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Overview
It is not just the global credit crunch that has impacted heavily on Latvia. Five years of rapid growth, fuelled by enormous cash injections from EU funds and the Scandinavian banking sector, has crashed, resulting in what one leading firm describes as ‘a battlefield of inflation and real property market stagnation.’ The impact on the country’s legal services is heavily dependant on practice diversity. The leading firms, which can be identified by consistent top-tier ranking in our tables, have the credentials to ride the storm: size, full-service capability and international links. These managing partners remain upbeat: while noting a dramatic pause in M&A transactions and real estate instructions, they cite dispute resolution, corporate restructuring, refinancing, employment and competition law as major growth areas.
Conversely, the small boutique commercial firms, of which there are many in Latvia, have difficult times ahead due to their heavy reliance on foreign direct investment.
It is now the norm for our leading pack to offer pan-Baltic capability, with all securing successful alliances in the region. They are: Klavins & Slaidins LAWIN, part of the LAWIN group that includes top-tier firms from all three Baltic countries; Raidla Lejins & Norcous, which rebranded in 2008 from Lejins, Torgans & Partners and is a member of the Nordic-Baltic network RoschierRaidla; and Glimstedt & Partneri; Liepa, Skopina/Borenius; and Loze, Grunte & Cers/TLS Alliance, which all have high calibre alliances with firms in Estonia and Lithuania, as well as Finland ( Borenius group) and Sweden (Glimstedt network). Sorainen is the only genuine pan-Baltic firm with its own offices in the region, opening in Belarus in 2008.
However, two more leading firms have taken their international reach a step further. They are: Eversheds Bitans Law Office, which, as its name suggests, officially joined the international network of the UK’s Eversheds LLP in 2008 and includes 25 jurisdictions; and Kronbergs & Cukste, part of the Pinsent Masons Luther Group headquartered in the UK and Germany. A client of the latter states, ‘this international service makes a real difference.’
2008 saw the launch of new firm Vilgerts Law Firm, founded by Gints Vilgerts, former managing partner of top firm Sorainen. Offering strength in M&A, corporate and competition, it remains to be seen if the firm’s talented team can grow the practice amidst a turbulent economic climate.
The headline deal of 2008 was the €1bn sale of a 51% government-owned stake in fixed line national telecoms operator, Lattelecom and Latvian Mobile Phone, potentially the largest deal in Latvian history.