Ion Nestor, the managing partner of the biggest law firm domestically, Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen (NNDKP), says Romania could be a small oasis of peace for investors amid the current global crisis.
Nestor believes the domestic business environment will not be hurt until the end of the year, given the number of projects underway, but next year the fallout from the crisis could be apparent with less significant deals, a trend that has occurred in the past 18 months.
"I wouldn't worry until the end of the year; there's fuel in the tank, but we must wait to see what happens after January (...)," says Nestor.
He considers until two months ago Romania had an "exceptional" year, given such elements as economic growth or the volume of foreign investments, and a possible deal rate slowdown does not mean the domestic markets have lost their growth potential. Nestor believes European funds could be a major catalyst for future investments and several mergers could be sealed between medium and small firms, out of a need to strengthen businesses.
Last year, NNDKP posted 12.6m-euro turnover and was the largest law firm in terms of revenues, and this year is on schedule to see turnover rise by 10%.
In mid-2008, three partners and 10 lawyers left the law firm to form a new firm, Peli Filip, which is the biggest loss NNDKP has suffered in its 18-year history.
As a result, but also amid the rising number of lawyers at the firm, NNDKP promoted three senior associates to the position of partners and recruited Ruxandra Bologa for a partner position, as well.
As a result, NNDKP now has 14 partners and is the largest group of lawyers promoted to this position since the creation of the firm, which currently has over 110 lawyers.
Nestor believes that although the "ingredients" for real estate development are still untouched, a general crisis could hurt consumption and implicitly house sales and the retail market.
Therefore, lawyers that specialise in land deals could see their businesses being harmed.
NNDKP, together with other domestic firms, such as Musat & Asociatii, Tuca Zbarcea & Asociatii, Stoica & Asociatii or Popovici Nitu & Asociatii, still dominate the legal services market, although a series of firms have opened offices in Bucharest in recent years.
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