Interview with Prof. Dr. Jörg K. Menzer, Managing Partner, Noerr.
Mr. Menzer, you have been heading Noerr Romania for many years already. All this time, what exactly of your experience with the German group have you already implemented in the local company and what do you intend to do further for maintaining its good performance?
Noerr Romania has been growing during all the years of its activity. We belong to the 10 international biggest law firms active in Romania. The most decisive factor for our success is the permanent effort to deliver highest quality and best practice to our clients. We have implemented all the procedures and standards which are used for decades in Germany, thus supporting our goal to be a leading European Law Firm.
What are the strengths of Noerr Romania on an extremely competitive law market and how much did local operations contribute to the financial consolidation of the whole group last year?
Noerr is highly specialized, though it provides full services, i.e. legal, tax and financial consultancy services. Combined with a high degree of client commitment, independency and pan european expertise through our 6 offices in CEE we convince clients to entrust us with work. Noerr operates as an integrated firm throughout the group, thus the contribution of each office is only one element. Noerr Romania is one of the leading offices outside Germany.
As seen by Noerr, what are the main problems posed by the Romanian fiscal and legal legislation to investors, and what solutions _ legal and other types _ are there to deal with these issues?
The stability of the legal framework is still the most important issue to be addressed by the Romanian administration. In addition, it is very important to enable local, regional and national administrative bodies to implement and administer the legal framework correctly, efficiently and with the same understanding on all levels. There are plenty of misunderstandings and consequently different treatments and interpretation happen. Mainly not because of bad intention, but due to lack of training and clear directives from the superior bodies. One solution would be to use expert advice when drafting laws and implementing directives, to train the public servants frequently and to follow a master plan for the future economic and therefore fiscal and legal development of the country for more than one parlamentary term.
As an important representative of the German business community, what is the message Noerr Romania to the investors interested to invest here and what is your message for the German Unity Day (October 3)?
German investors have been most welcome in Romania for decades now. The cooperation on all levels between the two countries is excellent and thus the environment for business is promising. The above mentioned legal and fiscal difficulties can be overcome by using expert advice like the one rendered by Noerr. All major German investments are a success, thus investing in Romania will be successful. The unification of Germany and the development of Eastern Germany in particular ever since is an example that, with a clear plan, stable conditions and dedication, economic and social difficulties can be overcome and a country can strive for more. This can also be achieved by Romania if it concentrates on the common good and pursues a common goal as it is a great country with great people and having Germany as its friend.
Noerr Romania is present in many areas of practice, from Corporate/M&A, Real Estate & Construction, Banking & Finance to Insurance, Dispute Resolution & Litigation, Energy & Environmental and Tax & Financial Advisory Services a.s.o. In which segment your company law is leader and in what other section of practice do you want to impose?
At Noerr we do not talk about “being leader” or not. We talk about Excellence, Highest Quality, Trust, Team Spirit and Passion. In all practice areas we are one of the market leaders as much as we are proud to fulfil the highest quality standards expected by our clients. We are very strong in Corporate/M&A, Real Estate, Greenfield, State Aid and Litigation. We will further grow and concentrate on serving our clients out of one hand and using the expertise of all our specialisations within the group.
Noerr was named European Law Firm of the Year 2012 by The Lawyer. Also, Noerr Romania was awarded “Law Firm of the Year 2012” by Nine O’Clock “Persons of the Year 2012” Awards Gala. Certainly this is not a coincidence. With what goals has the company started off this year and what have you managed to accomplish so far?
We believe that the awards show how successful we have been performing for years on the international advisory service market. More and more clients understand how important excellence as well as specialisation combinded with full service are. Here Noerr was and is outstanding. We started 2013 with the clear goal to grow further and to be entrusted with some of the biggest investments in Romania. This we achieved. Moreover, the ongoing specialisation and concentration on high end advisory services is recoginsed by the market, thus underlining the strong position of Noerr as one of the most important advisory firms in Romania.
