Top lawyer: Zero-tolerance for corruption is an unrealistic aim

Peter Štrpka shares his view on Slovakia’s business environment, including the lack of a qualified workforce, corruption, business laws, and security.

Peter ŠtrpkaPeter Štrpka (Source: Courtesy of Soukeník & Štrpka)

The right to privacy is the biggest challenge of our time, and personal data protection is just a small part of it, says Peter Štrpka, one of the founding partners of the Soukeník-Štrpka law firm, which regularly places among Slovakia’s top law firms in the rankings.

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In this interview, Peter Štrpka answers, among other, these questions:
- How was it, starting a law firm from scratch in Slovakia?
- Why do law firms have difficulties finding good lawyers?
- What are the most common concerns or questions that foreign companies ask when they are considering entering the Slovak market?
- How does corruption and lack of transparency influence doing business in Slovakia?

-How will we be able to protect our privacy in the 21st century?

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The Slovak Spectator (TSS): One of the main issues that businesses active in Slovakia are dealing with is the lack of a qualified labour force. Is that a problem that also concerns a law firm like yours?

Peter Štrpka (PŠ): Very seriously so. In our early years, we had tens to hundreds of candidates for a job position. Nowadays, it’s a recruitment rather than selection process. We even need to work with headhunters to try and find good people and win them over from our competitors. This is a new situation that started in the past two or three years. It might be due to demographics, and the sociological problem of our generation postponing children until later. Young people nowadays also seem happy being average, and I don’t mean that scornfully, I understand them. They are also sceptical and say there is no room for them on the market.

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TSS: Is that true?

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