The Legal 500

Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii made ten internal promotions as part of the firm's annual performance review taking place in November. These comprise seven Managing Associates and three Senior Associates, effective from January 1st, 2012. The firm also announced the letting of an additional 917 sqm of office area, expanding its headquarters in Bucharest to support the firm’s future growth plans. 

Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii made ten internal promotions as part of the firm's annual performance review taking place in November. These comprise seven Managing Associates and three Senior Associates, effective from January 1st, 2012. The firm also announced the letting of an additional 917 sqm of office area, expanding its headquarters in Bucharest to support the firm’s future growth plans. 

Managing Partner Florentin Ţuca commented: “The impressive overall performance of our teams and the quality of their work throughout these past twelve months made it difficult for us to reach a decision on this year’s promotions. All the promoted lawyers have demonstrated business acumen and strong legal expertise in their respective fields and will most definitely play a key role in the future development of our practice across different areas. In particular, in addition to handling regular client work, the seven new Managing Associates will be involved in daily business operations and in the decision-making process on key or sensitive business issues.”

Anca Jurcovan, Oana Gavrilă, Mihaela Maxim (Ivan), Oana Cornescu, Raluca Mişu, Dragoş Apostol and Dominic Morega were promoted to Managing Associate.

The new Senior Associates are Geanina Tache, Alexandru Anghel and Oana Mina.

According to the firm’s officials, the annual performance review is carried out on the basis of transparent and merit-based evaluation criteria that combine both quantifiable (i.e. billable hours) and non-quantifiable criteria (i.e. communication and leadership skills, ethics and commitment, client service and business development skills, pro bono work etc), set out and communicated to all the firm’s team members. Further to the performance appraisal process, future partners may also be appointed. Last year, Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii made up 11 promotions including six new partners.

“In spite of no partner appointments being made this year due to the current economic uncertainty and fears of a double-dip recession, we shall continue to encourage performance at all levels and remain true to our ongoing commitment to grant our team members full and equal access to the partnership formula”, said Florentin Ţuca. 

Expansion strategy and organic growth are central to the firm’s business development plans for 2012, with lateral hiring expected in the litigation, finance and banking, labour and fiscal practice groups. To support this growth, Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii let another 917 sqm area and expanded its headquarters in downtown Bucharest, now using a total let area of 2,600 sqm in America House office building.

About the newly promoted lawyers:
Anca Jurcovan was promoted to Managing Associate with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. She has contributed significantly to the firm’s Competition/Antitrust practice group and has supported the M&A department with complex antitrust and merger issues impacting on large domestic and international transactions. For the past 7 years, she has successfully assisted well-known clients during the antitrust investigations conducted by the Romanian Competition Council and has been involved, on the side of both private and public bodies, in the most important State aid cases impacting on the Romanian market.

Oana Gavrilă was promoted to Managing Associate with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. For the past 7 years as a pleading lawyer, she has advised the firm’s clients on a wide range of corporate/commercial disputes and tax related disputes. In particular, she has gained an impressive body of expertise in representing clients in complex contentious-administrative disputes, especially as regards the cancellation of administrative deeds connected to the award of concession agreements, public-private partnerships or public procurements.

Mihaela Maxim (Ivan) was promoted to Managing Associate with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. She has been a pleading lawyer for the past 7 years, mainly in relation to commercial law disputes, intellectual property disputes, domestic commercial arbitration cases, as well as labour disputes. Mihaela has particular experience in representing clients in complex administrative law cases, especially as regards the annulment of certain deeds issued by administrative, fiscal-administrative or Customs authorities.

Oana Cornescu was promoted to Managing Associate with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. She has over 12 years experience in legal practice and government services, having served 7 years as legal advisor to the Romanian Ministry of Public Finances. She mainly specialises in commercial disputes arising from Romanian commercial law relations and domestic/international arbitration (according to the ICC, UNCITRAL and ICSID Rules). In addition, she has represented the firm’s clients in various contentious-administrative and fiscal disputes.

Raluca Mişu was promoted to Managing Associate with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. She has more than 7 years of experience in real estate, property and construction matters, having advised the firm’s clients in this sector on a wide range of real estate transactions and large-scale property development projects, including related financing issues. Other major areas of practice include corporate/commercial, mergers/acquisitions and banking/finance (restructuring of debts resulting from commercial operations, etc). 

Dragoş Apostol was promoted to Managing Associate with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. He rejoined the firm in August 2011 after having worked for several years with other local law firms, including NNDKP. For the past 12 years, he has advised clients from mining, oil/gas, automotive, agribusiness, food/beverage industries, as well as private equity funds and asset management companies in relation to their investment plans in Romania. As such, he was involved in complex real estate and concession/public procurement, M&As and privatisation projects. 

Dominic Morega was promoted to Managing Associate with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. He joined the firm in September 2011 after having worked for 8 years with Muşat & Asociaţii. With a 14-year experience, he mainly advises top international players in the pharmaceutical industry or healthcare services market on matters of compliance with Romanian/EU legal requirements and on complex M&A transactions, corporate and commercial law, administrative disputes, etc. He was also involved in revising various enactments regulating pharmaceutical and healthcare areas. 

Geanina Tache was promoted to Senior Associate with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii where she has been working since April 2010. Prior to joining the firm, she was an Associate with RTPR Allen & Overy for four years. She mainly specialises in civil and commercial disputes, in administrative and public procurement litigation, forced execution procedures etc. Other areas of practice include real estate and corporate/commercial law.

Alexandru Anghel was promoted to Senior Associate with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. He combines a 12-year expertise in providing legal advisory services in corporate/commercial law and real estate with litigation support, having represented clients before Romanian courts of all levels, including in front of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, in relation to complex civil and commercial disputes, real estate litigation, contentious-administrative, forced execution procedures, as well as insolvency and liquidation.

Oana Mina was promoted to Senior Associate with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. Her main areas of practice are in real estate, property and corporate law. For the past 5 years, she has advised on the various stages of real estate project implementation and development, real estate acquisition/disposal, including drafting and negotiating sale-purchase agreements, joint-venture agreements and other commercial contracts. She has also regularly assisted the firm’s clients in relation to commercial lease agreements and property development legal issues.

About Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii:
With offices in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii is the sole independent Romanian law firm with a representative office in Spain. In addition to its business partnership network in Romania, the firm also entered into a strategic “best friend” cooperation agreement with law firm Ţurcan Cazac, the leader of the business law market in Chişinău, the capital of the Republic of Moldova. Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii offers the whole range of legal services, and has been recommended by prestigious specialised international directories in areas of practice such as: corporate & commercial; mergers, acquisitions & privatisation; litigation & international arbitration; energy & natural resources; banking & finance and others.

The firm has garnered a string of local, regional and international accolades, having been named the “Law Firm of the Year” for the past four years and the “Most Innovative Continental European Law Firm” in the Financial Times’ Innovative Lawyers Report. It received Chambers Europe’s most prestigious award for excellence – the “Law Firm of the Year Award” (Chambers Europe Awards for Excellence 2010) and “Law Firm of the Year in Eastern Europe and the Balkans Award” at The Lawyer European Awards 2010 ceremony. Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii’s client portfolio comprises many local and international companies, prominent financial institutions, as well as public authorities and government institutions. A selective list of clients includes: Erste Bank / Banca Comercială Română (BCR), OMV Petrom, CEZ, Gabriel Resources Ltd. / Roşia Montană Gold Corporation, Rompetrol, ArcelorMittal, Carrefour, Romtelecom, Orkla Foods, Colgate-Palmolive, GED Capital Development, the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BRD-Groupe Société Générale, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Philip Morris, Alstom Transport, Siemens, Ericsson Telecommunications Romania and ING Real Estate.

Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii now boasts 95 lawyers, including 21 partners.

For more information, please contact Alina Pintică, PR and Marketing Executive at alina.pintica@tuca.ro or visit www.tuca.ro