Biris Goran at "Passion for Retail" - 2nd edition of Eurobuild CEE Romania Retail Market Conference

[ 25 February 2010 ]

Victor Constantinescu, partner at Biris Goran, was one of the invited speakers in the panel entitled "The Retail Legal Clinic - Know Your Rights" as part of the conference "Passion for Retail" organized by Eurobuild and held on 23 February 2010 at the Radisson SAS Hotel in Bucharest. Victor was asked to comment on legal issues facing landlords in their relations with tenants in current market conditions.

Biris Goran recently assisted Trilulilu, Romania’s leading online entertainment platform and so-called Romanian YouTube, relating to its dispute with the Romanian Music Industry Association

[ 22 February 2010 ]

Biris Goran assisted with the negotiations which commenced in September 2009 and the finalization of the settlement agreement signed by the parties securing compliance with copyright law for those products uploaded by users on Trilulilu.ro and belonging to music producers who are members of the Romanian Music Industry Association . “Considering that this was the first time ever in Romania that the issue of online copyright was litigated and thus a very challenging project considering the rather unclear and continuously-evolving Romanian legal rules on point, we are very pleased to have been an active part of the successful conclusion of such a trend-setting project“, declared partner, Dan Visoiu. Ana-Maria Andronic (Senior Associate), Dan Jalba (Of Counsel) and Dan Visoiu (Partner) comprised the Biris Goran team which assisted Trilulilu.

Seminar: “Feeling the Pinch: Legal Tips for Protecting Real Estate Owners and Landlords in Dealing with Pressures from Tenants, Banks and Other Creditors”

[ 19 February 2010 ]

On 18 February 2010, before a sizable audience at the Novotel Hotel in downtown Bucharest, partners Raluca Nastase and Victor Constantinescu of the law firm Biris Goran held a seminar as part of Roberts’ Publishing’s Progressive Learning Program. Drawing on their heavy experience representing developers and owners, their seminar entitled “Feeling the Pinch: Legal Tips for Protecting Real Estate Owners and Landlords in Dealing with Pressures from Tenants, Banks and Other Creditors” prompted a large number of questions.

Their emphasis was on practical concerns facing the Romanian real estate owner in an all-too-familiar cycle of events prompted by the wider crisis and the dearth of bank financing: looking at troubles from tenants asking for rent reduction or even facing bankruptcy, to dealing with contractors attempting to exercise statutory liens over the property, and finally to banks. The latter looked at workouts and foreclosures, but also looked at the advantages of filing for voluntary insolvency.

The speakers emphasized from the outset that they could offer no magical solutions to the owner, who is often suffering from structural or market-wide problems. But they also emphasized that, from their experience time and time again, real estate owners did not take basic steps or precautions, or did not know their lease or loan or other agreements, that would improve their legal position. And thereby save it money, time and headache.

Thus the speakers focused on their presentation on things for the owner “to do”. Tips included objecting promptly to any alleged breach of their documents by the tenant or bank, keeping a close eye on deadlines and expiry dates of letters of guarantee, and generally meeting the timing and notice provisions of their contracts. These tips prompted a flurry of follow-up questions from the audience addressing particular concerns of their own.

Full seminar presentation may be downloaded from here.