Construction works on the Bratislava ring road project. (source: TASR)
Litigation & arbitration: 10 largest law firms
RELEVANS
Allen & Overy
SOUKENÍK – ŠTRPKA
RUŽIČKA AND PARTNERS
Dentons Europe CS LLP
Škubla & Partneri
TaylorWessing e/n/w/c
IKRÉNYI & REHÁK
Paul Q
BBH
Ranking created based on the following criteria (values for 2019): number of active deals with regard to their value (85% weight), sales revenues (5% weight), number of attorneys (5% weight), number of associates practising > 3 years (3% weight), number of associates practising < 3 years (2% weight).
In the area of litigation, law firms report that their biggest transactions result from lawsuits involving the public sector. Several report mandates that are linked to the construction of infrastructure, the most common area of litigative action being roads.
The largest of these probably includes the representation of parties in lawsuits linked to the construction of the R7 dual carriageway and the D4 highway, also known as the Bratislava zero bypass. The constructor is Zero Bypass Limited, a consortium of the Spanish infrastructure developer Cintra, Australian finance company Macquarie and Austrian construction company Porr. The construction of these roads was ordered as a public-private partnership (PPP) project for less than €2 billion.
The delayed bypass
The National Highway Company (NDS) was late settling ownership of the land under the highway; hence construction permits could not be issued quickly and the whole project was delayed. Zero Bypass Limited then proceeded to initiate arbitration against the state. The consortium is represented by the law firm Allen & Overy, the second-largest law firm in the area of litigation in The Slovak Spectator’s ranking. The firm reported that the value of the deal has reached €1 billion.
