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Guest Editorial: A Decade-Long Journey Through the CEE Legal Landscape

Guest Editorial: A Decade-Long Journey Through the CEE Legal Landscape

Issue 11.3
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Ten years have passed since the day I picked up my diploma and embarked on my professional journey as a lawyer. Right from the start, I’ve been working for law firms deeply rooted in the region, offering continuous opportunities to collaborate with colleagues from different areas, engage in cross-border projects throughout CEE, share experiences, and, most importantly, observe the landscape in which we operate. While the past decade has shaped my own growth, it’s also been – in my view – a period of remarkable transformation for lawyering in CEE.

One of the main segments that I’ve noticed has changed throughout the years is simply the workforce marketplace. At the time I started my career, there was fierce competition among law graduates, all striving for positions in firms where we could both professionally grow and earn a salary. Today, a noticeable decline in the number of individuals opting for a law career is evident, and finding an adequate associate has become a challenge. Beyond still typically modest salaries, there is at least one more circumstance contributing to this situation: unlike other professions that have embraced a more balanced lifestyle, the legal sphere still clings to a culture where success is often correlated with extended working hours. Such a mindset has given rise to a surge in professional burnout as lawyers push themselves tirelessly to meet the demands of their roles and partners’ high-level expectations. Interestingly, such a mindset often transcends mere responses to external pressures; rather, it is fueled by an inner passion that we have for helping clients as we would help ourselves, even if it backfires as a burnout – it’s a glitch successfully surviving in the genes of each person who loves their work.

Legal work has changed as well, and I believe this applies worldwide. The comfortable focus on purely legal matters and completing tasks has now expanded to constant consideration of challenges such as those imposed by the usage of AI, sophisticated in-house teams, and the rising desire of clients to keep industry-specific professionals under one roof. Being “only” a lawyer is often not enough anymore; we are supposed to act as equipped business advisors and have a strong multi-disciplinary character.

We even dress differently. Once, a tie was a symbol of professionalism but today, if we need to dress up, it is acceptable to show up in jeans and a blazer, wearing sneakers. As work demands and professional challenges rise, physical appearance becomes more relaxed. Sometimes, thanks to virtual skills developed during the COVID-19 times, we are not required to dress up at all.

Despite all the challenges, I would say that in the past ten years of my experience, the perception of lawyering in CEE has drastically transformed. Most importantly, I have a feeling that we have gained more respect from our Western colleagues. In the past, teaming up with international law firms (usually involving merely locally supporting their large international clients) gave off a vibe as if we were the underdogs. There was a subtle skepticism, making it seem like their advice was a notch above, their templates more sophisticated, and our English-language skills could use a second look. Sometimes, it felt like they really believed that, in addition to the client, they needed to advise us as well. That was especially obvious at the associate level. 

Since then, things have taken a turn, and lawyering in the CEE has evolved. We’ve demonstrated our capabilities, refined our expertise, and now find ourselves on equal terms. Even the power centers are being reshaped and cities such as Zagreb and Belgrade emerge as legal hubs for large clients, challenging the traditional dominance of Vienna or Prague.

What changed for me personally is that most of my mentors through the years have become my true friends (Dora Gazi Kovacevic, Ira Peric Ostojic, Tarja Krehic, and others). I have met one of the most significant people in my life (Katarina Kezic) and learned to depart from my former law firm, with a quote shared by likely the most inspiring amongst us (thanks, Ron Given): the award for doing good is the opportunity to do it better. And I know it for sure: the next ten years, during which I will hopefully still be lawyering in the CEE, will be awesome.

By Ivan Zornada, Attorney-at-Law, Vrtaric and Partners in cooperation with Deloitte Legal

This article was originally published in Issue 11.3 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.

Deloitte Legal at a Glance

Deloitte Legal Adriatic is a unique law firm consisting of teams of highly specialized lawyers, providing a vast range of legal services, and part of the commercially integrated Deloitte Legal Group. Deloitte Legal Adriatic has a team of 50 legal professionals, qualified in their jurisdictions, at offices across 8 countries: Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia. Across the Adriatic region, our offices assist clients in this interlinked, highly complex, and dynamically developing region. We are among the largest law firms in our jurisdictions and have offices in each of the most important business centers. With a multi-lingual international team, all of whom are fluent in English, we can assist clients through our dedicated language desks including in Chinese, German, French, Russian, and many other languages, including all the Balkan languages.

Deloitte Legal Adriatic’s bundled, technology-enhanced, cross-border capable service array is a step ahead in providing clients with effective business solutions, and in these challenging times is even more important than ever before in our Adriatic Region. Our team has a collaborative orientation as well as the country specific and international legal and business savvy your business needs. Like our clients, we also know that sure success, in addition to everything else, usually requires winners to simply work both harder and smarter. We are here for our clients to do just that.

Across the Adriatic, we offer a full scope of legal services in the main commercial practice areas, including: 

  1. Banking & Finance – regulatory, real estate, syndicated projects, securitization, NPLs, restructuring, and insolvencies
  2. Business Integrity – investigations, compliance, privacy, GDPR, anti-trust, and competition
  3. Corporate – day-to-day operational, governance, and family protocols
  4. Digital – technology, media, and communications
  5. Employment – full spectrum services including mobility services
  6. Environmental – internal/external due diligence, and compliance advice
  7. GDPR – privacy issues, cyber-attacks, AI, legal, technical and organizational aspect of GDPR compliance
  8. Litigation – including tax, white collar, and discovery support services
  9. M&A – including due diligence, JVs/alliances, and post-transaction restructuring
  10. Real Estate & Construction – transactions of all types as well as development & planning
  11. Commercial – including full coverage supply-chain and distribution contractual coverage

Besides traditional legal fields, we are building prominence in growing fields such as Business Integrity, Legal Management Services, Tax Litigation & Controversy, E-commerce, and Fintech. We take pride in being able to pioneer in industries and practices ahead of many other law firms. We have the benefit of accessing cutting-edge data, technical aspects, and operational realities of various industries through our internal Deloitte collaboration with various service lines (Consulting, Financial Advisory, Tax, and others). This market intelligence is again unparalleled among  our competition and presents a wealth of opportunities for genuine insights to evolving trends.

Our client service resonates with an individual approach, genuine relationship building, dedication, availability, efficiency, and high-quality communication, on top of understanding our clients’ commercial, financial and tax needs and the requirements of the market.

Authentic synergies with our financial and tax teams, as well as our colleagues’ professional experience and education, make our firm one of the most experienced, effective and efficient firms in the Adriatic region, with expertise in a wide variety of legal fields. Our positioning on the legal markets has been noticed and recognized by both mainstream international attorneys-ranking agencies – Chambers & Partners, IFLR and the Legal 500, which distinguishes us across all significant legal areas and functions.

Local contacts:

1. Albania and Kosovo

Deloitte Legal Sh.p.k

Sabina Lalaj, Attorney-at-Law, Managing Partner

slalaj@deloitteCE.com

2. Croatia

Krehić & Partners in cooperation with Deloitte Legal

Tarja Krehić, LL.M. (DUKE)

Attorney-at-Law, Managing Partner

tkrehic@kip-legal.hr

3. Serbia, Montenegro and North Macedonia

Law Office Antonić

Stefan Antonić, independent attorney at law in cooperation with Deloitte Legal

santonic@deloittece.com