Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii law firm was one of the players with the strongest turnover dynamics, posting around 60% higher revenues in 2007, while the market average was around 30-40%.
"I won't claim we were the best law firm, but we certainly had an outstanding dynamics. Turnover advanced by around 60% in 2007 and this year is going to be a year to settle and consolidate market position," considers Florentin Tuca, managing partner at the firm. The firm posted 14.1m-euro turnover in 2007, of which total revenues reached 12.1m euros.
For this year, turnover estimates point to 16-17m euros and effective receipts of 14-15m euros, an increase of around 20% for each indicator, an estimate viewed as "realistic" by the firm's representatives.
A factor that somewhat hinders the firm's development is the one related to the size of offices the hiring of new lawyers depends on. "(...) We now have 2,000 square metres of offices, but we'd need at least 2,500 square metres," says Tuca. The firm has offices in America House building of Piata Victoriei, where its around 120 employees, including administrative personnel, work. "We need at least another 15 lawyers this year," added Tuca.
The lawyer considers that winning employees' loyalty is essential in a law firm's activities given the ever tighter competition for lawyers. "We conceived an incentive system applicable to all employees, through which we're trying to make all the employees feel integrated in the firm. I can say that since we set up the firm until now we've only lost five lawyers," stated Tuca.
A process whereby law firms are trying to secure their employees' loyalty can be noticed at the level of the market, through increased personnel costs and promotions, owing both to competition among firms already operating on the market and to talk about international firms planning to open offices in Romania. Some firms go even further. Tuca Zbarcea for instance created a group of employees called managing associates, benefiting from a series of incentives.
The companies reportedly interested in opening offices on the domestic market are White & Case, Allen & Overy, DLA Piper or Garrigues.
Tuca says the domestic market now has lawyers offering services of a quality similar to that of services provided by foreign lawyers, but at much more competitive fees. Still, finding Romanian lawyers who should keep up with the work pace imposed by the market dynamics has become an issue a rising number of law firms are coping with. As for the domestic business environment, Tuca says turmoil on the Western and US markets had a quite insignificant impact over the domestic market, so that there will be enough domains needing legal services this year, too.
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