With American-born managing partner Bryan Jardine at the helm, the Bucharest office of Austria's Wolf Theiss law firm has become the second biggest after the office in Vienna. However, Bryan Jardine is aware that the market growth pace cannot be maintained indefinitely.
"The domestic legal services market is highly competitive, all the firms are involved in many projects and are operating at international standards. Our growth is dictated by necessities in such fields as banking, real estate and corporate. (...) Nevertheless, the market has its ups and downs. In Los Angeles, in the '90s, I saw lawyers who were happy to have a job," states Jardine.
The domestic legal services market has boasted significant growth in recent years, with most firms announcing turnover increases by over 30, 50 or even 70% and new expansion plans, both in terms of the number of lawyers and turnover.
Jardine says the domestic market is not being directly hurt by the US mortgage crisis at present, but he remains cautious with regard to the future development of the market.
"Many deals, started in 2007, are now in progress and will be completed in the first half of this year. It will be interesting to see what will happen in the second half of this year, when we'll see whether there will be any fallout from the international market turmoil or not. I'll retain my optimism considering Romania is a big country, with good returns, still low labour costs, which investors cannot overlook," considers Jardine.
Wolf Theiss is one of the most dynamic firms on the market, having posted a 50% advance last year, both in terms of turnover and the number of lawyers, which rose from 21 to 31 early this year.
By the end of this year, Jardine considers reaching a number of 35 lawyers at the Bucharest office is a realistic target.
"Should there be a market boom, we'll hire more in May-June. Lawyers must be kept busy permanently, and the business is a cyclical one," says Jardine.
Last year, the firm was involved in three major deals on the domestic market, providing advice to KazMunaiGas in taking over Rompetrol, to Germany's DEGI in taking over offices from Charlemagne, and to Austria's Immoeast in taking over a 25% stake in Adama.
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