Tuca Zbârcea & Asociatii ‘has an outstanding TMT team, they are highly specialised and easily cover all types of work relating to the telecom, media and technology sectors.’ The team includes a number of practitioners with experience at national regulatory authorities, and benefits from the firm’s broader data protection and data privacy expertise. Headed by Ciprian Timofte, the group regularly supports international clients in the financial services, IT, and healthcare industries. Vlad Cercel and Cătălin Băiculescu co-head the team alongside Timofte. Cercel is ’well known for his experience in the telecom and audiovisual sectors’, while Băiculescu is ‘a one-of-a-kind TMT lawyer’ with particular experience in the entertainment and media space. Florentina Petrisor is also recommended.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Cătălin Băiculescu is well known for his TMT legal experience and needs no further introductions. He is very knowledgeable about the laws in the audiovisual sector and efficient: he is able to review, process and synthesise information very quickly. His support in solving various legal issues affecting our business is greatly appreciated, he makes a fantastic TMT lawyer, wonderful to work with and down to earth.’

  • ‘The firm is highly active in the TMT sector, they have experienced lawyers in their team who provide outstanding quality combined with impressive industry knowledge. When choosing our legal advisors, we want a team that meets the following criteria: know-how, promptness, focus on deadlines, open communication and professionalism. For us, Tuca Zbârcea & Asociatii is at the forefront of the legal services market in every respect, and TMT is not an exception. ’

  • ‘Over the past few years, I’ve been constantly meeting and liaising with Catalin Baiculescu, who is a one-of-a-kind TMT lawyer: well-prepared on the technical side, with strong interdisciplinary skills, in addition to being a powerful negotiator. He is extraordinarily diligent and proactive, offering both practical and commercially oriented solutions, which means that he really puts himself in clients’ shoes. ’

  • ‘This law firm has an outstanding TMT team, they are highly specialised and easily cover all types of work relating to the telecom, media and technology sectors. They are extremely proficient and have a very strong knowledge and understanding of the nuances and technical implications of our business decisions.’

  • ‘Cătălin Băiculescu is our main choice for media related work, he knows the industry inside out. He is a highly capable and versatile partner with enormous experience. Partner Vlad Cercel clearly stands out, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend him. He is well known for his experience in the telecom and audiovisual sectors. ’

  • ‘This firm and its employees demonstrate great legal expertise! They are open and flexible to the customer's schedule. They always go the extra mile to help and support the right way. I highly recommend their services!’

  • ‘They work great as a team and also individually. The colleagues that we collaborated with are very well-prepared, very helpful, responsive and always do follow up with the client. We have only high praises for the following colleagues.'

  • ‘Outstanding professionals. In this company, it seems like they hire only people with the highest IQs. It forces you, as a client, to up your game. ’

Key clients

  • Adobe Systems Romania
  • Telekom Romania Mobile
  • Orange Romania Communications
  • E-Infra
  • Booking Holdings
  • Verifone/ 2Checkout
  • GlobalLogic
  • EAD.RO Interactive
  • Ericsson Telecommunications Romania
  • Fun Labs Romania SRL
  • Netcity Telecom / Direct One
  • Netflix International
  • Ringier Romania
  • The Estée Lauder Companies (ELC)/ ELC Digital Technology
  • Uber
  • Untold SRL
  • Vodafone Romani

Work highlights

  • Advising GlobalLogic Inc., a Hitachi Group Company (Japan) on entering the Romanian IT services market.
  • Advising Estée Lauder on the operation of its Bucharest technology center/ ELC Digital Technology.
  • Advising Booking Holdings Inc. on the operation of its Bucharest cybersecurity and IT Center of Excellence.

Lawyers

Leading associates
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Cătălin Băiculescu is a Partner at Tuca Zbârcea & Asociatii. He has advised on many high-profile mergers & acquisitions and Romanian privatisations, and is recognised as an expert in the due diligence process, the negotiation of assets and share-purchase agreements, as well as post-acquisition restructuring matters. His expertise in the banking and finance area includes advising on banking regulatory legal issues and compliance, syndicated loans, project finance transactions, and bank restructuring and privatisation. Cătălin has also assisted international aircraft owners and financing banks in connection with aircraft lease agreements and mortgage agreements signed with local airlines. Furthermore, he is a skilled and resourceful lawyer in electronic communications & IT, where he has advised on licensing issues, telecom service agreements, software development agreements, data privacy and outsourcing agreements. His expertise includes the area of entertainment and media, providing legal assistance services to broadcasters and production companies on commercial contracts relating to television shows, betting and gaming, advertising agreements and regulatory issues.
Vlad Cercel focuses on PPP/concession and public procurement projects, as well as electronic communications and IT. He has a wealth of practical experience in advising on the application and implementation of the various stages of procedures for awarding PPP and concession contracts, and has in-depth knowledge of the particularities of public procurement, concessions and PPP regulations in specific infrastructure sectors, such as: motorways, national roads, airports, parking facilities, social infrastructure and public utilities. He has represented leading sponsors, lenders, development banks, project originators, equipment suppliers, infrastructure funds, public sector entities, as well as public authorities in relation to public procurement, concessions and public-private partnership agreements. Vlad Cercel has amassed considerable industry knowledge and expertise in advising on regulatory matters affecting the electronic communications and IT field. In his capacity as one of the main coordinators of the firm’s projects in this area, he has been involved in negotiating and drafting sector-specific contracts, including agreements on access and interconnection, facility sharing, value-added services, network building, outsourcing, equipment, service provision, retransmission agreements and so on. He has also covered authorization and licensing procedures and other specific matters in these areas, including mergers and acquisition projects in the TMT sector. Prior to entering private practice, Vlad Cercel worked with the Romanian Regulatory Authority for Communications, where he was directly involved in drafting the primary and secondary legislation applicable to the sector as part of Romania’s integration into the European Union. He also handled a broad range of legal matters in the electronic communications sector.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Ciprian Timofte is a Partner in the firm's Corporate and Mergers & Acquisitions practice groups. He has built up extensive expertise in conducting cross-border and domestic mergers and other corporate reorganizations, as well as in structuring and negotiating complex acquisition deals. Ciprian Timofte heads our firm's Data Protection practice group, being recognized as an outstanding and reputable lawyer in this niche area. In the past years, Ciprian Timofte focused on coordinating complex data privacy projects in all relevant industries and impressed our clients with his solid legal background and practical approach. Ciprian Timofte has been actively involved in various regulatory initiatives concerning data protection, by providing valuable input with regard to data privacy projects laws or regulatory guides. He is a regular speaker and writer on topics related to data privacy and other legal matters.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Vlad Cercel, Cătălin Băiculescu, Ciprian Timofte

Other key lawyers

Florentina Petrisor