The Legal 500

Within Corporate and M&A, Karanovic & Nikolic is a second tier firm,

The five fee-earner team at Stevan Dimitrijevic Law Office in cooperation with Karanovic & Nikolic is headed by experienced local lawyer Stevan Dimitrijevic and has close working ties with Serbian firm Karanovic & Nikolic. Based in Banja Luka, the firm is one of the few reliable outfits in RS and enjoys a strong reputation for small-scale banking and finance work. In 2008, the firm acted for the local subsidiary of Volksbank and began advising two domestic microcredit organisations (Sinergija Plus BL and Zdrado) on both financing and regulatory issues. The firm advised the European Investment Bank (EIB) in relation to a €24m loan to UniCredit. In M&A, the team acted for PepsiCo on the successful acquisition of a local snack company (Marbo). In 2008, the firm was appointed to advise the RS government, in conjunction with London firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker (Europe) LLP, on a major PPP highway-building project. Clients praise Stevan Dimitrijevic’s ‘understanding, depth of knowledge and attention to the needs of the customer’.

Within Legal market,

Both the Federation and RS have separate laws, courts and bar associations, mirroring political fractures. The Federation accounts for the bulk of the economy and consequently Sarajevo houses the major law firms. Domestically, Maric Law Office continues to dominate, with a reputation amongst foreign clients as the most professional and reliable of the home-grown outfits. Three-partner Lawyers Office Bojana Tkalcic-Dulic, Olodar Prebanic & Adela Draganovic is not far behind and recommended sole practitioner Advokat Karabdic Kerim goes from strength to strength. The only international firms present in the market are regional players Law Office Femil Curt and Wolf Theiss, for whom their Bosnian offices represent the realisation of a general policy of ubiquity across Central and Eastern Europe. Whilst the latter firm continues to lead operations from Vienna, the former changed strategy in 2008 and concentrated on creating a more self-sufficient local practice. Both remain the first port of call for foreign investors and the influence of their respective networks guarantees a level of quality that the domestic market struggles to produce. Both are fending off hostility from Bosnian firms and the two bar associations. BiH’s profoundly illiberal legal market continues to discourage the presence of foreign firms. The RS has only a handful of firms, all operating out of its unofficial capital Banja Luka. Attorney at Law Office Ruzica Topic, Advokatska Firma Sajic o.d. and Stevan Dimitrijevic Law Office in cooperation with Karanovic & Nikolic – the one-partner outpost of Serbian operation Karanovic & Nikolic – are the leading players. Observers agree greater liberalisation is needed if the market is to grow and standards are to rise. Despite the modest demand, there remains a shortfall of highly qualified, multilingual lawyers capable of dealing with international clients.

Within Real estate and construction, Karanovic & Nikolic is a second tier firm,

Stevan Dimitrijevic Law Office in cooperation with Karanovic & Nikolic acted for Italian investor Atzwanger in the development of a leisure complex in Banja Luka comprising a water park, restaurants and retail outlets.