During the past three years, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), including Russia, generated 15 deals, each with a value exceeding E3.5bn (£2.8bn), according to Mergermarket. In the same period, Clifford Chance acted on 98 CEE deals with a total value of more than E48bn (£38bn), Baker & McKenzie acted on 95 deals while White & Case acted on 85. This is a stark contrast with 15 years ago when the deal volumes in the CEE region were among the lowest in the world and the local independent law firms typically consisted of two people sharing a desk in an apartment building somewhere in a dusty capital city. Now the local lawyers are no longer the poor relatives: Ion Nestor was on the cover of Business Week Romania. His firm, the 182-people strong Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen, was recognized as one of the Business Superbrands Romania 2007-08.
During the past 15 years, CEE has emerged as an interesting market for the global multinationals. The foreign lawyers servicing the deals, headquartered in London or New York, have started to work even more closely with the local lawyers. But despite all their work together, the relationships have had their share of problems. Part of the answer to the question of how to avoid such problems lies in the need for increased understanding of two very different business models for law firms: the Anglo-Saxon partnership and the CEE entrepreneurial model.
