News

2022 – You came with challenges! 2023 – We look forward to reaching new milestones!

2022 was packed with challenges, but as the year-end draws closer, we realize that these have only made us stronger and more determined. Our team had a professionally rewarding year, and we are thankful for their exceptional work and strong commitment towards our clients. Also, we are grateful to our clients for all the opportunities to work together and to bring their projects to fruition.

As 2023 is around the corner, we take a moment to reflect and look back at all the great things we have achieved in 2022. Here is our (brief) recap.

In 2022:

We were recognized for our long-standing performance

NNDKP received several distinctions from both international and local publications for its notable achievements, including outstanding work and excellence in client service.

From international observers, we received:

• the much coveted “Romania Law Firm of the Year” award, granted by Chambers Europe, this being the 6^th time we have received this distinction (the most awarded law firm in Romania)

From local publications, we received:

• “Romania Law Firm of the Year” award (Romanian Top Lawyers Awards Gala 2022 by Finmedia)
• Awards for “Most Innovative Law Firm” (Romanian Legal Awards 2022 by Legal Marketing)
• Awards for outstanding performance by our Banking and Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions and Real Estate and Construction practices (Romanian Legal Awards 2022 by Legal Marketing)

We innovated

NNDKP adopted a new technological solution – a digital assistant that works tirelessly to help us keep our clients informed about all legislative changes with potential impact on their activities and initiatives. This was possible with the help of our friends at Aggranda who developed an automation solution using the digital assistant from UiPath, named Eve. Eve is very dedicated and reliable, checking over 20 sources and saving over 8 hours every day. This allows our teams to notify clients as soon as new updates are announced and to focus on providing efficient and timely assistance for ongoing projects. More on how Eve helps us here.

We look forward to 2023 and to new innovative solutions that will help us with our day-to-day activity

Organized the 7^th edition of our Legal & Tax Conference

We have continued our tradition of organizing the Legal & Tax Conference, in collaboration with Ziarul Financiar.

The 7^th edition of the event focused on the impact of the legislative changes in the fiscal and energy field felt by companies active in Romania.

Unlike the previous year, when the conference was held online, we were happy to connect with our guests at JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel.

The event was also streamed live by ZF. The video recording is available here.

We supported the next generation of lawyers

During the 16^th edition of NNDKP Summer School, 27 law students joined our offices in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara and caught a glimpse of our day-to-day activity.

Also, together with Asociatia Studentilor in Drept (Law Students’ Association) we organized two contests for students:

• Mock Trials in Competition Law, and
• Mock Trials in Administrative Law.

The jurors for both contests were our colleagues from our Competition and Dispute Resolution practices.

We were acknowledged in international rankings

We have continued to maintain a leading position in the legal rankings prepared by reputable international legal guides (2022 edition), reconfirming our status as a leading law firm in Romania:

19 Band 1/Tier 1 positions for our practices

• Ranked first (Band 1) in 6 practice areas researched in Romania by Chambers Europe
• Ranked first (Tier 1) in 11 practice areas researched in Romania by The Legal 500
• Ranked first (Tier 1) in 2 practice areas researched in Romania by IFLR1000

Further recognition in various legal areas

• Ranked in the Elite category in the GCR 100, by Global Competition Review
• Recommended firm for litigation and transaction matters, as well as prosecution in the IAM Patent 1000
• Ranked firm in Romania for Patent, Trademark contentious and Trademark prosecution, by Managing Intellectual Property – IP Stars
• Ranked firm in Romania for General Corporate Tax, Tax Controversy and Transfer Pricing by ITR World Tax

77 appearances of our lawyers and counsellors in individual rankings

• 17 professionals listed by Chambers Europe
• 34 professionals included in The Legal 500
• 12 professionals recognized by IFLR 1000
• 6 professionals ranked by Who’s Who Legal
• 3 professionals recommended by IAM Patent 1000
• 5 professionals ranked by ITR World Tax

These are impressive results obtained by the NNDKP team.

We received outstanding individual recognition

In 2022 several NNDKP practitioners received awards or recognition for their outstanding professional performance in this highly competitive domestic market:

• Ana Diculescu-Sova, Adriana I. Gaspar, Alina Radu were included in The Legal 500 Hall of Fame
• Manuela Nestor, Adriana I. Gaspar, Alina Radu, Adina Chilim-Dumitriu, Gabriela Cacerea and Ruxandra Bologa were included in the “IFLR 1000 Women Leaders 2022” guide, among leading female transactional lawyers in the world
• Ana Diculescu-Șova was included in the “Women who change Romania” group by Finmedia
• Alina Radu and Alina Timofti received new distinctions at the “Women Who Change Romania” Gala 2022 (Finmedia, March 2022)
• Ana Diculescu-Șova received an Excellence Award in recognition of her 45 years of activity in the Litigation, Restructuring and Insolvency areas at the Romanian Top Lawyers Awards Gala 2022, by Finmedia
• Gabriela Cacerea was named Top Lawyer in Corporate/M&A (Top Lawyers Award Gala 2022 by Finmedia)
• Sorina Olaru was named Top Lawyer in Dispute Resolution and Arbitration (Top Lawyers Award Gala 2022 by Finmedia)
• Roxana Abrasu was named Top Lawyer in Employment (Top Lawyers Award Gala 2022 by Finmedia)
• Lavinia Ionita Rasmussen was named Top Lawyer in Real Estate and Construction (Top Lawyers Award Gala 2022 by Finmedia)
• Lavinia Ionita-Rasmussen was included for a second time among “The 50 Most Influential People in Romania’s Real Estate Market” (Property Forum)

We added new deals to our track record

In 2022, we were involved in major deals on the Romanian market, assisting the entire spectrum of clients, from Romanian entrepreneurs to large international corporations, including:

• ExxonMobil, one of the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas companies, with closing the sale of its participation in Neptun Deep offshore project to Romgaz
• PepsiCo in acquiring a minority shareholding in AQUA Carpatica
• the Beverage Producers Alliance in creating the deposit return system for single-use primary packaging, including in setting up and obtaining the accreditation of RetuRO as sole administrator of the Romanian system
• a syndicate of banks in connection with EUR 347 million financing granted to Ameropa Group
• International Game Technology PLC (IGT), one of the global leaders in gaming, in a multi-jurisdictional transaction for the acquisition of iSoftBet
• Isosport, the world market leader in the field of plastic composite materials for the ski and snowboard industry, in a multi-jurisdictional transaction for the acquisition of Novo Tech Group
• Tech Mahindra, a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting and business re-engineering services, in a multi-jurisdictional transaction for the acquisition of Allyis group.
• Medicover, a leading provider of private medical services in Romania, with the acquisition of Polaris Medical in Cluj-Napoca.
• AAylex ONE, one of the leading Romanian players in the food industry, in securing a new financing and unifying its existing loans under the same syndicated arrangement.
• Transcarpatica S.A., an important Romanian steel producer, in the complex transaction consisting in selling the ownership interests held in Someg Gherla to the LKE Group, a German supplier of handling and logistic products and systems.
• Marcos Provit, a local pharmaceutical services network, in issuing cross-border corporate bonds
• Staffbase, a leading provider of employee communications management platforms, with the acquisition of dirico

More details on our work can be found here.

We shared our knowledge and expertise

• over 25 events in which our experts participated as speakers
• Over 20 legal & tax updates prepared and sent to our subscribers
• More than 40 updates and 10 articles prepared by our Data Protection specialists on Privacy out Loud, NNDKP’s blog dedicated to data protection and privacy
• Our Linkedin page grew to a strong community of over 6000 followers – we love to keep you informed about what we have been up to and in 2022 we shared more than 130 posts. Thank you for following us!

We continued to support those who need help

2022 came with challenges, moments of reflection, but also with sparkles of hope and inspiration. We feel grateful for all the good things that happened and for the lessons we have learned. We realized that nothing shines brighter than the power of a strong community.

And because care is one of the most valuable things we can offer to others, this year we continued to support Fundația Regală Margareta a României | Asociatia Invingem Autismul | Fundatia Motivation Romania | Asociatia Magic | SOS Satele Copiilor Romania in their efforts to build strong communities and help those in need.

See you all in 2023!