Last summer, John Doe took out a bank loan in order to buy his house, worth millions, many millions of dreams and many millions in lei. He then puts a 15% down-payment on the house and today, based on the contractual agreement signed with the seller, he must pay the difference. However, his house worthy of millions isn’t worth millions anymore; some say it is worth half, but most unsure just how much. Yet, John Doe is forced to pay the agreed price as stated in the contract: legal conventions have the power of the law between the agreed parts, isn’t that so? … Pacta sunt servanda (n. red.: the contract has to be respected).

Spain welcomed 2010 under a new institutional framework, taking over the European Union`s rotating presidency, after only one month since the Lisbon Treaty came into force. This would be Spain`s fourth term in the European Union Presidency after 1989, 1995 and 2002

Each January I say to myself: this new year is going to be a very special one, and this premonition came true about all the years Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii has lived so far. Our debut year, the year in which the brand was consolidated, the year our position at the top was confirmed… – great memories and important achievements that we also dedicate to our beloved Andreea whom we hold dear in our hearts and so sadly miss to this day… and always will.

That Romanian economy gives no sign of redress, to the contrary, anyone can see. While for this year’s first 9 months Romania was still relatively remote from the epicenter of the global hurricane, the local market entered fall like a sick man in dire need of perfusion. In our market’s particular case, the vital injection means money from the IMF, credit flows, infrastructure and energy investment, foreign capital. But, before any of these could nourish to the economy’s drained body, we need stability and trust in the political, judiciary and administrative systems. Of such trust, the authorities – the state, in general – seem to be less and less worthy.

Within the current economic downturn, the legal landscape changed with a shift in focus from the glamorous real estate, finance and capital markets services to infrastructure, energy, restructuring (corporate-finance-employment), litigation, insolvency/bankruptcy, these being probably the drivers that will help law firms get through this period of low gearing.