HAVEL & PARTNERS, the largest Czech and Slovak law firm, scooped the award for Best Client Service for 2020 at the 8th year of the Law Firm of the Year awards in Slovakia. The law firm also won in the Mergers & Acquisitions category as well as in the Energy and Energy Projects category. In all other categories, HAVEL & PARTNERS ranked among the best and highly recommended offices, thus confirming its exceptional position in the Slovak and Czech legal market that is unique within Europe. HAVEL & PARTNERS remains the most successful and all-encompassing legal practice in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia

“The award for Best Client Service, which reflects the satisfaction of our clients, is the most important award for us and a message that our clients are particularly satisfied with our legal and tax services. It is also recognition of our lawyers’ excellent expertise, strong commitment and willingness to help under any circumstances. I trust that we are still a support to our clients in these times of the pandemic crisis and that our flexibility, professionalism and loyalty enable us to deal with it including all of its consequences”, said Jaroslav Havel, the firm’s founder and managing partner. HAVEL & PARTNERS is also regularly awarded for client satisfaction in the Law Firm of the Year competition in the Czech Republic. And this year, the firm has notched up another success on the international stage. The UK’s prestigious rating agency Chambers & Partners recognised HAVEL & PARTNERS as the best law firm in the Czech Republic in the Chambers Europe Awards.

For more than 10 years, HAVEL & PARTNERS has been the leader in the market for legal services in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and restructuring in Slovakia, the Czech Republic and the whole of central Europe. The victory in the Mergers & Acquisitions category is a result of the firm’s systematically developed know-how in transactional advice, which has been its focus since 2001. With a unique network of contacts, the largest M&A team in central Europe, which is comprised of 80 lawyers and 16 partners, and cross-border transactions in dozens of countries all over the world, the firm conducted more than 700 transactions with a value exceeding CZK 700 bln. in the last 15 years. “We won the M&A category in last year’s Czech Law Firm of the Year Competition as well. The triumph achieved in M&A in both countries at the same time is a unique success and recognition of our firm’s increasingly stronger position in the Slovak market. This is also evidenced by a more than 20% year-or-year increase in sales in Slovakia reported for a second consecutive year. Since the establishment of our firm, mergers and acquisitions have been a key area of our focus that has brought us major clients and helped us become the largest independent law firm in central Europe,” said Jaroslav Havel, the firm’s managing partner. “I would like to express my thanks to the increasing number of our clients for their trust with which they contact us,” said Václav Audes, M&A Partner.

The award in the Energy and Energy Projects category was won by HAVEL & PARTNERS for the first time. “Last year, the power industry was one of the fastest growing specialisations of our firm in Slovakia. This was also due to our participation in several exceptional projects for clients operating in this industry. The extensive know-how and experience of the large team comprising Czech and Slovak colleagues specialising in M&A, public sector, including public procurement, competition, project financing and contract drafting and negotiating are an enormous advantage for energy, water management and environmental issues as well,” added Ondřej Majer.

According to the total number of nominations and awards received in all years of the Law Firm of the Year awards, HAVEL & PARTNERS continues to be the most successful and comprehensive legal practice in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. ”These excellent results are proof of our versatility and the top quality of all of our specialised teams. We advise our clients on all areas of their business and private life. And during the current pandemic, we try to assist them using a wide range of above-standard services. We have also formed a specialised practice group that is in charge of advice and services focused on the measures and legislative amendments adopted in connection with the pandemic. At the same time, we have increased the volume of pro bono work, with priority given to pandemic-related legal services provided free of charge,” said Jaroslav Havel, summarising the overall results and the firm’s further development.The Law Firm of the Year is a prestigious professional competition assessing the quality of legal services offered by law firms operating in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Organised by the publishing house EPRAVO Group, s.r.o., the awards were launched in the Czech Republic in 2008. Since 2013, the competition has been organised in Slovakia in cooperation with the TREND weekly. More details about the awards are available here.