Dentons strengthens its CEE Banking and Finance practice

Dentons, the world’s largest law firm, has hired seven lawyers to strengthen its Banking and Finance practice in Bucharest and across CEE. Partners Simon Dayes and Simona Marin and an additional five banking and finance lawyers joined Dentons over the last few months. This positions Dentons as the leading international Banking and Finance practice on the Romanian market, with a total of 16 lawyers, including three partners and two counsel.

Perry Zizzi, Managing Partner of Dentons Romania, stated: “The appointment of two of the most experienced Banking and Finance partners in the region marks a new era for us, and is a crucial building block of what we call ‘Dentons Romania 2.0’: our strategy to attract market-leading talent in strategic practice areas to meet growing client demand. By the end of 2020, we fully expect to stand at 60 lawyers and be one of the largest international law firms in Romania, advising clients locally, in CEE and beyond.”

Each of the new partners has more than 15 years’ experience advising financial institutions and project sponsors in cross-border finance transactions in CEE and beyond, and will combine English law advice and transaction management skills with Dentons’ worldwide local law capabilities.

Simon Dayes focuses on project finance, structured trade finance and restructuring, as well as corporate and real estate finance and has been described by Chambers as “one of the biggest names on the market”.
Simona Marin joins from CMS and her practice focuses on project finance in the real estate sector. She is recognized as a leading banking and finance lawyer in Romania by international legal directories such as Chambers Europe, Legal 500 and IFLR 1000.

Mateusz Toczyski, Europe Head of Banking and Finance at Dentons, added, “The addition of Simon and Simona to our well respected international Banking and Finance team, combined with other recent hires in Romania, clearly positions Dentons as the leading practice on the Romanian and CEE markets, and will add to our market leadership in the region. We have further plans to develop over the coming year.”

Other recent hires in Dentons’ Bucharest office include Loredana Chitu, who joined as a partner in the Capital Markets group from Allen & Overy.