Oppenheim Ugyvedi Iroda

The firm: With its numerous international connections, Oppenheim has long played a leading role in the area’s legal market. Since Hungary’s political transition Oppenheim has focused on domestic and international commercial law. The firm first became affiliated with Vienna-based Austrian law firm Heller Löber Bahn in 1989. In testament to the reliability and high quality of its legal services together with the expertise of its legal team, leading German law firm Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Löber partnered with Oppenheim in 1989. This partnership facilitated the increased provision of multi-jurisdictional legal support to clients at a time of rapid globalisation in the legal services market. Many Oppenheim lawyers with the firm today have been with it since this time, or were then at the outset of their careers and have attained their professional knowledge within the firm. The subsequent merger between the law firms Freshfields, Deringer Tessin Herrmann & Sedemund, and Bruckhaus Westrick Heller Löber in 2000, under the name Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, was an important milestone for Oppenheim, both professionally and culturally.

Being a member of an extensive multi-jurisdictional network required Oppenheim to meet exacting international standards. It was then, and is now, a basic tenet for Oppenheim that all lawyers working at the firm should acquire a broad depth of international experience and qualifications while also expanding the firm’s presence in foreign markets. The theoretical and practical knowledge gained by its lawyers in the international arena over the years has radically enhanced the skills and experience of the firm’s outstanding team of professionals.

A sharp focus on professionalism coupled with a depth of social responsibility bonds the firm’s team of lawyers together and strengthens internal cohesion. The team consists of many outstanding individuals from diverse backgrounds who work harmoniously and effectively together, and share the same values and principles.

By the end of 2005, the shortcomings of the business models employed by large international law firms were becoming apparent and a need for increased flexibility and a new form of business organisation through which to provide sustainable high-quality legal services in the domestic market was emerging. After a year’s preparation, a newly independent commercial law firm was launched on 1 November 2007, under the original Oppenheim name and retaining all lawyers.

Since 2007, the firm has grown in leaps and bounds and as well as setting up shop in Vienna Oppenheim is currently the second biggest firm on the Hungarian market both in terms of the number of fee-earners as well as revenues. Oppenheim has also racked up an impressive amount of awards and other accolades in the process, recently chosen ‘National Law Firm of the Year’ in Hungary by Chambers and Partners, regularly ranked among the best in all important areas of commercial law by The Legal 500, and with most of the firm’s partners being recognised as leading in their areas on the Hungarian legal market. The firm has also strengthened its international ties and is currently the exclusive Hungarian member of leading international networks First Law International and Lexwork.

Areas of practice: Oppenheim currently consists of 40 plus lawyers and legal experts who provide advice on all areas of Hungarian and Austrian business law including general corporate affairs, mergers and acquisitions, finance, competition law, antitrust law, real estate law, public procurement law, environmental, planning and regulatory law, and IP/IT, and has a renowned contentious practice with experience in matters before state courts and national and international arbitration courts.

The attorneys of Oppenheim provide their legal expertise through a combination of specialised practice groups and sector experience including corporate (labour law, real estate projects and IP/IT), dispute resolution (also arbitration and contentious IP), finance, antitrust, competition and trade (including competition and consumer protection related litigation), public procurement, regulatory and energy, and real estate practice groups, and sectors such as capital markets, banking, construction, energy, utilities, automotive, healthcare, media, IP/IT and the services industry.