Ranking of top 100 biggest law firms in Romania

Ziarul Financiar today publishes the ranking of the 100 leading law firms in Romania, which employ 1,500 business lawyers. They earn between EUR6,000 and EUR1.5 million a year. The annual ZF supplement gives a detailed account of one of the most competitive sectors - business law.

Who are those who earn one million euros per year at 30, who are the lawyers who sign their name to merger and acquisition contracts worth hundreds of millions of euros and how can a law school graduate be part of this rarefied world of business lawyers?

The over 1,500 business lawyers, many of whom also studied abroad, make yearly incomes that start from around EUR6,000 for juniors and can reach EUR1.5-2 million for key positions within the companies.

Overall, the 100 firms included in the yearbook, which have the most lawyers registered with the Bucharest Bar Association, invoice around EUR200 million worth of services provided to the biggest companies, as well as to small entrepreneurs, around EUR100 million of which is accounted for by the net profit of partners, firms' leaders.

How much experience is required in order to become partner in such a law firm? The youngest partner in a top-30 law firm is just 28, while the average age of lawyers in these firms is around 30, which means five or six years' experience on a market that has boomed in the last decade.

Major firms such as Popovici Niţu & Asociaţii, Schoenherr, PeliFilip, and Badea Clifford Chance are run by 35-36 year-old lawyers, who can earn more than EUR1 million in net income each in a good financial year.