Practice Areas
The practice areas in which all members of ELT provide assistance and representation cover the entire spectrum of legal matters that may accompany a business set up and operation in any of the ELT countries, irrespective of industry area or the investor’s country of origin.
In terms of any investment process, the key legal areas in which the attorneys in each of our member firms excel are focused around eight core practice groups:
- Corporate and Mergers & Acquisitions
- Commercial Contract Law
- Real Estate & Construction
- Tax
- Employment
- Intellectual Property
- Regulatory Legal Services
- Dispute Resolution
Corporate and Mergers & Acquisitions
Reflecting the great diversity of legal issues that accompany the emerging economies in the Central and Eastern Europe, the Corporate and M&A aspects stand for a major area of specialization for all ELT members.
Corporate and M&A practice includes complex entity incorporations (with special expertise on foreign start-ups), capital increases and transfers of shares, assistance and representation of clients during board, management committee and shareholder meetings, intra-group financial schemes, company reorganizations, protection of minority shareholders, takeovers, amalgamations, spin-offs and outsourcings.
All our members are skilled in the legal due diligence work for any involved party and provide integrated services that cover all M&A related aspects, ranging from IP rights to real estate and environmental issues, employment, corporate, fiscal, financial, competition and litigation problems.
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Commercial Contract Law
On the background of ever diversifying business environments, the skill in negotiating and fine tuning each particular type of commercial contract has been long acknowledged as a vital and “can’t do without” part of every business, regardless of size or industry area.
To name but a few commercial instruments in the drafting, negotiating, and most importantly, safeguarding of which our attorneys are highly skilled: sale purchase agreements, receivable and share assignments, international sales, management agreements, lease agreements, joint-ventures, franchises and agency agreements, license agreements, loans and any type of collaterals, insurance and re-insurance agreements, exclusive and non-exclusive distribution agreements, as well as all types of services agreements.
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Real Estate & Construction
The ELT members are currently involved in a variety of land and construction deals, providing A to Z guidance and making avoidable any encumbrances that real estate transactions may encounter.
Our attorneys assist developers, property owners, construction companies, lenders and investors in connection with a wide range of real estate projects, including: green field investments, real estate acquisitions, financings and related securities, as well as all forms of leasing operations.
We also provide focused advice on land use, zoning, regulatory and contractual issues and conduct title due diligence analysis for lands that range from single city area “hot spots” to industrial sized agricultural plots.
Regardless if our clients want to sell, purchase, lease or mortgage a real estate or if they intend to implement a green field or equity investment, we are there to help them exploit it to the full.
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Tax
With an aim to achieve maximum tax benefits for the clients, our legal tax services cover a wide range of matters in connection with the fiscal regime in each of the ELT countries, for most of the existing types of business activities.
Our services cover the entire spectrum of fiscal matters, including general overview of the local taxation regime, analysis of double taxation avoidance treaties, as well as of banking and leasing operations, corporate finance, real estate rentals or any other commercial activity.
To name a few, our members advise clients during banking and leasing operations, corporate finance, real estate transactions, cross border commercial activities (either for transactions within the EU or for import and export activities), employment related taxation, IP and Copyright activities.
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Employment
The employment practice of all ELT members is focused on helping both local and foreign employers to retain the services of the most qualified local personnel.
One of the most important issues a foreign investor faces when it first sets foot in each and all of the ELT countries is finding out the most appropriate local workforce, creating the legal paths for bringing its expatriate employees and building a team of hand-picked professionals, and all on a crystal clear legal base.
We assist clients with individual and collective employment contracts, confidentiality and non-competition agreements, management contracts internal regulations, benefit programs, employment visa, as well as all kinds of work permits.
We are well aware that the human resource is essential for the success of any business venture employers are permanently preoccupied to maintain good relations with the unions and to protect and “listen” the needs of their employees, thus avoiding to the maximum extent possible any employment related conflict, be it individual or collective.
We advise clients and involve also in the social impact activities such as reorganizations, and actively act by drafting and implementing restructuring programs, by providing legal assistance to the management in the enforcement of restructuring programs, as well as through terminations and collective lay-offs and in negotiations with unions on employment rights disputes.
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Intellectual Property
We have learned the ever growing importance of the various exploits in the intellectual property practice and as such act to protect and enforce the clients' IP rights in operations such as mergers and acquisitions, franchising, joint ventures, licensing and assignment of IP rights, establishing strategies for defending IP rights in front of the State Office for Patents and Trademarks.
Our attorneys and IP counselors advise clients on a large spectrum of intellectual and industrial property issues, including the protection of IP portfolios, the creation, acquisition, licensing and exploitation of industrial property, the assessment of trademark and design availability, conducting market inquiries, as well as copyright protection.
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Regulatory Legal Services
In an ever-changing legal environment a key aspect that permanently needs to be considered, irrespective of the business area or level of investment, is compliance with the vast and often Romanian legislative thicket – with special focus on secondary legislation generated by the state regulatory authorities governing many industries.
Our members provides information and close assistance regarding each special regulation that all those subject to such legislation need to know and follow, in order to prevent any dispute with the governing regulatory authorities.
It is in no other practice area that the pro active thinking of our attorneys is more valued than in the regulatory field, especially after some of our member countries’ accession to the EU, and in the view of the very likely accession of the others, all accompanied or to be accompanied by a tidal wave of legislative changes, most of which with direct impact on our clients’ business activities.
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Litigation and Arbitration
With a significant and verifiable success rate, our members take pride in the experience and reputation gained in connection with almost all areas of civil, commercial and public law litigation in their countries of origin.
ELT members represent clients in front of all courts of justice, in both judicial and arbitral proceedings (including the ICC and UNCITRAL procedures), in areas such as: real estate and ownership recovery disputes, administrative and fiscal related disputes, intellectual property disputes, employment disputes, insolvency disputes, corporate and commercial disputes, enforcement related disputes as well as bidding and procurement disputes.
In addition to the cutting edge of our litigation strategies, we have developed alternative dispute resolution techniques to provide swift and creative remedies, assisting clients through mediation and conciliatory procedures, as well as in negotiations to minimize the risks and reach the best amiable solutions.
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