• Program
  • November 5
  • November 6
  • November 7
• Accommodation
• Social events
  • Sofia Sightseeing Tour
  • Gala Dinner
  • Rila Monastery
  • Reception hosted by Bulgarian law firms
  • Sofia Walking Tour
  • Plovdiv
• Contact us
• Materials
• Photos
• Photos
• index

Conference Brochure

Registration

The organizers of Balkan Legal Forum - the European Forum of the International Bar Association and the Legal Development Foundation were delighted with the success of the fifth edition of the Forum held in Sofia on November 5-7, 2008.

The organizers of Balkan Legal Forum - the European Forum of the International Bar Association and the Legal Development Foundation were delighted with the success of the fifth edition of the Forum held in Sofia on November 5-7, 2008.

The central theme to the conference was "Southeast Europe - Business and Law". The event attracted a total of 210 delegates from 31 countries, including participants from Europe, America and Africa.

This year the Forum enjoyed wide support from representatives of both the legal profession and the business. It started with a pre-conference legal fair, where the participants were able to hear very interesting facts about Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Greece: what clients from these countries expect from the outside counsels, what is the regime of investments from these countries abroad, how the legal profession is set up there and others.

The Forum was officially opened by the President of IBA, Mr. Fernando Pombo, the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Bulgaria and the President of the Bulgarian Bar.

The first working session dealt with private equity. It was co-chaired by Mr. Stuart L. Mills (Chair, IBA Private Equity Subcommittee, Leighton Mills PLLC) and Mr. Dariusz Wasylkowski (Co-chair, European Forum, Wardynski & Partners). A distinguished panel of clients and private equity lawyers discussed the private equity deal activity in the Balkans and beyond; regulatory impediments to private equity in the Balkans; private equity developments in Western Europe and the United States, special issues in representing private equity clients and political risk in private equity transactions in SEE. Amongst the speakers were William Morrow (Mid Europa Partners LLP), Pawe? Giery?ski (Abris Capital Partners), Khai Tan (Bridgepoint Capital), Pavel Ezekiev (NEVEQ Capital Partners Limited), Robert Gross (Berwin Leighton Paisner) and Dr. Georg Chr. Schneider (Noer Stiefenhofer Lutz).

The second session - Law Firm Management posed the question "So you think you are running a successful law firm?". It was be presided by Stephen Denyer (Vice-Chair, Law Firm Management Committee of the IBA, International Development Partner, Allen & Overy LLP) and included speakers from Eastern Europe having rich expertise and knowledge in law firm management such as Borislav Boyanov (Borislav Boyanov & Co), Adriana Gaspar (Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen), Ilian Iliev (CEO, CambridgeIP Ltd.), Mr. Tomasz Wardy?ski (Wardynski & Partners) and Iryna Nikitina (Magisters).

On November 6, 2008 after the working sessions an Open Session of the European Forum of the IBA was held.

November 7, 2008 started with a session dedicated to stock exchanges and IPOs and was chaired by Mr. Stephen Revell (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer). The session addressed issues like: what are the choices before a company going public; what does the entry into the public markets mean for a company; how should companies prepare for the IPO process, etc. Among the panellists the Chairman of the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission Mr. Apostol Apostolov, Zarko Iankov (Salans, London), Wayne McArdle (Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP) and Robert Koleczek (UniCredit Markets & Investment Banking).

The fifth and last Competition session was chaired and moderated by Mr. Mark Reysen and Dr. Michael Schütte (Howrey) with the participation of the Chair of the Bulgarian Competition Protection Commission Mr. Petko Nikolov, Mr. Ales Musil and Mr. Michael König (DG Competition), Adriana Gaspar (Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen) and Mr. Franz Urlesberger (Schoenherr). The main topics on which this session was focused on the merger control, cartels, damages actions for breach of Articles 81 and 82 EC, etc. The Chair of the Bulgarian Competition Protection Commission Mr. Petko Nikolov provided valuable insights on the draft new Bulgarian Protection of Competition Act.

As during all previous Forums there was a rich social program which offered excellent networking opportunities for the participants, including Welcome Reception, receptions hosted by local law firms, Gala Dinner, two lunches with luncheon speakers, as well as various cultural events available for the participants and their guests.

To view the presentations of the speakers as well as photos from the Forum please check out the "Materials" and "Photos" sections of the page.