“Everyone who is doing business in Slovakia needs to know who the largest law firms in the country are, which is why we are doing this ranking,” said Ján Pallo, publisher of The Slovak Spectator.
“When compiling the ranking, we used three criteria which speak objectively about the size of law firms: number of people with a law degree working for the firm, sales revenues, and net profit, while complete financial data is provided by the company FinStat.”
The law firm SOUKENÍK – ŠTRPKA placed first in the general ranking with the highest number of lawyers working for the company. The most important deals with which this law firm dealt with in 2018/2019 include:
Deal1: Advice for Národná diaľničná spoločnosť, a.s. (Ministry of Transport and Construction) in relation to D4/R7 Project (€1.7 bn).
Deal2: Advising on the application process for a syndicated loan amounting to €355 mil.
Deal3: Advising in the arbitration initiated by Zero Bypass Limited (D4/R7 constructor) against the Slovak Republic.
Deal4: Representing a chain store client in the so-called Million-fine proceedings.
Deal5: Legal advice on the notice of concentration (€360 mil.).
LARGEST LAW FIRMS IN SLOVAKIA 2019
SOUKENÍK – ŠTRPKA
Advokátska kancelária RELEVANS
RUŽIČKA AND PARTNERS
Allen & Overy
TaylorWessing e/n/w/c advokáti
Barger Prekop
White & Case
Dentons Europe CS LLP
HAVEL & PARTNERS
PETERKA & PARTNERS
Law firm White & Case had the highest growth in sales and profit. In 2018, the 10 largest law firms saw a 20.92-percent increase year-on-year in revenues while all market growth was only 1 percent. The aggregate net profit of the first 10 law firms rose 87.24 percent compared to profits in 2017, while the market average increased by 6.5 percent.
Largest law firms in Slovakia (source: Investment Advisory Guide)
The annual Investment Advisory Guide 2019/20 published by the English language newspaper The Slovak Spectator provides more detailed data with published results of the analysis as well as complex ratings.
When looking at partial criteria used for setting up the general ranking, Advokátska kancelária JUDr. Radomír Bžán, BADUCCI Legal, METIS Legal a SELTON legal have several top positions. However, they have not been considered for the purposes of the ranking. This is due to number of lawyers who are working for the company; only firms with more than 10 lawyers made it to the final ranking. From other companies, Allen & Overy Bratislava once again achieved the highest sales revenues in 2018 out of all assessed law offices, while SOUKENÍK – ŠTRPKA dominated in the number of law graduates (53). Advokátska kancelária RELEVANS achieved the highest profit and RUŽIČKA AND PARTNERS had the highest number of attorneys in 2018.
The position of law firms in the ranking of local and international attorneys is interesting when considering whether they have offices mostly in the Czech and Slovak republics or not.
LARGEST LOCAL LAW FIRMS 2019
SOUKENÍK – ŠTRPKA
Advokátska kancelária RELEVANS
RUŽIČKA AND PARTNERS
Barger Prekop
HAVEL & PARTNERS
Škubla & Partneri
Hamala Kluch Víglaský
Valko Marián & partners
Hillbridges
Paul Q
Largest local law firms (source: Investment Advisory Guide)
Allen & Overy Bratislava placed first among international law firms operating in Slovakia. The most significant cases in which the law firm provided legal services in 2018-2019 were:
Deal1: Advising Slovenské elektrárne on the extension and renegotiation of their loan portfolio of €2.9 bn.
Deal2: Issuer and arranger for Prima banka Slovensko on the establishment of €1.5 bn covered bonds issuance programme.
Deal3: Assisting Aegon on its €155 mil. disposal of insurance businesses in the Czech Republic, and insurance and pension savings business for NN Group (SK).
Deal4: Advising W.A.G. payment solutions , a.s. (CZ) on acquisition of a majority interest in Sygic, a.s, leading provider of mobile-app-based navigation.
Deal5: Global co-ordinators on the up to €3.025 bn leveraged acquisition financing of the PPF Group’s acquisition of the CEE/SEE business of Telenor.
LARGEST INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRMS IN SLOVAKIA 2019
Allen & Overy
TaylorWessing e/n/w/c advokáti
PETERKA & PARTNERS
Dentons Europe CS LLP
White & Case
Kinstellar
bnt attorneys-at-law
Noerr
Ernst & Young Law
Deloitte Legal
Largest international law firms (source: Investment Advisory Guide)
More complex information was published in the yearbook about the investment environment Investment Advisory Guide 2019/20.
This ranking of the 10 largest law firms in Slovakia was created based on five factors related to the year 2018, to which we gave different weights:
- number of attorneys (36% weight);
- number of law graduates besides attorneys with more than 3 years practice (18% weight);
- number of law graduates besides attorneys with less than 3 years practice (6% weight);
- sales revenue (25% weight);
- average net profit value for 2016-2018 (15% weight).
Financial data on profits and revenue has been provided by the company FinStat.sk, which is published along with other details concerning Slovak companies. This data helps companies analyse business partners, competitors, and the whole general market. It also leads to potential new deals and the development of new business.
A few law firms decided not to provide information and were not analysed in this ranking. Based on the calculations of The Slovak Spectator, their potential involvement this year would have had a minimum impact on the ranking of the top positions.
Investment Advisory Guide
The yearbook on the business environment, published yearly since 2000 by The Slovak Spectator, gives an overview of investors either from Slovakia or abroad. This year’s edition was published thanks to the cooperation of the Investment Support Association (ISA). The general partner of the guide is the law firm SOUKENÍK – ŠTRPKA. The content provides well-arranged information on the economy, labour market, investor support, legislation, and real estate, as well as investment opportunities in Slovakia. This guide also contains a large analysis of the law firm market, providing more detailed information on the most important ones. Within this section, rankings of the largest law firms in Slovakia are also published. The yearbook traditionally contains a wealth of statistics, including the regional comparison of wages, unemployment rates, industrial structure and an overview of the largest companies in individual regions.
