Bostina & Associates strategy: more clients

With the largest number of branches throughout Romania, the law firm has a very aggressive expansion strategy for the country.

“We are considering opportunities available on the domestic market. Every county has 30-50 medium-sized and large companies with financial troubles, engaged in mergers, acquisitions, signing international contracts, and so forth,” said Doru Bostina, Coordinating Lawyer.

Bostina & Associates currently has two offices in Bucharest and 13 in Timisoara, Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Galati, Suceava, Craiova, Ramnicu Valcea, Pitesti, Ploiesti, Sibiu, Deva, Alba Iulia and Constanta. According to Bostina, by the end of 2007, three or four new offices could open in Arad, Oradea and Bacau.

“If new projects appear, for example we now have a client in Turnu Severin who is receiving European funds, it is possible that we open offices in other locations,” said Bostina. The main problem the law firm has to deal with when opening a new office is finding a suitable location and a well-trained workforce.

“We hire young lawyers, local residents, or from Bucharest, and we train them. They spend some time doing an internship in our Bucharest offices,” explained the Bostina & Associates representative. The company also has three other offices abroad, in Austria, Switzerland and Cyprus. The largest investment was made in the Swiss office, where the company took over a local consultancy firm for €500,000.  “Our company is searching for expansion solutions in Brussels and Paris,” said Bostina.

The value last year of the corporate law market was some €100 million, with the largest players in the business being Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen, Musat & Asociatii, tuca, Zbarcea & Asociatii, Linklaters, Popovici &Asociatii, and Badea Clifford Chance.

Bostina & Associates counseled the Al-Arrab consulting company, which recently won the bid for the privatization of Electroputere Craiova, Romania’s producer of railway equipment. The law firm currently employs 104 lawyers, of which 12 are Associates. The total number of employees is 140. Bostina & Associates had a 2006 turnover of €10.6 million (group turnover is about €12 million). Some €2 million come from international offices, and business throughout the country makes up 10 percent of total business. The company is expecting a 15-20 percent increase in 2007, to reach some €15 million in turnover.

“The market is mature at this moment, especially some sectors such as banking, capital and investment, IT&C, and energy. This suggests that these areas of activity are well administered''  Doru Bostina Coordinating Lawyer Bostina & Associates