Another wave of internal promotions marks a follow-up to the largest Czech-Slovak law firm’s successful year. Existing partners Veronika Dvořáková and Ivan Rámeš become the firm’s shareholders, while counsels Lenka Štiková Gachová, Michal Smrček and Josef Žaloudek were promoted to partners as of 1 January 2022. An additional 12 lawyers of the firm at three senior levels have also been promoted.
“2021 saw the firm celebrating its twentieth anniversary and the most successful year in its history, as we further strengthened our position as the leader of the Czech-Slovak legal market. At the top level of the firm’s management, Veronika and Ivan, key members of our team, have been making a significant long-term contribution to the firm’s success, and will now be even more intensely involved in the firm’s management as equity partners,” said Jaroslav Havel, the firm’s managing partner.
Veronika Dvořáková is Marketing Director at HAVEL & PARTNERS. In addition to marketing, communications and business support for the group, she is also responsible for the firm’s pro bono and CSR policy, and manages the HAVEL & PARTNERS ACADEMY. She also advises major clients on strategic marketing, PR and public affairs. As an equity partner, she will be responsible for strengthening the HAVEL & PARTNERS brand, which is one of the strongest on the market, as well as for further developing marketing and PR activities, which are an integral part of the group’s comprehensive business strategy. Before joining the law firm, Veronika worked as head of the press department and spokesperson at the Ministry of Justice and the Government Legislative Council as well as senior director of the justice minister’s cabinet. She also gained media experience, working as a journalist for several national media outlets, including Czech Television.
Ivan Rámeš has 15 years of experience working at the top level of the bar. Starting as a student in our firm, he has worked his way up to equity partner. He is particularly an expert in intellectual property and technology law. He focuses on comprehensive IP strategy set-ups in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and abroad. He also specializes in e-commerce, advising start-ups, larger companies and international corporations. The clients he advises in IP matters further include investors, investment funds and venture capital start-ups. As an equity partner, Ivan will be responsible for the further development of the business unit focusing on new technologies.
As of the beginning of 2022, HAVEL & PARTNERS has three new partners. The first of them is Lenka Štiková Gachová, who has worked as counsel. Lenka is a top expert in competition law, including state aid and significant market power. She assists clients in competition compliance and represents them before the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition and the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic, as well as before courts in all areas of competition law. Before joining our law firm, she worked at the Office for the Protection of Competition for eight years.
Michal Smrček also becomes a partner of the firm. He focuses on comprehensive advisory services in the field of regulation and private law aspects of insurance, pension companies, insurance intermediaries, leasing companies, representation of clients before courts, as well as investigations and compliance. Before joining HAVEL & PARTNERS, he worked as a lawyer in several major insurance and pension companies, and headed the legal and investigations departments as a senior manager. After that, he worked at a law firm, providing services to leading financial institutions. He also served in the legislative section of the Czech Association of Insurance Companies and was chair of the Corporate Governance Committee as well as a member of numerous other committees in insurance companies.
Josef Žaloudek has also been promoted to partner as of January 2022. He specialises in corporate tax law, international taxation, restructuring and related aspects of civil and commercial law. He has many years of experience in advising major international and local companies operating in IT, the automotive industry, engineering, the food industry, and other fields. Before joining our law firm, he worked at the Ministry of Finance and at a major multinational consultancy.
Other lawyers have also been promoted. Romana Derková advances to the position of a counsel. Štěpán Černý, Ján Kapec, Kamila Kulhánková and Petr Vohnický are new managing associates, and Zuzana Hájková, Adam Karban, Petra Kašpárková, Jan Králíček, Štefan Potočňák, Jana Šimková and Jakub Vojtěch are new senior associates.
“At HAVEL & PARTNERS, we create conditions for rapid career growth for colleagues who demonstrate excellent knowledge of law or taxes, an exceptional ability to address our clients’ needs, including in the context of their business, high commitment and managerial skills. All the promoted colleagues have proven that they are able to combine all these demanding requirements together. I congratulate them and look forward to our further successful cooperation," said Jaroslav Havel on his colleagues’ career advancement.
