Interview with: Péter Göndöcz, Managing Partner

What do you see as the main points that differentiate Deloitte Legal Hungary from your competitors?

While conventional law firms tend to develop their own business advisory units to address multi-dimensional business needs, we offer the real deal as we are backed by the strongest and largest powerhouse in the Hungarian business advisory scene. We are used to work side by side with Deloitte’s financial advisory, consulting and tax professionals which allows us to provide integrated services. This holistic approach enables us to offer legal services not just in the traditional areas of law but on a much broader horizon, such as ESG, data privacy, cybersecurity, fintech, AI, digitalization, and other matters involving transformation. We believe that our holistic, tech-enhanced approach makes us different in the market and provides value to clients they cannot obtain at conventional law firms. In addition, as Deloitte Legal Hungary is part of the global Deloitte Legal network, our clients benefit from being part of a global network with access to lawyers in a number of jurisdictions. We leverage off this global offering to provide clients with a truly multidisciplinary and cross-border end-to-end service.

Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?

Due to recent economic developments, regulators rapidly expend regulatory requirements, and such changing regulatory environment has a significant impact on the financial sector. We see an ever-increasing need for advice in financial regulatory and compliance matters. Also, in the wake of emerging technologies we believe that venture capital and private equity practice will continue expanding in all ranges of companies, from start-ups, fast growing, mid-market businesses to global companies. Lastly, as in many unstable economical situations, we expect a growth in insolvency, restructuring and dispute resolution mandates.

What’s the main change you’ve made in the firm that will benefit clients?

We have continued implementing our ambitious growth strategy, namely increasing our teams in several key practice areas, such as energy, finance regulatory and tax litigation. We are investing in our people and in technologies so as to enable them to serve clients effectively on a multidisciplinary basis.

Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?

Absolutely. As an example, the number of on-line meetings has substantially increased. This allows us to handle matters more efficiently for the benefit of our clients. This is even more true in case of cross-border mandates.
In general, we observe a growing role of technology in the legal world. Being part of the Deloitte network and having access to a wide range of IT and technical expertise enables us to not just follow but set these new trends. Out teams are constantly developing tools and offerings tailored specifically for the legal industry. Such tools range from technology-enabled due diligence solutions to services which supports general counsels seeking to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of legal and contracting functions of multinational companies through the use of technology and process improvement and legal departments to outsource their corporate compliance, thereby achieving improved management of complexity and risk, greater control of data and insights into the entity compliance process.

Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business?

Due to the pandemic, Hungarian legislation provided some help and loosened the legal regulations concerning corporate approvals that were essential to enable the market to perform their legal obligations under the law, and also to perform business, almost, as usual. Our M&A team was on the forefront and while always monitoring the day-to-day changes to Hungarian and European legislation, we not only effectively advised clients on the implementation of changes but could also demonstrate our flexibility and efficiency by supporting clients through the entire lifecycle of a transaction remotely and online, without physical interaction. Such approach benefited our former and new clients and was also highly acclaimed by them. We believe that our ability to react to rapid changes in the market and the novel approach by our professionals towards their work while meeting clients’ high demands and needs in isolation, was best characterized by high client satisfaction. They were still able to successfully complete transactions despite the challenges that the pandemic brought to the business environment.

Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?

Solid technical skills are no longer a competitive edge but rather the bare minimum in the legal industry. We strive to become the trusted advisor of our clients, who understands and can address the real challenges that they face. While Deloitte Legal Hungary is still relatively young, results show that we are heading to the right direction. Many of our practice groups became market leaders on their fields. We would like to keep the same dynamic growth which will pave our way to become one of the largest firms in Hungary. We provide all of that in a one-stop-shop firm with a broad business outlook, that shares the ambitions of our clients, with the focus of helping our clients to succeed.