partner

Julian Spassov is the Partner in charge of the Sofia office and has overall responsibility for matters governed by Bulgarian law. He is an experienced Bulgarian lawyer with more than 23 years experience as a practising advocate with the Sofia Bar and he is a registered foreign lawyer with the Bucharest Bar. Julian deals with both contentious and non-contentious work. He has full rights of audience before all Bulgarian courts, tribunals and authorities, and has experience of competition inquiries, in addition to commercial disputes. He also deals with shipping and maritime disputes. Julian has considerable experience of acting as Bulgarian correspondent for a number of international law firms, and his other clients include investment funds, banks, multinationals and other investors in Bulgaria. He also acts for institutional investors and private individuals investing in Bulgarian real estate and renewable energy projects. Julian also has plentiful experience of mergers and acquisitions work, and he advises on business structures and taxation issues, including advising multinationals on the restructuring of their operations in Bulgaria and handling the incorporation of Bulgarian subsidiary companies. He also deals with other regulatory matters and media law, taking a particular interest in telecommunications, IT and intellectual property matters.

LANGUAGES: Bulgarian, English, German, Russian.

Boiana Berchi is the Partner in charge of the Bucharest office and has overall responsibility for matters governed by Romanian law. She is an experienced Romanian litigator and advocate with more than 20 years’ experience as a practising advocate. She has rights of audience before all Romanian courts and tribunals (including the Supreme Court of Justice) and leads the firm’s team dealing with litigation and dispute resolution. Her work in this area has included complex cross-border litigation, banking and maritime disputes. She has particular experience of energy, property, real estate and construction disputes, including the purchase, sale and restitution of real estate. Boiana also deals with non-contentious business, specialising in commercial, corporate and civil matters, in addition to public law work. She has advised on a number of infrastructure construction disputes under FIDIC contracts and was a member of the Romanian Wind Energy’s Working Group on the implementation of new renewable energy legislation and support schemes.

Boiana is a member of the Bucharest Bar and is also a registered foreign lawyer in Bulgaria.

She is fluent in Romanian, Bulgarian and English.

Neil McGregor is the Managing Partner of McGregor & Partners SCA, the law firm in Romania and Bulgaria which is associated with the international firm Stephenson Harwood. He is a British commercial solicitor who has worked in Romania and its neighbouring countries since 1996. He is a member of the Bucharest Bar and is also a registered foreign lawyer in Bulgaria.

Although he deals with high-value dispute resolution work, Neil prefers to help clients avoid disputes and misunderstandings from arising if at all possible. In this, he has extensive experience of advising on and negotiating inward investment and joint ventures between foreign and Romanian entities in many sectors of business and industry. He specialises in banking and corporate finance, projects and merger, acquisition and disposals work, being listed in the Legal 500 as a recommended individual for corporate / M&A work. He has also been listed as “highly recommended” by Global Counsel 3000 for his work in energy matters.

Transactions which Neil has dealt with in recent years include numerous renewable energy projects, the establishment of a network of logistics and distribution centres, the acquisition of a diversified industrial holding company with operations throughout the region, the acquisition of the leading Romanian courier company and various companies in the transport industry, in addition to the delivery of new vessels by Romanian shipyards.

Neil also deals with regulation, compliance and corporate governance matters, including anti-bribery & corruption work and the investigation of corporate fraud. He led the legal team dealing with the accreditation of the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce by the UK government. He was elected a director of the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce in 2014 and is an experienced speaker at conferences and trade events. He has also been the company secretary of a private railway company in the UK for more than 20 years and has extensive experience of corporate governance and in the railway sector.