“We have no exclusive association with an international firm, as is the case with other law firms on the market, although we maintain very close relations with Linklaters. We will focus on clients who have needs in the region, but we also want to attract clients through other international firms with whom we have not yet worked. We do not want to apply a typical strategy to a crisis situation, because this does not help us in the long term,” according to a declaration for Business Standard by Daniel Torsher, the Canadian who is due to become Managing Partner of the Bucharest office. Torsher will be assisted in the running of the local company by Romanian Marian Dinu, also to be a Partner.
The former local Linklaters office, the first of the Magic Circle group to come to Romania, was involved as an advisor in major privatizations, such as those of oil company Petrom, Banca Comerciala Romana (BCR), and Electrica and Distrigaz utility companies.
Canadian Michael Schilling, who established the Bucharest office, is due to leave Linklaters as well as the new company.
“Broadly speaking, we will keep all attorneys from the four offices, although some have left, and others will probably leave,” added Torsher. He mentioned that Ioan Miculiti and Lucian Mihai, two full partners of Linklaters, Miculiti, Mihai&Asociatii, will stay on with the new firm, and that the new company will carry on the wage policy and fees practiced by Linklaters. The local office will be a medium-sized one, although its eight years of experience inside Linklaters might outweigh similar-sized firms.
