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Milan Lomic is the General Counsel Adria & Balkan at L’Oreal, a company that he joined in October 2012. Prior to that he worked for Metro Cash & Carry as a Legal Advisor and Antitrust Officer. He has also worked as a Legal Advisor at Unicredit Bank Serbia and as an Assistant to the Judge at the Fifth Municipal Court in Belgrade.

Based in Zagreb, Anita Pejic Ilisevic is the Head of Legal for Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina for Henkel, where, in May 2016, she was also appointed the Compliance Representative Adria Region. Prior to Henkel, Ilisevic was a Corporate Lawyer with Tisak.

Dino Aganovic is the Head of Legal and Compliance at HETA d.o.o. in Sarajevo (former Hypo Alpe-Adria-Leasing). During the Hypo days, he represented the bank in the General Assembly of Chamber of Commerce FBiH between August 2014 and January 2015 and as its Director of the Legal Team earlier. He still is a Member of a Supervisory Board of Hypo’s Fund Management Company. Before joining Hypo, Aganovic was the Head of Legal and HRM at Intermerkur Nova d.o.o. Sarajevo and Mersteel d.o.o. Sarajevo (Merkur).

On August 25th, 2016, CEELM reported that Shell Exploration & Production Ukraine Investments (IV) B.V. was represented by Vasil Kisil & Partners in a dispute over the Ukrainian tax authorities' refusal to grant over UAH 5 million as an automatic VAT refund. We reached out to Viktor Kachurenko, Legal Counsel at Shell Ukraine Exploration and Production I, LLC, for more information.

Medicover has hired Paulina Lasocka-Wysoczanska as its new Head Legal Counsel Medicover Division in Warsaw this October. 

On September 5th, 2016, CEELM reported that Axon Partners had assisted Ukraine’s state-owned ProZorro public procurement electronic system in Ukraine on its transformation into an IT company. As the in-house legal team of ProZorro was not involved in the matter, we asked Director Nadia Bigun to answer several questions about the matter.

Chief Legal Officers know how demanding their jobs are. They have to create and manage effective teams, retain and instruct external counsel, advise their employers on strategic decisions, and implement new technology, all while putting out 20 fires a day.

On July 15, 2016, CEELM reported that Primus represented the Lithuanian Football Federation (LFF) in an arbitration with a football club and its players involving sanctions the LFF had imposed following match-fixing-related investigations before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), based in Lausanne, Switzerland. We reached out to the President of the Lithuanian Football Federation Edvinas Eimontas to get his insight into the matter.

On August 22, 2016, CEELM reported that Raidla Ellex had advised fintech company DataMe OU on the creation of a new credit register in Estonia. The co-founder and CEO of DataMe, Marko Vaik, agreed to answer our questions on the subject. 

On August 8, 2016, CEELM reported that Sorainen had represented the Bauskas Dzive newspaper in a dispute with the Iecava Regional Council in Latvia on a pro bono basis. We asked Anita Rozentale, the CEO and Chief Editor of Bauskas Dzive, to eleborate on the procedings. 

On August 8, 2016, CEE Legal Matters reported that ODI had advised Elektroservisi — which builds, reconstructs, and services electrical power systems and facilities and is closely connected to Elektro Ljubljana — on a EUR 12 million out-of-court restructuring with BAMC/DUTB and Banka Sparkassa. We reached out to Klemen Bostjancic, the Director of BRIO svetovalni center, the financial advisor to Elektroservisi on the matter, for more information.

On July 21, 2016 CEELM reported that Fort had represented credit bureau UAB Creditinfo in a case before the Supreme Administrative Court involving the legality of using data published on Facebook to assess the creditworthiness of those who publish it. Creditinfo — which doesn’t have an in-house legal team — was advised by lawyer Anatolijus Kisielis, who we reached out to for comment.

On August 15, 2016, CEE Legal Matters reported that the Esin Attorney Partnership had advised Burgan Bank on a syndicated loan.

Burgan Bank Head of Consultancy & Corporate Governance Unit, Nesteren Caliskan, worked closely on the deal and agreed to answer our questions.

Turkish lawyer Can Akcaoglu has become the new Chief Legal Officer at Tupras, Turkey’s only oil refiner, where he will manage a team of seven people.

On July 21, 2016, CEE Legal Matters reported that the Science Technology Park Belgrade (STB Belgrade) had been established in Serbia. We reached out to Jelena Stojanovic, Head of Legal at STB Belgrade, for an insider’s view on the Park and her role.

On July 18, 2016, CEELM reported that JSK advised Ashok Leyland UEA on the ownership transfer of truck manufacturer Ashok Leyland Motors to the Czechoslovak Group.

Ugur Ates has become the new Chief Legal Counsel at Kurum Holding, which he joined as Legal Counsel just in January of this year.

On June 30, 2016, CEE Legal Matters reported that Selih & partnerji had advised German company C3 on its acquisition of a majority stake in PM, Slovenia’s largest content marketing agency, making C3 the biggest content marketing agency in Europe.

On June 30, 2016, CEE Legal Matters reported that Noerr had advised Target Global on a multi-million dollar investment in ZnanyLekarz sp. z o.o. (which does business as “DocPlanner”). 

Aleksey Belozersky has joined Novartis as the company’s Head Legal & Compliance Oncology for Russia, Ukraine, and CIS.

Juliana Guaiato Aufschnaiter is a Senior Expert working within the Special Exposures Management team at Raiffeisen Bank International, where she reports to the head of division. Originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she’s been with RBI for over 10 years now, and she first moved to Vienna in 2004, when she took on her first role within the banking sector with the affiliate of Banco do Brasil in Austria. Earlier experience included working for TNT in Brazil.

Janos Miklos Jakab has been the Legal Director of Coca Cola HBC for the last two years. Prior to joining the soft drinks company, he worked as an external consultant as the Managing Partner of Island Hill Consulting, preceded by a long tenure with British American Tobacco from January 2001 to 2012, by which time he had become BAT’s Director of Legal and Security Affairs for Hungary and Austria.

Sergei Stefanishin became the Head of Legal CIS & SEE at DHL in Moscow in November 2015. His previous experience includes working for EY, first as a Director and later as a Partner and CIS Transactions Law Leader. Prior to EY he was the Head of the Moscow Representative Office of Bech-Bruun International, which he joined as a Senior Lawyer in 2001. Earlier still, he was a Senior Lawyer with InSpace Consulting and a Junior Lawyer with Baker & McKenzie.

Libor Licka holds the dual role of Regional Legal Counsel for ASE and Regional Compliance Officer for Europe East, Baltics & Scandinavia at Schindler, where he is currently responsible for the legal matters of the company in 13 jurisdictions. Slovak in origin, Licka has recently moved back to Bratislava from Schindler’s Vienna headquarters, where he had been based. He talked to CEE Legal Matters about the move and its implications for his role.

Luiza Oprisan is the Head of Legal of the Kanal D television station in Romania, which is owned by Dogan Media International S.A. – a subsidiary of Dogan Yayin Holding, the biggest media group in Turkey. 

Oprisan’s experience includes working as the Deputy Legal Director of Vimetco Management, as a Deputy Manager, Tax and Legal with PwC, the Head of International Law Office with BANCOREX, and as a Judge with the Bucharest Sectors 1 and 2 and Tulcea Courts. She also spent a couple of years in Montreal, Canada, working as an Assistant Manager/Human Resources with B.E.S.T. Security.

Luiza Oprisan has left Kanal D — where she was the Head of Legal for Romania — to pursue a calling in the NGO world.

In the Face-to-Face feature, we invite a Partner from a leading law firm to interview a General Counsel from his or market. In this issue, Schoenherr Budapest Managing Partner Kinga Hetenyi speaks with Gergo Budai, the General Counsel of Invitel.

Pinar Aksakal Aydin is Legal Counsel at Zorlu Holding, one of the largest corporate groups in Turkey, where she leads Zorlu Energy, managing a team of 11 lawyers and reporting directly to the Zorlu Holding Head of Legal. Zorlu Group companies are active principally in the areas of textiles, electronics manufacturing, energy, and financial services. Aydin joined Zorlu Holding in January 2009 and – with the exception of a brief period at Avea Iletisim Hizmetleri in 2012 – and has been there since. Before joining Zorlu Holding she spent a year at the well-known Eryurekli & Fidan law office, and a little over a year at the Salih Zeki Bayten law office.

Marek Szydlowski is the General Counsel of TVN Group. Prior to his current role, he was an Of Counsel at Wardynski & Partners, a firm that he joined after spending 2 years as the Legal Director of Provident Polska and 7 years as the Group General Counsel of Agora.

Tobiasz Adam Kowalczyk is a graduate of the Nicolas Copernicus University in Torun. He also studied European Law at the University of Miskolc in Hungary and in the European Academy of Diplomacy. Kowalczyk is actively working on the development of mediation and arbitration. As part of his pro bono activities, he is also the Head of Region in the National Chamber of Mediators and Arbitrators. At the same time, as an expert in the Center for Research and Analysis (Employers of Poland), he conducts research on the socio-economic effects of the actions of public authorities and social partners on socio-economic situation, in particular in the enterprise sector in Poland and Europe. He is serving as the Head of the Legal Department and Compliance Officer at Samsung Electronics Poland Manufacturing. He describes himself as a “target driven and goal-oriented lawyer, valued for commitment, openness, and loyalty to the employer.” He was recently selected from a group of top young lawyers in Poland for the prestigious “Rising Star” award.