Muşat & Asociaţii is consolidating its Litigation & Arbitration and Competition & IP departments by promoting other two of the firm’s senior lawyers to partnership. As a result of their significant involvement in many of the major transactions advised by the firm in the past years, Delia Topoleanu and Anca Musat have joined as at 1st January the other nine partners of the firm. Founded 17 years ago by Gheorghe Muşat, Musat & Asociatii has now a total of 11 partners as well as over 70 associates.
The Litigation & Arbitration Department has generated a significant contribution to the turnover accomplished last year by Muşat & Asociaţii, securing over 25% of the firm’s income, while the Competition & IP practice of Musat & Asociatii has seen the most spectacular increase in terms of mandates complexity and number in the past few years. “Dispute Resolution remains one of our most dynamic and constantly growing practices. With a department made-up of over 20 experienced lawyers headed by reputed Prof. Ion Dragne and an ever-increasing client portfolio we felt the time is right to promote another partner from among the firm in response to the rapid growth of our litigation practice. With the ever increasing challenges clients are faced with in terms of Competition & Antitrust regulations brought about by Romania’s accession to the EU our Competition practice has seen an increasing workload and complexity that founded our decision to promote a new partner responsible for this area. The “organic growth and constant development” principle that has guided us in the past 17 years has never failed so far and we intend to continue to expand our partnership in the years to come ”, stated Gheorghe Muşat, senior partner.
Delia Topoleanu, a former judge, specializes in commercial and administrative litigation and counts over 11 years of experience. Delia has represented governmental, non-governmental institutions, and major multinational corporate clients in disputes before the Romanian and foreign courts and in numerous arbitration procedures, while being constantly involved in many high-profile dispute resolution cases.
Anca Musat is an LLM graduate in Transnational Business Practice at University of Salzburg /University of the Pacific and received a PGD in Competition at King’s College London. Anca specializes in Competition & Antitrust, State aid and IP. She has successfully handled many complex projects such as the restructuring of the Euro 1 billion debt of Termoelectrica SA, the antitrust clearance of the acquisition of Electrica Muntenia Sud by Enel etc.
The expansion process witnessed by Musat & Asociatii is underlined by the additional promotion to Co-Managing Partners position of Catalin Baiculescu and Ion Dragne also effective 1st January 2008. Catalin Baiculescu has over 10 years of experience with Musat & Asociatii and is one of the most reputed Romanian lawyers in Mergers&Acquisitions, Telecom and Banking & Finance who headed many of the successful transactions the firm was involved in the past years such as the acquisition of several TV stations by SBS Broadcasting Corporation and the largest land acquisition ever made in Romania acting on the side of AFI Europe.
Ion Dragne heads the bolstering Litigation & Arbitration practice of Musat & Asociatii, handling claims in excess of EUR$3 billion in 2007 alone, seconded by a legal team of over 20 experienced lawyers. His unparalleled legal expertise is doubled by an outstanding academic track record as a PhD in Administrative Law and the Pro-Dean of the Bucharest Bar.
“The appointment of Catalin and Ion as Co-managing partners came as a natural response to the firm’s constant growth but also to their extraordinary dedication to the firm and indefatigable professional and managerial capabilities contributing to the firm’s overall success. In the past years they were not only my partners and friends but stood out as true pillars of the firm whose talent and dedication made a difference” states Gheorghe Musat, Senior Partner of the firm.
Muşat & Asociaţii is recognized as the leading independent law firm in Romania and a full service law firm providing legal assistance with respect to all areas of law. IFLR 1000 – the top world-wide law firms guide for financial projects – highly recommends Muşat & Asociaţii for projects related to capital markets, banking, mergers and acquisitions. Likewise, the firm maintains its leading position within the prestigious publications, PLC Which Lawyer and Chambers Global 2007, areas such as mergers and acquisitions, dispute resolution, energy and environment. The firm has a close collaboration with high profile law firms within the European Union and the US and is the exclusive representative in Romania of Terralex – the worldwide network of independent law firms consisting of more than 20,000 attorneys all over the world.
Presently, Muşat & Asociaţii has a portfolio of highly complex transactions and projects, acting for a clientele represented by first-tier European and American corporations, as well as prestigious local companies, such as: Enel SpA, NOKIA, ABN AMRO Bank, Fortis Bank, Orange, PPF Investments, European Investment Bank, Eli Lilly, ING Real Estate, General Electric, General Motors, Intel Corp, Oracle, AON, AT&T, Fondiaria, KBC Bank, Piraeus Bank, Raiffeisen Bank, OTP Bank, Thyssen Krupp, Generali, Immoeast Corporate Finance Consulting, Equest Investment, Petrom, Posta Romana (the Romanian Post), AFI Europe, Electrolux, SBS Broadcasting Corporation, Liebrecht & Wood, Atlas Estates, Gabriel Resources / Rosia Montana Gold Corporation.