Albanian lawyer Elona Ganaj has joined CentralNic as Group General Counsel.

Katja Tautscher has been appointed as Senior Vice President Legal and Compliance as well as Human Resources, at Borealis.

Austrian lawyer Josef Holzschuster will be relocating from Budapest to Amsterdam, having been appointed Head of Legal, Markets DA at Philips, in which capacity he will lead the worldwide Legal Team for the Philips Domestic Appliances business, reporting to the General Counsel for DA, also located in Amsterdam.

Michael Lind, the former Head of Legal at Raiffeisen-Holding Niederoesterreich-Wien, has joined PwC Legal in Austria.

According to Kameliya Naydenova, Legal Counsel South Central Europe at Mondelez International in Bulgaria, the market has somewhat recovered from the blast wave of the COVID-19 crisis. Yet, many industries still need to overcome the change in demand and consumer habits, as well as certain difficulties brought on by the pandemic.

On November 18, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Gugushev & Partners had helped Fr. Lurssen Werft GmbH & Co KG, part of Northern Germany's Lurssen shipyard group, win a public tender for the supply of two multipurpose modular patrol vessels to the Bulgarian Navy. CEEIHM spoke with Dirk Malgowski, Managing Director at Fr. Lurssen Werft, to learn more about the matter.

On January 18, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that DGKV had represented the Mezzanine Partners consortium in a public procurement dispute with the Bulgarian Fund of Funds. CEEIHM spoke with Evgeny Angelov, Managing Partner at Silverline Capital, to learn more. 

On March 3, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Marohnic, Tomek and Gjoic had advised both Day One Capital and Orqa Holding Limited on the former’s EUR 1.3 million investment in the latter. CEEIHM spoke with Srdjan Kovacevic, CEO at Orqa Holding Limited to learn more.

Luka Pavlekovic has been appointed as Head of Legal at INA Grupa in Croatia.

According to Richard Bacek, General Counsel at Siemens Czechia, there are three significant legislative changes underway in the Czech Republic, specifically in the areas of public procurement, construction, and whistleblowing. Meanwhile, Bacek reports that business in the Czech Republic is still burdened by the dearth of what he calls "reasonable regulation" of the home office concept.

On January 29, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that BBH had advised the Czech-Moravian Development Bank on the launch of its IPO Fund and signing of a cooperation agreement with the Prague Stock Exchange to support new entities wishing to list on its START market. CEEIHM spoke with Martin Potucek, Chief Executive Officer at Czech-Moravian Development Bank, to learn more about the matter.

Austrian lawyer Josef Holzschuster will be relocating from Budapest to Amsterdam, having been appointed Head of Legal, Markets DA at Philips, in which capacity he will lead the worldwide Legal Team for the Philips Domestic Appliances business, reporting to the General Counsel for DA, also located in Amsterdam.

Lilian Kontou has joined the TAE – SOL Group in Athens as Legal Director.

“The past few months were hard on us,” says Stathis Mihos, Pfizer’s Legal Director for Greece, Israel, Malta, and Cyprus.

John Giannakakis, General Counsel of the Andromeda Group, shares his insights on data protection and cybersecurity compliance issues – made all the more pressing in a COVID-19 context – and the best practices he has developed for assessing risks and nurturing a compliance culture.

On March 10, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Provaris had advised Hackrate on the development of an "ethical hacking services" offer for clients. CEEIHM spoke with Balazs Pozner, CEO & Founder at Hackrate to learn more about the matter.

Austrian lawyer Josef Holzschuster will be relocating from Budapest to Amsterdam, having been appointed Head of Legal, Markets DA at Philips, in which capacity he will lead the worldwide Legal Team for the Philips Domestic Appliances business, reporting to the General Counsel for DA, also located in Amsterdam.

Hungarian lawyer Geza Nagy has joined LyondellBasell in the Netherlands as Compliance Officer.

Maido Lillemets, Legal and Compliance Manager at BaltCap in Estonia, reports that the three-pillar pension system in his country has been shaken by the recent legislative move from a mandatory to a voluntary approach to contributions into pension funds. This change, Lillemets reports, has cost the pension funds EUR 850 million already and the eventual cost may exceed EUR 1 billion.

On November 18, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Hedman Partners had agreed to serve as legal advisor to Solaride on its project to build a solar-powered car in Estonia. CEEIHM spoke with Kristel Leif, Chief Executive Officer at Solaride, to learn more about the matter.

On November 10, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Cobalt had advised Passion Capital on its USD 1.4 million seed-round investment into Warren.io. CEEIHM spoke with Tarmo Tael, Co-Founder & CEO at Warren.io, to learn more about the deal.

On February 26, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Eversheds Sutherland had advised Valmieras Stikla Skiedra on the sale of 83.14% of the share capital from the company’s controlling shareholder group to Duke I S.a.r.l. CEEIHM spoke with Ilze Saviele, Legal Counsel at VSS, to learn more about the sale. 

On January 14, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that the Riga office of Eversheds Sutherland had represented Euromin Holdings Limited before the Court of Justice of the European Union in a proceeding with the Financial and Capital Market Commission. CEEIHM spoke with Girts Apsitis, Member of the Management Board at AS Ventspils Nafta, to learn more about the matter.

On September 14, CEE Legal Matters reported that Sorainen had advised Brette Haus on the preparation of a sales contract template for prefabricated folding houses. CEEIHM spoke with Gennadii Bakunin, CEO of Brette Haus to learn more about the matter.

On March 4, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Walless had advised Evli Growth Partners as one of the investors in the USD 9.5 million Series B funding round of 3D model trading platform CGTrader. CEEIHM spoke with Riku Asikainen, Managing Partner & Founder at Evli Growth Partners, to learn more about the deal.

On February 1, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Adon Legal had helped Paymont obtain an Electronic Money Institution license from the Bank of Lithuania. CEEIHM spoke with Stefan Koscelnik, CEO at Paymont, to learn more about the matter.

On January 28, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Sorainen had advised Open Circle Capital on its investment in Monimoto, a company developing smart trackers for motorcycles. CEEIHM spoke with Andrius Bruno Rimkunas, Co-founder and Business Developer at Monimoto, to learn more.

On December 2, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Act BSWW had advised investment funds managed by Pekao TFI S.A on the PLN 2.5 billion bond issuance program of Miejskie Przedsiebiorstwo Oczyszczania w m. st. Warszawie sp. z o.o., (MPO Warszawa) aimed at financing the modernization and extension of a municipal waste incineration plant and the construction of a waste segregation plant in Warsaw. CEEIHM spoke with Dominik Mielczarek, Head of Legal Department at Pekao TFI, to learn more about the matter.

Maciej Hajewski has been appointed Regional Compliance Business Partner – Central and Eastern Europe at Willis Towers Watson in Warsaw, Poland.

Former LS Airport Services Chief Legal Officer Michal Roslon has joined the Polish Aviation Group as an in-house counsel.

On January 19, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Bondoc si Asociatii had advised independent electricity and gas supplier Restart Energy on its cooperation agreement with DC-based consulting and fund management company Interlink Capital Strategies to develop green energy projects worth USD 500 million in Romania and neighboring countries and to launch the blockchain-based RED platform in the USA. CEEIHM spoke with Armand Domuta, Chairman of the board at Restart Energy, to learn more about the agreement.

Mihaela Racles has joined Profi Rom Food as the company's Legal Compliance Director in Romania.

Elena Iacob, Head of Legal and Compliance at Alliance Healthcare Romania, reports that GCs need to focus on soft skills and empathy in today’s world.

Former Baker & McKenzie Senior Associate Ekaterina Kobrin has joined Yandex in Moscow as the company's Head of Compliance and Litigation.

Russian lawyer Sergey Viktorov has joined Santen in Amsterdam as Compliance Director, EMEA.

Elena Kucheryavaya has joined LifeScan as Legal Director EMEA and Personal Data Officer in Russia.

According to Branko Gabric, General Counsel at Air Serbia in Belgrade, we are living in historic times. He reports that the unprecedented pandemic, as well as the subsequent vaccination process, has greatly affected not only the aviation industry, but also the legal sector in his country.

On January 15, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that BDK Advokati had advised Frontier Pharma and the Baystone investment group on the acquisition of Zdravlje Leskovac, a Serbian pharmaceutical company owned by Actavis, which is itself a subsidiary of Israel's Teva. CEEIHM spoke with Kiren Naidoo, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Frontier Pharma, to learn more about the acquisition.

On November 13, CEE In-House Matters reported that Berlin-based APX Axel Springer Porsche had appointed Serbian lawyer Sonja Radovic as its Head of Legal. We sat down with Radovic to learn more about her career path leading up to her current role.

On November 18, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that Hamala Kluch Viglasky had advised Slovakia's Budamar Logistics on the formation of a joint venture with Austria's Innofreight Consulting & Logistics. CEEIHM spoke with Lubomir Loy, Director for Sales and Marketing and Member of the Board of Directors at Budamar Logistics, to learn more about the deal.

On July 9, 2020, CEE Legal Matters reported that ODI Law had advised Hranilnica Lon on a new issuance of shares. CEEIHM spoke with Imre Balogh, President of the Management Board at Hranilnica Lon, to learn more.

Turkish lawyer Mustafa Yazgan has been promoted to Senior Director and Regional Counsel at Stryker in Cork, Ireland.

Turkish lawyer Berna Gungenci Kilincoglu has been appointed Associate Director, Project Integrity at the EBRD in London.

Bengi Su Karakoylu has joined Temsa as the company’s Head of Legal.

On January 19, 2021, CEE Legal Matters reported that Redcliffe Partners had advised US investors Aspect Energy and SigmaBleyzer — acting jointly through a special-purpose vehicle, Ukrainian Energy, L.L.C. — on an oil & gas production sharing agreement with the Republic of Ukraine. CEEIHM spoke with Amy Flakne, General Counsel at Aspect Energy, to learn more about the deal.

Former Mriya Agroholding Chief Legal Counsel Sergiy Ignatovsky has joined Redcliffe Partners as a Partner within the firm’s Litigation and Restructuring practices.

Long-time CMS Partner Johannes Trenkwalder will join photovoltaic plant developer Green Source as Legal Counsel and Principal.