“The ranking of law firms that we compiled met with very positive feedback last year,” said Ján Pallo, publisher of The Slovak Spectator. “Thanks to information from almost all, the big but also smaller players on the market, and complementary calculations, we have prepared an analysis of the top largest law firms in Slovakia, providing an overview for Slovak as well as foreign business people.”
The Slovak Spectator team used a broader criteria than last year when compiling the ranking, Pallo explained, using a more complex structure of persons with a law degree cooperating the firm, revenues, and net profit per partner.
“These criteria are also used abroad the most often and they speak objectively about the size of law firms,” Pallo noted.
The law firm Ecker-Kán & Partners repeated its success from last year and placed first in the general ranking, while it also achieved the highest profit from all companies in the ranking. The most important deals with which this law firm dealt in 2015/2016 included:
Deal1: Representing foreign investor in approx €1.1 bn property dispute.
Deal2: Advising major international investment group in approx. €400 million lawsuit.
Deal3: Representing private client in approximately €235 million international arbitration (VIAC) dispute.
Deal4: Representing Slovak Telekom, a.s. in approximately €110 million damages lawsuit.
Deal5: Representing National Property Fund in approximately €65 million damages lawsuit.
The 10 largest law firms achieved a 18-percent increase year on year in revenues from the revenues from their own outputs and merchandise in 2015. The aggregate net profit of the first 10 law firms grew 24 percent compared with 2014.
LARGEST LAW FIRMS IN SLOVAKIA 2016
1. Advokátska kancelária Ecker-Kán & Partners
2. SOUKENÍK – ŠTRPKA
3. Ružička Csekes
4. Allen & Overy Bratislava
5. Advokátska kancelária RELEVANS
6. Havel, Holásek & Partners
7. White & Case
8. Kinstellar
9. Škubla & Partneri
10. PRK Partners
The annual Investment Advisory Guide 2016/17 published by the English 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 when setting up the general ranking, Allen & Overy Bratislava again achieved the highest sales revenues in 2015 out of all assessed law offices, while SOUKENÍK – ŠTRPKA dominated in the number of law graduates (53), as well as the number of attorneys (23). Ecker-Kán & Partners repeated their achievement of the highest profit per partner.
When looking at the Slovak market, the position of law firms in the ranking of Slovak and international attorneys is interesting when viewed on the basis of whether it has headquarters outside of Slovakia or is in association with / integrated into an international group (network) of law firms that helps in a significant way to apply systems and processes.
LARGEST SLOVAK LAW FIRMS 2016
1. Advokátska kancelária Ecker-Kán & Partners
2. SOUKENÍK – ŠTRPKA
3. Ružička Csekes
4. Advokátska kancelária RELEVANS
5. Škubla & Partneri
6. Bartošík Šváby
7. Advokátska kancelária agner & partners
8. Hamala Kluch Víglaský
9. Futej & Partners
10. ČECHOVÁ & PARTNERS
LARGEST INTERNATIONAL LAW FIRMS IN SLOVAKIA 2016
1. Allen & Overy Bratislava
2. Havel, Holásek & Partners
3. Kinstellar
4. PRK Partners
5. White & Case
6. TaylorWessing e/n/w/c advokáti
7. PETERKA & PARTNERS
8. Deloitte Legal
9. bnt attorneys-at-law
10. Dentons Europe CS LLP
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 2015/2016 were:
Deal1: ENEL on the sale of its 66 percent stake in Slovenské elektrárne to EPH and creating a temporary joint venture with EPH
Deal2: Slovenské elektrárne, a.s. in a dispute with the Slovak Government regarding the Gabčíkovo Hydro Power Plant
Deal3: Global retailer during a dawn raid carried out by the Slovak competition authority and in ensuing proceedings before the competition authority
Deal4: Consortium in connection with D4 / R7 motorway project (bypass of Bratislava) in the amount of €1.4 bn.
Deal5: Deutsche Bank on Romanian loan portfolio financing.
More complex information was published in the yearbook about the investment environment Investment Advisory Guide 2016/17.
This ranking of the 10 largest law firms in Slovakia was created based on five factors related to year 2015 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);
- net profit per partner (15% weight).
A few law firms decided not to provide information and were not analysed in this ranking. Based on calculations of The Slovak Spectator, their potential involvement this year would have had a minimum impact on the ranking of the first positions.
Investment Advisory Guide
The yearbook about the business environment that The Slovak Spectator has publishing yearly since 2000 brings an overview for investors either from Slovakia or abroad. This year’s edition was published also thanks to cooperation with the Investment Support Association (ISA). The general partner of the guide is the law firm Ružička Csekes. The content of Investment Advisory Guide brings well-arranged information about the economy, the labour market, support for investors, legislation, real estate as well as investment opportunities in Slovakia. Part of the guide is also a large analysis of the market of law firms with more detailed information on the most important of them. Within this section there are simultaneously published rankings of the largest law firms in Slovakia. The yearbook traditionally contains a wealth of statistics, for example, the regional comparison of wages, unemployment, structure of industry and the overview of the largest companies in individual regions.
