CMS Sofia Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Global success requires local roots: this has been the motto of the CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz lawyers, who have already been practising in Bulgaria for 10 very successful years. Last week, the law firm celebrated the occasion with 150 clients, friends and partners, toasting to both past achievements and future horizons.

In early 2005, CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz established an office in Sofia: it was just the right time as Bulgaria was in the process of reforming its economy and preparing for EU accession. This provided economic and political stability in the country, attracting investors from Germany, Austria and many other European countries. And there were also US investors, who were especially interested in the energy market. “To be active on such an attractive, but at the same time challenging market, you need a capable advisor on site”, says Peter Huber, Managing Partner at CMS in Vienna. He goes on, “As an Austrian law firm, we can easily relate to the culture and mentality of the Bulgarian people: a shared legal tradition is part of our historical connection.” Combined with the international presence of CMS, which allows for fast access to expert knowledge and seamless support in cross-border projects, these common grounds were the basis on which the success of CMS in Bulgaria was founded.

“In the past 10 years, we have advised a large number of international clients on exciting projects, paving the way for them to enter the Bulgarian market. But we are also very optimistic about the future: as economic prospects are stable, national and international companies continue to find interesting investment opportunities in Bulgaria. So we are looking forward to continuing the CMS success story together with our clients”, says Gentscho Pavlov, CMS partner and head of the Sofia office. The law firm offers legal advice in all areas of commercial law, particularly M&A, corporate and real estate law, bank consulting, telecommunications law, labour law, tax law and financings. CMS also represents clients at local courts.

As every year, CMS Sofia will participate in a charity campaign on the occasion of the International Children’s Day, which is celebrated in Bulgaria on 1 June. At the law firm’s anniversary party CMS collected a donation to the national fund “Sv. Nikola”, which will use the money to support children with severe motor and mental disorders living in children’s homes across the whole country.

But Bulgaria and Austria not only share a legal tradition, they are also close allies in their love of good wine. It’s for a good reason that Bulgaria is among the world’s largest and most successful wine-exporting countries. The many well-known clients and business representatives who attended the party were thus offered culinary highlights and wines from both countries.

For a free download of pictures of the event, please click on http://sites.cms-rrh.com/downloads/10_Jahre_Sofia.zip.

• Picture 1 (from left to right): Peter Huber (Managing Partner CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz), Gentscho Pavlov (Office Head CMS Sofia), Bernhard Hainz (Partner CMS)
• Picture 2: Welcome speech of Peter Huber (Managing Partner CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz) in the National Museum of Archaeology in Sofia