurdles he and his team have had to overcome since the COVID-19 outbreak.

Marianna Erdei, Country Legal Director at EY Hungary, shares the unique challenges of managing the legal matters of a professional services company – with a legal services arm.

The MET Group is targeting EUR 1 billion in M&A deals over the next few years. Dora Szebeni, Group Head of Legal M&A, explains what it means to oversee a series of high-value transactions.

Proper vetting of business partners from a trade sanctions perspective is critical for companies selling to or procuring goods or services from Turkey, Russia, and China, according to Catalin Olarescu, Group Head of Sanctions at LafargeHolcim. He describes his approach to ensuring trade sanctions compliance.

Crenguta Catanea, Head of Legal at Romprest, draws from her in-house and consultancy experience to emphasize how important it is for GCs to train themselves to be taxation/fiscal-literate – and how they should develop that capability.

Christian Blatchford, General Counsel at Energo-Pro, explains how he goes about selecting external advisors – and what he wishes private practice lawyers would do differently.

How do you go about building an in-house legal team that you can be proud of – one that addresses all the needs of a publicly-traded company, and does so with minimal external advisory assistance? Marian Radu, Group Legal & Public Affairs Manager at Vrancart Group, explains.

Going beyond a purely legal role has been necessary for in-house lawyers for many years – but Stanimir Vlahov, Associate Counsel Bulgaria at Mondelez International, explains why the current COVID-19 outbreak has made this need even more pressing.

Peter Ban, Head of Legal and Compliance at E.ON Hungary, reflects on the value for GCs of immersing themselves in their company’s business.

The General Counsel role has been significantly transformed during the last decade – from being a mere business advisor and business partner to becoming part of the business. Nevertheless, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that there is still significant space for change in the years ahead.

No, the headline of my editorial is not intended to challenge our readers’ understandings of basic math. It’s also not intended a brain teaser like those you can find somehow proving that one equals zero using algebra. It’s simply designed to draw your attention to the fact that what you are holding in your hand is a hybrid issue. It is both issue 7.7 of CEE Legal Matters and the very first issue of CEE In-House Matters.

On April 14, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Dentons had advised Savills Investment Management, acting on behalf of Korean institutional investors managed by Vestas Investment Management, on its acquisition of the Leroy Merlin distribution center near Lodz from Invesco Real Estate. We spoke to Alistair Ennever, Transaction Manager at Savills Investment Management, about the deal.

On April 14, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Dorda had advised Greiner AG on the takeover of Eurofoam GmbH from Recticel. We reached out to Maximilian Wellner, Head of Group Compliance & Legal at Greiner, to learn more about the takeover.