Member Profiles

Nicholas is an experienced and well known English commercial lawyer based in Bucharest. He started his carrier in London and was the managing partner of the law firm Hicks Arnold before moving to Romania. As head of Hicks Arnold he opened the office in Romania and subsequently worked for Taylor Joynson as head of their Bucharest office. After leaving them he set up Hammond and Associates, now Hammond-partnership as an independent law firm based in Bucharest. His wide knowledge of international law and its application in Romania has enabled him to act for a wide range of clients from major aircraft manufacturers, banks and fiancé institutions as well as private investors. His experience in commercial law is extensive and he is able to counsel clients in many fields.

Nicholas Hammond is a corporate and property lawyer by training. He is a qualified solicitor having spent 25 years in London before moving to Bucharest in 1994 to open the Bucharest office of a well-known international law firm. In 2004, he set up Hammond and Associates and is currently the managing partner in Hammond & Associates dealing with a multitude of legal issues. He regularly advises investors both private individuals and international businesses on commercial matters in Romania with an emphasis on M&A and corporate matters. He has been involved over the years in many major transactions in Romania advising foreign investors. Nicholas has extensive experience in the commercial sector having for example advised several insurance companies, aviation companies and companies in the oil and gas as well as renewable energy field. He continues to advise major companies from all fields on their business in Romania. He also advises upon employment issues. Nicholas has acted for foreign investors in the real estate field in respect of acquisitions and disposals as well as advising on leasing issues. He has provided legal opinions in relation to Romania as required.

Highly regarded by clients and peers alike as one of the brightest white collar crime attorneys in Romania, Mihai Mares specializes exclusively on criminal defence for senior executives, entrepreneurs, major industrial groups, financial institutions and large international and domestic companies, in a wide range of matters involving money laundering, fraud, bribery and other forms of corporate misconduct. With a Ph.D. in criminal procedure from the Romanian Academy’s Legal Institute, Mihai regularly publishes articles and studies on criminal law and criminal procedure and participates in international and national conferences related to these fields. Prior to founding Mares & Mares, Mihai was Garrigues’ managing partner in Romania, after having collaborated with a reputed independent Romanian law firm. Mihai is a member of several relevant national and international bodies, among which: •The International Bar Association – Business Crime Committee •The European Criminal Bar Association •The European Fraud and Compliance Lawyers •The Romanian Association of Criminal Sciences •The Romanian Forensic Association His practice, experience and exposure to high profile, complex cases makes him a great asset to collaborate with for several legal networks an alliances specialized in white collar crime around the world, who can support the team with relevant information, especially in extradition cases (good cooperation with local lawyers in the requesting state is also an essential component of an effective defence strategy in this field). The firm has also established best friends partnerships with some of the largest law firms in Europe.

DB Law Office is a law (Belciu Delia Cabinet de avocat) and also has an intellectual property office (Delia Belciu Cabinet de proprietate intelectuala) founded in 2017 by an experienced practitioner with independent recognized reputation, having over fifteen years of experience in the field, offering complete legal services to a wide range of clients, on both contentious and non-contentious aspects, regarding the full range of Intellectual property and IT matters, Technology and TMT, Data protection & Privacy, Advertising, Consumer Protection and Healthcare.

Alina Lefter is partner of “Dragomir & Asociatii” Law Firm and has been a member of the Bucharest Bar since 1991. Alina has over 20 years of experience in litigation focused on commercial, public procurement, administrative, corporate and real estate. She also practices in the areas of public procurement, commercial & corporate, mergers & acquisitions. Alina holds a degree in law since 1990 from the Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest and she became a specialist in International Law in 1991. Also, she completed a scholarship in the Academy of European Law in Florence and became a specialist in European Community Law in 1994. In 2012, Alina completed a postgraduate programme of continuing professional development in Private Law and since 2016 she holds a master degree in Security and Defence, Security and Defence Faculty, National Defence University “Carol I”. Alina is an arbitrator of The Court of Maritime and Commercial Arbitration attached to the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Navigation and Agriculture Constanta, a public procurement expert and also an expert in accessing European structural and cohesion funds. In 2014, she was awarded with the Prize for Excellence in Developing the Legal Profession for the Category PPP/ Public Procurement/ Infrastructure at the "Lady Lawyer” Gala. Alina speaks fluently English and at a conversational level, French. The Firm Dragomir & Asociatii Law Firm has been established early 1996 and since then its activity has been in a continuous development in order to accommodate the needs of its clients as well as to face ongoing changes in the legal and institutional environment of the Romanian society.  The client is the key element of our firm’s activity; consequently, any decisions regarding strategy and legal solutions in legal cases/ projects handled by us are always focusing on the essential objectives and expectations of clients. We are stressing to provide best strategies and legal solutions, tailored to fit our clients’ interests and we do not hesitate to invest as much time as needed in order to reach such fundamental goal. By anticipating and mediating disputes before they become lawsuits, we succeeded in numerous cases to avoid litigation, to the benefit of our clients. By responsibly managing legal cases and projects entrusted to us we are obtaining the expected results and efficiently controlling costs and time. By the developed partnerships we are able to provide legal services in various law fields through lawyers having an outstanding professional experience. And, because we understand that business means positive results, we have a business-like approach in all our legal undertakings.