Bucharest, 26 February 2015 – Global Arbitration Review (GAR), one of the highest-profile legal publications, included Muşat & Asociaţii in the GAR 100 list, a top of the best law firms in the field of international arbitration worldwide. This award is an acknowledgment of Muşat & Asociaţii’s experience and achievements in international arbitration disputes.
The GAR ranking is an annual issue and covers the sector of international arbitrational across the world, being the result of an extended research into the representative assignments of each law firm, also reflecting clients’, arbitral institutions’ and arbitrators’ opinions.
“Muşat & Asociaţii is a landmark in international arbitration, and our recognition in GAR 100 is an additional achievement. We have one of the strongest legal teams exclusively dedicated to international arbitration, and the portfolio of files entrusted to us as lead counsel displays extremely intricate and challenging assignments, in disputes which are complex both in terms of subject-matters, as well as in terms of the value of their claims. And, significantly, these assignments have been entrusted to us by sophisticated international clients, which are recognition in itself – I would say the most meaningful – of our expertise and skills in international commercial arbitration. We are honored by this distinction and are determined to maintain the standard of quality recognized by our clients. In the context of the economic and political developments in recent years, of the implicit complexity of international transactions, but also of the advantages brought by the arbitral procedure, we estimate that the number of disputes subject to arbitration will witness a constantly rising trend”, said Gheorghe Muşat, Senior Partner Muşat & Asociaţii.
Clients quoted by Global Arbitration Review describe Muşat & Asociaţii as “less polemic and more legal”, “highlight the quality of the documents drafted by the lawyers” or the fact that the team “ was much more professional than the counterparty’s counsel, especially in view of not causing unfruitful waste of time to the arbitral tribunal”. According to another client quoted by GAR, Muşat & Asociaţii’s team “ was put to test in one case when the tribunal chairman raised a final question in the last hearing, giving Muşat only a 15-minute break to prepare its reply. But the firm rose to the challenge and gave a response that was decisive for a favorable award ” to us.
The latest mandates entrusted to Muşat & Asociaţii include representing Enel, one of the leading European groups in the energy industry, in several international commercial arbitration files (arbitration venue: Paris), the value of disputes exceeding USD 1.9 billion, but also representing Colas, one of the top construction groups worldwide, in a series of ICC arbitration files (arbitration venue: Geneva, Bucharest) in relation to the implementation of international construction contracts for the development of infrastructure projects, the aggregate value of disputes amounting to USD 95 million.
Our team of attorneys specialized in international arbitration is led by Gheorghe Buta (Head of the Litigation and Arbitration practice) and Luminiţa Popa (Head of the International Arbitration practice).
Dr. Gheorghe Buta is one of the most well-known and respected experts in commercial and civil litigation. In his outstanding judicial career spanning over three decades, he has gathered extensive trial experience, first as prosecutor, then as judge with courts of all levels, including with the High Court of Cassation and Justice for 6 years, and in the past years as litigator. Currently, he is also an arbitrator with the International Commercial Arbitration Court attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania.
Luminiţa Popa holds considerable experience in international commercial arbitration and foreign investment protection, being involved in various multi-jurisdictional projects in significant files concerning international commercial arbitration and foreign investment protection. Luminiţa is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb), as well as a member of the ICC Institute of World Business Law and of the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA). Furthermore, she is an arbitrator on the arbitrators list of the International Commercial Arbitration Court attached to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania.
About MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII
MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII is one of the first law firms established in Romania after January 1, 1990. With 19 partners and over 100 attorneys and advisors, MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII provides legal advisory services in all areas of business law, including Mergers & Acquisitions, Privatization, Banking, Energy & Natural Resources, Competition, Corporate, Telecommunications & IT, Labor, Fiscal, Capital Markets, Real Estate, Environmental, Litigations & Commercial Arbitrations.
Renowned as one of the pillars of business law practice in Romania, MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII is constantly recommended by the international legal guides and publications (such as Chambers & Partners, International Financial Law Review, Legal 500, Practical Law Company etc.) as a leading law firm in Romania, many of its attorneys being, in their turn, nominated by these publications among the elite of business law in Romania.
In april 2013, Muşat & Asociaţii won the „The Law Firm of the Year in Romania” award granted by the International
Financial Law Review (IFLR) during the IFLR European Awards ceremony, held in London, in the presence of more than 200 representatives of the leading European law firms. This is the second time in the past three years that Muşat & Asociaţii is granted this prestigious award, after the distinction received in 2011, when Romania was included for the first time on the list of countries nominated for the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) awards.
In 2012, MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII won the Gold Award for “Best Law Firm in Central and Eastern Europe”, an accolade awarded by the 2012 International Legal Alliance Summit & Awards, for excellent results obtained on the Romanian market by the MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII team, both with regard to the mandates portfolio in the Mergers & Acquisitions area of practice, and to the management strategy adopted.
Furthermore, the renowned publication Chambers Europe awarded the trophy “Romanian Law Firm of the Year” to MUŞAT & ASOCIAŢII forbeing the law firm with the best performance in the course of last year in Romania, in the ceremony “ Chambers Europe Awards for Excellence 2011”.
MUSAT & ASOCIATII regularly provides legal advisory services to many of the most renowned and valued corporations in Romania, including a third of the Top 100 and half of the Top 500 largest companies, as well as to local public and financial institutions in intricate corporate and financial transactions and complex dispute resolution procedures. The company’s portfolio comprises over 2,500 clients, most of which are foreign investors, such as: Enel SpA, GDF Suez, Colas, European Investment Bank, RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland), ING Bank, Fortis Bank, KBC Bank, Banca Transilvania, BNP Paribas, OTP Bank, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Roche, Abbot, General Electric, General Motors, Microsoft, Intel, Oracle, Google, AON, Amazon.com, AT&T, Nokia, Alcatel – Lucent, Telecom Italia, Thyssen Krupp, Generali, AFI Europe, Electrolux, Caterpillar, Monsanto, Deutsche Bahn, SAB Miller, etc.