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18.03.24
We want to wish our Sectetary General, Risto, a very happy 50th birthday! Risto kindly invited the Executive Committee to celebrate with him in Tallinn on Saturday 9th March. We also held an Executive Committee Meeting in Ellex Raidla’s brand new offices on the previous day.
DOWNLOAD PDF06.10.23
This year we had a great selection of candidates to choose from and the judges paid tribute to the quality of all of them and they really were enormously impressed by each and every one. They found it particularly uplifting to engage with our finalists, all who so evidently share John’s values and have such enthusiasm for the AEL. They cannot over-emphasise how difficult it was to reach a final decision and they discussed it at very considerable length.
Their decision has now been made, and as it was so difficult to choose between the finalists, this year we are having joint winners., namely Lucy Thornton from Anderson Strathern and Niamh O’Toole from Arthur Cox.
As ever, please do send any nominations through to Helen Cooper using the framework as attached.
07.06.22
DSM Avocats à la Cour (Luxembourg) ranks among the best law firms in Luxembourg according to the top worldwide legal guides:
07.06.22
https://www.dsm.legal/en/webinar-the-new-professional-payment-guarantee-what-are-its-advantages-and-how-should-it-be-implemented-by-mario-di-stefano-and-marie-paule-gillen-wednesday-25-may/
06.06.22
Zivkovic Samardzic have advised we have advised Catalyst Romania, one of the leading technology-focused venture capital firms in Romania and 3TS Capital Partners, one of the leading European technology focused private equity and venture capital firms, on Serbian aspects of its investment in Hunch, an automated creative production and media buying platform that empowers brands and agencies to grow on paid social.
https://www.zslaw.rs/zivkovic-samardzic-advises-catalyst-romania-and-3ts-capital-partners-on-serbian-aspects-of-investment-in-hunch/.
04.01.22
All,
Please see enclosed some news from Zivkovic Samardzic:
https://www.zslaw.rs/zivkovic-samardzic-advises-serbian-bookers-on-legal-aspects-of-its-evolving-into-a-global-brand-ota-sync/
25.10.21
https://www.zslaw.rs/zivkovic-samardzic-advises-trigal-on-its-first-investment-in-serbia/.
23.09.21
Dear Members,
Please see the latest news article from Zivkovic Samardzic below:
https://www.zslaw.rs/zivkovic-samardzic-advises-joberty-on-angel-investment-for-entering-global-market/.
26.08.21
https://www.zslaw.rs/zivkovic-samardzic-advises-credo-ventures-on-investment-in-startup-trickest/
02.07.21
Dear Members,
We would like to bring to you some great news from Zivkovic Samardzic law office:
https://www.zslaw.rs/meet-the-new-partners-of-zivkovic-samardzic-law-office/
Živkovic Samardžić Advises on Eurobank a.d. Beograd Merger with Direktna Bank a.d. Kragujevac
17.05.21
Dear Members,
Please find attached details of an exciting event brought to us by Gomez Acebo & Pombo between Mon 24th May – Friday 28th May.
For any queries, please contact Cristina Miralles (cmiralles@ga-p.com)
Kind regards,
Jeff Gillbanks
DOWNLOAD PDF15.09.20
Dear All,
Please see the following link from Zivkovic Samardzic:
Regards,
Helen Cooper
Executive
27.08.20
I am delighted to announce that after much deliberation our adjudicators have awarded the inaugural John Kerr Memorial Fund Award to Josef Peer from Fellner Wraztfeld.
The competition was fierce, with lawyers from all over Europe competing. The judges paid tribute to the quality of all the candidates and they really were enormously impressed by each and every one. They found it particularly uplifting to engage with Josef who so evidently shared John’s values and enthusiasm for the AEL. They could not over-emphasise to me how difficult it was to reach a final decision and they discussed it at very considerable length.
We shall be conducting an interview with Josef shortly and will publish it to the website once complete.
As his prize Josef has now been invited to attend our AGM in Madrid in 2021 as our guest and will also receive a cash prize. He will also attend our virtual AGM this year.
At each AGM we shall open up the next year competition and would invite all of you to nominate a candidate(s) from your firm who you think fulfils the criteria (as attached) of the award set by John Kerr’s wife Adrienne. I really do hope this will be the start of an exciting initiative to get more junior members of all our firms and the wider membership, involved with AEL.
If you have any queries in the meantime please do not hesitate to contact me.
Jeff Gillbanks
Secretary General
DOWNLOAD PDF04.06.20
We are delighted to announce that DSM Avocats à la Cour is one of the ʺBest Workplacesʺ in Luxembourg according to their personnel and the criteria defined by Great Place to Work Institute Luxembourg.
Please an article about it with an interview of Mario DI STEFANO, Managing Partner of DSM Avocats à la Cour at www.dsm.legal/en/dsm-avocats-a-la-cour-voted-best-workplace-luxembourg-by-great-place-to-work/
28.04.20
Thank you to Gregor Schett from Fellner Wratzfeld for suggesting that we as member firm’s publish our firms’ Covid 19 information.
Below is what we have received so far. Please do forward your own firm’s information should you wish it to be added to ael@brabners.com.
Jeff Gillbanks
Secretary General
https://www.fwp.at/en/news/legal-aspects-concerning-the-coronavirus-2/
https://www.brabners.com/covid-19-support
https://www.noerr.com/en/landingpages/im-fokus-coronavirus
https://www.konecna-zacha.com/koronavirus/
https://www.dsm.legal/en/covid-19-luxembourg/
https://www.abreuadvogados.com/en/capabilities/services/abreu-helpdesk-covid-19/
05.03.20
Zivkovic Samardzic have two transactions. The first one is about the ZS law team who advises ad tech company Sizmek on the legal aspects of selling off its business in Serbia to Amazon. The second one is the ZS law team advises B92 on the transformation of a joint-stock company into a limited liability company. The links are below:
If you need any further information, please feel free to contact Bojana Kraljevic (bojana.kraljevic@zslaw.rs)
04.02.20
Dear All,
Please see attached. AEL are ranked as no.19 in terms of size of lawyers in an organisation…
Kind regards,
Jeff Gillbanks
Secretary General
DOWNLOAD PDF27.01.20
Dear All,
Please find attached Investment teaser for one RE office building project in Serbia – Belgrade. We share this in case some of our AEL colleagues have clients that might be interested. This should be share deal structure, with minimal price of 82+ mil EUR; however, the equity part could go down to 25 mil eur. Final cash on cash return is more than 7% annually.
Please note that we are not acting as sole advisors for the sell side (CBS international is main broker and they are contacting potential buyers already), so it is essential that we should have very close coordination with any law firm from the network to determine to whom they intend to present this investment prospect, prior sending it.
If anyone is interested, we could provide all further information. Please contact Branislav Zivkovic (branislav.zivkovic@zslaw.rs)
Thank you.
DOWNLOAD PDF30.09.19
24.09.19
We are delighted to announce that Jonathan Steele from Charles Russell Speechlys and Thomas Bugeja from Fenech & Fenech have joined the Junior Board. They join Tom Wright, Christin Hempel and Laura Ogurcakova
They will be helping them with their current task of looking into the Special Interest Groups.
If you have any issues that you would like the Junior Board addressing or any ideas how to rejuvenate our Special Interest Groups please email ael@brabners.com.
24.09.19
From 5th September to 8th September 2019, we were hosted by our friends at Gorrissen Federspiel in Denmark.
Delegates stayed in The Hotel Admiral and this is where the afternoon session of the AGM itself also took place.
On Thursday 5th September we were welcomed by Christian Alsoe for Welcome Drinks at Gorrissen Federspiel’s most impressive office followed by dinner at Bistro Boheme. Bistro Boheme is one of the great successes in the Copenhagen restaurant scene in recent years serving good old-fashioned French gastronomy. ‘This year’s bistro/brasserie’ in 2009, 2012 and 2016 voted by the Danish Dining Guide.
The AGM commenced at 9:30am on Friday 6th September in Gorrissen Federspiel’s unique auditorium with a welcome from Jeff Gillbanks’ who gave his report on the previous year. We also heard from Ben Smith on accounts, Risto Vahimets with the Junior Board on their feedback and Philippe Francois on the 2020 Training Seminar.
After a short coffee break our first speaker, William de Wijlder, Group Chief Economist BNP Paribas, gave a presentation/Q&A session on the “Economic Outlook for lawyers” which was received well amongst our European colleagues.
After this we were picked up by coach to return to The Hotel Admiral for lunch followed by our second speaker, Rikke Stürup, Cand. Psyk., Master of Science who spoke about ”The different good roles of the Trusted Advisor”?
Jeff Gillbanks rounded off the day in announcing The John Kerr Memorial Fund, a fund set up in John’s memory to find and reward young lawyers within our member firms.
We hope that all delegates found both presentations as interesting as we did. Please send any ideas for future topics of our AGMs to Helen Cooper.
Whilst the AGM was going on the spouses in attendance were treated to a guided tour at Kronborg Castle including visits to the royal lodges, the dance hall, the castle church and Holger Danske followed by lunch at Restaurant Sletten. Restaurant Sletten is located in the old town of Sletten. Surrounded by fishermen’s cottages and directly overlooking the harbour and the sea, the place oozes of charm and nostalgia. The restaurant is owned by the chef duo behind Michelin-star restaurant Formel B in Copenhagen.
That evening, we took a short boat ride to the venue of the Gala Dinner at Restaurant Kost og Mask located at the top of the Opera House, which is inspired by the theatrical term for the final dress rehearsal, where the entire ensemble is present in costume and makeup.
The less formal part of the programme on Saturday included a guided tour at the Skovlyst Brewery with tastings and a presentation of their philosophy followed by lunch. The brewery has existed since 2004. Everything is homemade and home-baked and is based on the seasonal ingredients, and the beer from Brewery Skovlyst is sold exclusively on site. Delegates then returned to by the hotel to go on a guided architectural tour by boat through Copenhagen Harbour. Dinner that evening was in Restaurant Gemyse within Tivoli Gardens followed by fireworks and music.
We are very grateful to those at Gorrissen Federspiel for an excellently organised and successful event.
12.08.19
02.08.19
26.06.19
20.06.19
Brexit continues to present many challenges and opportunities for Scottish business leaders and with the EU and the UK agreeing a further delay to Brexit, until the 31st October, we understand the further uncertainty this presents for our business communities across the UK and the EU. Whatever the outcome of Brexit, many aspects of Scottish industry and beyond continue to be touched by Brexit. That’s why Anderson Strathern has decided to take the pulse of business Scotland.
They have polled over 250 senior people from across Scottish industries to understand how ready Scotland is for Brexit. The research has uncovered some key implications and opportunities for Scottish business’ during Brexit and beyond. Anderson Strathern found that the EU workforce is key for Scotland and whilst a high proportion of business’ have started a risk assessment, larger companies are most prepared, whilst the majority of smaller to medium sized companies have yet to fully prepare. The uncertainty surrounding Brexit is affecting business confidence. However, there is also optimism where Scottish business leaders see the continuation of an EU workforce, regardless of the outcome, and the opening up of further trading opportunities outside of the EU market.
They also looked at the differences between the two largest Scottish economic centres Edinburgh and Glasgow. What does Scotland plc think pre-Brexit? Read the full Brexit White Paper here and follow Anderson Strathern’s research news using #BrexitandBeyond
18.06.19
We are delighted to announce some new appointments to our Executive Committee and Junior Board.
Joining the Executive Committee are Richard Ryan from Arthur Cox and Johan Akermarck from Dittmar & Indrenius.
Joining the Junior Board is Jonny Steele from Charles Russell Speechlys.
We look forward to working with them all.
As ever, should you have any nominations for candidates to be on either board, please contact Helen Cooper (ael@brabners.com).
Jeff Gillbanks
Secretary General
28.05.19
We’d like to pass on our congratulations to Christin Hempel from Tiefenbacher and also a member of our Junior Board in becoming a Partner. An achievement to show how incredibly hard she works and an asset to both Tiefenbacher and AEL.
15.05.19
14.05.19
We are delighted to announce the launch of our first ‘Retail Manifesto’ report.
The Retail Manifesto:
Please find the document attached and if you have any queries please contact our Key Contact Jeff Gillbanks.
DOWNLOAD PDF23.04.19
A change that has taken place within our Association.
With immediate effect Ughi e Nunziante shall no longer be our Italian firm and are replaced by Nunziante Megrone. I attach a brochure from Nunziante Megrone for your information and giving you some detail about the firm.
We would like to thank Ughi e Nunziante for their commitment to AEL over the years and wish them all the very best for the future.
We are pleased to welcome Nunziante Megrone and look forward to working with them in the future and meeting some of their lawyers at our upcoming events.
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact Jeff Gillbanks, Secretary General (jeff.gillbanks@brabners.com)
DOWNLOAD PDF09.04.19
A tribute to our friend and colleague John who sadly passed away recently has now gone up on Anderson Strathern’s website and can be accessed here: https://andersonstrathern.co.uk/news-insight/tribute-to-john-kerr/
Regards,
Jeff Gillbanks
01.04.19
01.04.19
04.03.19
04.03.19
28.01.19
16.01.19
16.01.19
16.01.19
16.01.19
02.01.19
14.06.18
We are delighted to announce that Laura Ogurčáková from Zarecky Zeman has joined the Junior Board. She joins Tom Wright, Matteo Magistrelli and Christin Hempel.
She will be helping them with their current task of looking into the Special Interest Groups. We shall have an update on their work/findings at the AGM in September.
If you have any issues that you would like the Junior Board addressing or any ideas how to rejuvenate our Special Interest Groups please email ael@brabners.com.
Helen Cooper
Executive
DOWNLOAD PDF24.01.18
The first consequences of Brexit in terms of data protection laws are appearing on the horizon. The EU Commission has issued communication on 9 January 2018 stating that the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will be classified as “Third Country” within the meaning of the GDPR. If this is of relevance for you please refer to the also attached “Tiefenbacher Newsletter”.
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions.
DOWNLOAD PDF24.01.18
If you or your clients do have a corporation registered in Germany with a foreign shareholder those companies will need to comply with the newly introduced rules on the transparency register. With the attached “Tiefenbacher Newsletter” we inform you about the prerequisites for a separate registration with the transparency register and potential relief.
Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any questions.
DOWNLOAD PDF28.06.17
There has been some recent movement in the Executive Committee and Junior Board. After many years service we said goodbye to Mike Scott, a former Secretary General, who has been replaced by Ben Smith (Charles Russell Speechlys) who shall also takeover the role of Treasurer of the AEL.
We also welcomed 2 new members to our Junior Board, Cristin Hempel (Tiefenbacher) and Tom Wright (Brabners) to join Matteo Magistrelli (Ughi e Nunziante). We are always looking for more people to join the Junior Board and in this way if you would like to put yourself or a colleague forward please contact Helen Cooper (ael@brabners.com).
The Executive Committee would like to welcome the above and look forward to working together.
15.06.16
Fenemore advises lenders and borrowers on trade finance and growth market transactions. He joins LKT as a partner in the Banking & Finance practice, working alongside partner and practice area head Szabolcs Mestyán.
Fenemore joins LKT from Clifford Chance’s London office. He began his legal career in Budapest with the predecessor of LKT, and then moved to London where he has been based since 2002, save for a 5 year period in Bucharest.
Managing partner Péter Lakatos said “we are very pleased to welcome John back to Budapest. With our predominantly international client-base it is important for us to have lawyers in our team with extensive experience in the London market. With John’s arrival we also maintain and develop our English law resource. In addition, John has the further advantage of fluent Hungarian and Romanian. We have always seen ourselves as innovators – with this step, raising our combined international and Hungarian Banking and Finance capability beyond anything currently available in Budapest, we are again leading the way. We are confident that banks, the finance community generally and the law firms who refer work to us will appreciate the benefits offered by this additional capability.”
Banking & Finance head Szabolcs Mestyán said “I have worked with John over many years and I am very pleased he has agreed to join our team here. With his London based emerging markets experience, and long track record of working with banks focussed on Central Europe, he will be a great addition to our Banking & Finance practice, which serves banks operating mainly out of London, Frankfurt and Vienna.”
John Fenemore said “it is great to be going back to Budapest. I began my legal career in Budapest, and have spent much of my time since then working in Central Europe, both on the ground in Budapest and Bucharest but also managing transactions across the CEE region from London. I know the LKT team well, having worked with them both while they were part of Clifford Chance and as an independent firm since 2009. They impressed me by their integrity, responsiveness and by the quality of their work. The LKT partners have built one of the leading independent firms in Hungary and I am excited by the challenge of helping the LKT team to offer first class advice to investors and institutions in Hungary and across the region.”
08.04.15
Fellner Wratzfeld & Partners (fwp) successfully provided legal advice to HYPO NOE, the association of mortgage banks of the Austrian Provinces and Pfandbriefbank in connection with financing repayments to be made for specific bond issues, thus ensuring the stability of both Pfandbriefbank and the mortgage banks guaranteeing such repayments.
03.04.15
Fellner Wratzfeld & Partners(fwp) represents HETA Asset Resolution AG (formerly HYPO Alpe-Adria Bank International AG) in connection with the judicial review proceedings before the Austrian Constitutional Court following the implementation of special Hypo legislation. The Constitutional Court has now rejected all individual applications filed by Austrian and international investors as inadmissible.
16.01.15
Business law firm Fellner Wratzfeld & Partners (fwp) advises UniCredit Bank Austria AG on the multi-stage structured sale of the real estate portfolio it holds via Immobilien Holding GmbH.
29.09.14
02.09.14
fwp advises WEB Windenergie AG on the first issue of a hybrid bond by an Austrian wind energy provider.
28.03.11
When to mediate? Can mediation be successful at an early stage of litigation? Is it necessary to have formal discovery or informal exchange of materials before undertaking to mediate?
13.05.10
Please see attached briefing note on the Netherlands from member firm
01.09.09
Members Involved: Edward Hoare, Tarlochan Lall, Hamish Perry, Sarah Henderson and Duleep Sahni.
City firm Charles Russell has advised Storm model agency owners Sarah Doukas and Simon Chambers on the sale of an initial 51% shareholding in the model agency Storm to CKK, the NASDAQ-listed global entertainment company behind Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment, and the joint venture agreement regarding the shared ownership.
Simon Fuller’s 19 Entertainment is one of the most successful entertainment organisations in the world, having created and produced hit television properties including “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance,” and with its relationships and partnerships with some of the biggest names in sports, music and fashion, including David Beckham, Victoria Beckham, Claudia Schiffer, and world tennis No.3, Andy Murray.
Storm is a leading model agency which represents an international roster of clients that includes Kate Moss, Lily Cole and Carla Bruni.
The Charles Russell team was led by corporate partner Edward Hoare and was supported by tax partner Tarlochan Lall, corporate associate Hamish Perry, and solicitors Sarah Henderson and Duleep Sahni. CKX UK Holdings Ltd was advised by Field Fisher Waterhouse.
Corporate partner Edward Hoare said, “Having advised Storm in the past it is great to see the company become involved with one of the world’s biggest artist management firms. This instruction continues to demonstrate the breadth of our corporate practice.”
