Sorina Olaru

Sorina Olaru

Partner

sorina.olaru@nndkp.ro
+40 31 225 33 60

Practice areas

Expertise

Sorina Olaru is a highly experienced litigator with over 23 years of experience in representing clients before the Romanian courts of all levels and specializations (civil, commercial, labor, or administrative), including the High Court of Cassation and Justice and the Constitutional Court of Romania. Sorina often sits as an arbitrator in domestic arbitration proceedings (CCIR rules and ICC arbitration). She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Court of International Commercial Arbitration attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania and a member of the ICC Romania National Committee.

Sorina is a member of the team involved in drafting of the new set of arbitration rules of the Court of International Commercial Arbitration attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania.

Her expertise also includes the representation of clients before domestic and international arbitration panels, in cases solved under various rules of arbitration (ICC, LCIA, UNCITRAL, Swiss Arbitration Act).

Her practice focuses on:

  • civil and commercial litigation
  • banking litigation
  • restructuring and insolvency
  • labor and administrative law litigation
  • trademark, patent, copyright and industrial design litigation
  • enforcements
  • international arbitration of disputes involving privatization, construction, and engineering contracts

Industry Focus

Representative Cases and Transactions

  • a series of successful ICC Arbitration cases on behalf of one of the largest infrastructure constructor, related to the performance of contractual obligations concerning the Romanian Contracting Authority (CNADNR)
  • successful arbitration under the UNCITRAL rules on behalf of Cyprus real estate player against a German company in the same field
  • recognition and enforcement in Romania of a 70 million EUR arbitral award to a Canadian distributor of petroleum products, issued under LCIA rules
  • labor litigation on behalf of a foreign state authority involving the applicability of the Vienna Convention related to diplomatic immunity
  • litigation on behalf of a National state agency, to keep within the state patrimony 166,000 ha of forested land covered with vegetation, with a value of more than 300 million EUR
  • court challenge on behalf of a major oil company in the largest case to date in terms of the fines imposed by the competition authority, resulting in a 23% reduction of the fine by definitive court decision
  • litigation on behalf of a major foreign insurance company against a Romanian insurance company regarding the illicit use of a trademark owned by the client
  • successful court actions to protect the trademarks of a major multinational producer registered in Romania
  • launching on behalf of leading generic companies a request for the annulment of the extended European patents to the Romanian territory
  • defense of patent infringement proceedings against fast-growing and third-largest generics company in Europe, initiated by two other players in the sector
  • ICC arbitration and arbitration before the Romanian Court of International Commercial Arbitration regarding an alleged wrongful termination and non-performance of the Subcontract of Design Services for Contanta By-Pass Project, on behalf of the leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm
  • litigations regarding the annulment and suspension of the sanctions imposed by the Competition Council for alleged price fixing and limitation of sales in buy-back campaigns for electric and electronic equipment, on behalf of the leader of the small household appliances market

Accolades

Included in international rankings since 2011; most recently:

  • Included in IAM Global Leaders list for 2025
  • Highly Recommended, Patents (IAM Patent 1000, 2024)
  • Global Leader (IAM Global Leaders, 2024)
  • Notable Practitioner (IP Stars, 2024)
  • Leading Trademark Professional, Silver Band (WTR 1000, 2024)
  • Recommended, Patents (IAM Patent 1000, 2023)
  • Leading Individual, Dispute Resolution (Legal 500, 2023)
  • Recommended, Restructuring and Insolvency (Legal 500, 2023)
  • Top Ranked, Dispute Resolution (Chambers and Partners, 2023)
  • Ranked, Dispute Resolution (Chambers and Partners, 2022)
  • Ranked, Restructuring/Insolvency (Chambers and Partners, 2020)
  • Leading Individual, Dispute Resolution (Legal 500, 2022)
  • Recommended, Restructuring and Insolvency (Legal 500, 2022)
  • Recommended, Patents (IAM Patent 1000, 2021)
  • Leading Trademark Professional, Silver Band (WTR 1000, 2020)

“Sorina Olaru – a partner with impressive experience and proven success in litigations at any level, gives a great comfort to the clients and provides for the most appropriate legal solution.”

(Legal 500, 2023)

“Sorina is proactive, professional, very well prepared and has extensive business and financial knowledge.”
(Chambers and Partners, 2023)

“Sorina Olaru is among the best practitioners I have encountered on the Romanian market. (…) Her assessments are accurate and efficient, pointing out critical issues, but always focusing on solutions.” 
(Legal 500, 2022)

“She is very easy to work with, hands-on and has a solution-oriented approach, rather than telling the client what is not possible.” 
(Chambers and Partners, 2022)

“[Sorina Olaru] is especially strong in international arbitration”
(Legal 500, 2021)

She is described by a client as “very attentive and knowledgeable.”
(Chambers and Partners, 2021)

“Sorina Olaru is a very strong leader who has the ability to handle complex matters, with her in charge of our litigation we always had the comfort we are in good hands.”
(Legal 500, 2020)

Education

  • University of Bucharest Law School, Law Degree
  • London Institute of Chartered Arbitrators, Diploma in international arbitration courses
  • FIDIC workshop and summer schools

Memberships and Affiliations

  • Bucharest Bar
  • London Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
  • Association for International Arbitration
  • Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (DRBF) FIDIC
  • Lex Mundi litigation, arbitration and dispute resolution practice group
  • World Services Group dispute resolution practice group

Notable Contributions

  • speaker at the online debate “Difficult civil law issues. Presumptions in private law”, organized by JURIDICE (2023)
  • keynote speaker at the annual VIAC-YRAP-YAAP conference (2023)
  • speaker at the fifth NNDKP CELF event in 2023
  • moderator at the “Bucharest Arbitration Days (BARD) 2023” event, organized by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (2023)
  • speaker at the “Arbitration in the private law area in a European context” event, organizd by Universul Juridic (2023)
  • speaker in the debate “Bifurcation in the arbitration procedure: When? How? Why would the parties do it? Who wins?”, organized by Law Science Society (2022)
  • moderator at the “Bucharest Arbitration Days (BARD) 2022” event, organized by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (2022)
  • speaker at the “Cost of arbitration vs cost of legal proceedings” debate (Juridice, 2022)
  • speaker at the “Powers of Adjudicators v Powers of Arbitrators” webinar, organized by the Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (DRBF) (2021)
  • speaker at the “Bucharest Arbitration Days 2021”, organized by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (2021)
  • speaker at the Central & Eastern Europe Regional Conference: “Dispute Boards: Two Versions, One Truth”, organized by Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (2021)
  • contributor to NNDKP – COVID-19 Legal & Tax Resource Center
  • “Emergency Arbitration in Romania – The Perilous Path away from Progress” (Lexology, 2019)
  • speaker at the conference “Bucharest Arbitration Days 2019”, organized by Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania (2019)
  • speaker at the conference “The Life Cycle of a DAB / DAAB under FIDIC 2017 Contracts”, organized by Dispute Resolution Board Foundation (2019)
  • speaker at the seminar “Is the fine the only cost in case of competition law breaches?” organized by NNDKP (2018)
  • speaker at the “Arbitrage issues – new rules in action” conference, organized by Society of Legal Sciences and the Bucharest Bar (2018)
  • speaker at the “Inventions” Seminar, with the presentation “The infringement of a European patent with impact on Romania – case study“, organized by CNCPIR (2018)
  • speaker at the conference “Domestic and international commercial arbitration. Current practice and future trends in the context of the New Rules of arbitration“, organized by the Court of Commercial and Maritime Arbitration under CCINA Constanta, the Enterprise Europe Network Center and the Court of International Commercial Arbitration attached to the Commerce and Industry Chamber of Romania (2017)
  • speaker at the conference “The new coordinates of commercial arbitration – Towards a modern procedure to serve companies’ interests”, organized by the Court of International Commercial Arbitration attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Brasov (2016)
  • speaker at the International Arbitration Conference on “Tendencies and developments in Arbitration in Southeastern Europe” (November 2015)
  • contributor to the “Guide on the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, 1958 (New York)” (UNCITRAL, 2014-present)
  • “Grounds for Refusal of Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards – Review of Romanian Law, Jurisprudence and Doctrine“ (International Law Office, 2014)
  • “The New Romanian Regulations on Arbitration Improvements in Romanian Arbitration Procedures Following the Entry into Force of the New Civil Procedure Code” (International Law Office, 2014)
  • speaker at the Industrial Property Legal Explorations workshops, “The protection of trademarks before the courts – characteristics of the court claims“, organized by ELSA Bucharest (2014)
  • speaker at the Dezbateri Juridice conference “The new civil procedural code and its implications in the field of intellectual property dispute” (2014)
  • speaker at the Dezbateri Juridice conference “The Arbitrage – a new beginning – The New Rules for Procedure of the international court of arbitration attached to the Romanian Chamber of commerce and industry.” (2014)
  • “Romanian Court of International Arbitration Returns to the Appointment of the Arbitrators by the Parties” (International Law Office, 2013)
  • “Romanian Courts Granted the Recognition and Enforcement of an Unreasoned Foreign Arbitral Award” (International Law Office, 2013)
  • “Getting the Deal Through: Private Antitrust Litigation – Romania chapter” (Law Business Research, 2011, 2012, 2013)
  • speaker at the SALC conference: Freezing Those Costs: A Swedish-Romanian Dialogue on Controlling Arbitration Costs (2012)
  • speaker at the Counterfeiting in intellectual property conference, organized by SOIT (2011)
  • speaker at the Alternative methods for intellectual property litigation resolution conference, “The arbitrability of intellectual property litigation”, organized by CNCPIR (2010)
  • speaker at the European Patent Forum, “Procedural aspects related to the prosecution and cancellation of patents according to the Romanian Law”, organized by Taylor Wessing (2010)
  • speaker at the Counterfeiting in intellectual property conference, “The concept of Risk for confusion and horse riding in the recent jurisprudence of the ECJ  practical applications”, organized by SOIT (2009)
  • speaker at the Counterfeiting in intellectual property conference, “The concept of interest in relation to the court claim for cancelation of a trademark legal and practical aspects”, organized by SOIT (2008)