Musat & Asociatii strengthens its Litigation & Arbitration department, by appointing two new partners, Nicolae Viorel Dinu and Octavian Popescu, and by headhunting five experienced litigators, exceeding 25 specialists in this area of practice.
Nicolae Viorel Dinu returns to Musat & Asociatii as Partner after five years as Managing Counsel at Salans-Moore & Associates. Dinu started his career at Musat & Asociatii in 1996, being involved in numerous privatisations and investment projects, as well as in civil and commercial litigations. In 2002 he attended The George Washington University Law School, obtaining a LLM degree in 2003. He has entered the New York State Bar in 2004. Over the years, he has successfully handled a large portfolio of commercial, administrative and fiscal litigations, as well as international arbitration procedures, representing foreign investors before international arbitration tribunals, such as ICC or ICSID.
With six years experience at Musat & Asociatii, Octavian Popescu , one of the firm’s most valuable litigators focused on white collar crime, fraud and insolvencies, was promoted to partnership. Octavian Popescu is one of the few lawyers on the local legal market who has achieved an in-depth expertise in white-collar crime, fraud, economic espionage, financial and cybercrimes, by conducting complex cases in these areas. Further areas of expertise include insolvency & restructuring and labour litigations.
„Viorel Dinu is renowned on the market for his involvement in high profile commercial litigations and international arbitrations, his experience recommending him as one of the best litigators in Romania. Also, Octavian Popescu’s appointment to Partnership acknowledges his ongoing contribution to the development of the litigation department, handling a significant portfolio of clients and successfully completing complex contencious mandates”, says Gheorghe Musat, Senior Partner with Musat & Asociatii.
Moreover, Musat & Asociatii extended its team with five another qualified litigators: Mihai Ciprian Dimitriu, a former Senior Associate Lawyer with KPMG Romania, with an experience of over ten years in litigations, Roxana-Nicoleta Feraru, former litigator at Wolf Theiss, as well as Călin Victor Dobre, Cosmin Ioan Libotean and Raluca Feraru, former lawyers at other renowned local law firms.
“I am delighted that our strong dispute resolution team has grown with five experienced lawyers and I am convinced that all of these fiercefull litigators will have a major contribution to the development of our litigation department. As in the recent months we have seen an increased workload in dispute resolution files, these new appointments will bring a fresh perspective and extremely necessary contribution to our department”, says Gheorghe Musat.
Gheorghe Buta, one of the most notable personalities of the Romanian legal practice, former President of the High Court of Cassation and Justice – the Commercial Division, with an impressive expertise of more than 30 years of legal practice, was appointed in July Head of firm’s Litigation practice. Subsequent to our recent appointments, the new structure of our dispute resolution department comprises five partners: Gheorghe Buta, who supervises the activity of the entire department, Luminiţa Popa, head of arbitration practice, Viorel Dinu, coordinating commercial litigations, Octavian Popescu, specialized in white collar crime, and Anca Buta Musat, coordinating antitrust, intellectual property and pharmaceuticals litigations.
Musat & Asociatii is currently involved in reverberating litigations on the local market, such as representing Rompetrol in the disputes against the Romanian State, representing ThysenKrupp in the longest litigation in the Romanian history, arising from the sale and purchase of steel during the communist political regime, with claims amounting to USD 40 million, as well as representing numerous high-profile multinational corporations before the courts, such as Orange, SBS Broadcasting Corporation, Eli Lilly, Leumi Bank, Tornator, etc.
Musat & Asociatii is placed in the Leading category in Litigation & Arbitration in the latest rankings provided by the reputed international legal guides, Legal 500 and PLC Which Lawyer?.