Gheorghe Buta, former President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice – the Commercial Division, has joined the management structure of Muşat & Asociaţii and will coordinate the Litigation & Arbitration department, consisting of 20 lawyers, 4 of them being partners. With an impressive expertise of more than 30 years of legal practice, Gheorghe Buta is one of the most notable personalities of the Romanian legal practice, being acknowledged both for his activity as judge with the High Court of Cassation and Justice between 2004-2010, and for his contribution to the drafting of the new Criminal Code and the amending of the Codes of Criminal and Civil Procedure.
“It honors us deeply to have on-board a professional of Mr Gheorghe Buta’s value, renowned for his expertise in the area of civil and commercial litigation. Dispute resolution has been and still remains one of our strongest areas of practice and I am confident that with Mr. Buta at the helm of the Litigation & Arbitration Department, our firm will swiftly see impressive results related to the growth strategy and consolidation of the department”, said Gheorghe Muşat, Senior Partner and founder of the firm.
Within the Litigation & Arbitration Department, Luminiţa Popa will coordinate the arbitration practice of the firm. “The substantial increase of the volume and complexity of arbitration-related work, especially regarding the protection of the foreign investments at international level, but also in domestic arbitration, imposed that Luminiţa Popa be appointed head of arbitration, further to her active involvement in the development of the legal team specializing in the alternative dispute settlement”, declared Gheorghe Muşat. Luminiţa Popa has recently obtained a Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration from the prestigious Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (DiplCArb) in the United Kingdom and holds a vast expertise in international arbitration procedures, being involved in many of the arbitration cases assisted by our firm, both as regards the management of the strategy and defense and the representation of the clients before a large number of international arbitration tribunals, such as ICC or ICSID.
About Gheorghe Buta
Twice member of the Superior Council of Magistracy and President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice – Commercial Division, Gheorghe Buta went through all the stages of an exemplary magistrate career: starting at the local prosecutor office in Bistriţa, he was appointed judge and president of the Bistriţa – Năsăud Tribunal, then judge and president of the Cluj Court of Appeal and ultimately member in the Management Committee of the High Court of Cassation and Justice. In 2007 he was nominated by the Government as Romania’s candidate for a judge position at the European Court for Human Rights.
Mr Buta graduated the Law Faculty of the Babeş – Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca in 1979, then obtained a PhD in Law with “summa cum laudae” and participated to international courses in EU Law and commercial law at Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Court of Justice of the European Union. He is specialized in commercial and civil law, labour law, procedural civil and criminal law and is a university lecturer at the Babeş – Bolyai University in Cluj.
Gheorghe Buta is also renowned for his academic works that combine practical matters regarding the newly reformed judicial framework in Romania, with valuable jurisprudence insights, acknowledged with numerous awards by professional associations. He authored several volumes of reference, such as “The Civil Procedure Code – commented and annotated” (Universul Juridic Publishing House, Bucharest, 2008), “The Commercial Jurisdiction – Theory and Jurisprudence” (Lumina Lex Publishing House, Bucharest, 2003), “Payment Summons Procedure. Doctrine and Case-Law” (C.H. Beck Publishing House, Bucharest, 2006), “Business Law” (EFES Publishing House, Cluj-Napoca, 2003), “The High Court of Cassation and Justice – Commercial Division’s Case-Law” (Hamangiu Publishing, 2006 – 2010). In addition, he wrote over 100 articles, studies and contributions published in legal publications or collective works, or presented at congresses, conferences and workshops on commercial law, criminal law, procedural civil law and human rights.