Havel & Partners' Veronika Dvorakova and Ivan Rames have become Equity Partners, while Lenka Stikova Gachova, Michal Smrcek, and Josef Zaloudek have been promoted to Partner.
Dvorakova is the Marketing Director of Havel & Partners. According to the firm, “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.” According to Havel & Partners, “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.”
Rames has 15 years of experience. According to Havel & Partners, “Starting as a student in [the] 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.” Rames has been with Havel & Partners since 2007.
Former Counsel Stikova Gachova is described by Havel & Partners as 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.” Stikova Gachova has a master's degree in Law from Masaryk University's Faculty of Law in Brno.
Smrcek, according to Havel & Partners, “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 the firm, Smrcek spent almost five years with Allianz and almost two years with Heresova a Ruzicka. “He also served in the legislative section of the Czech Association of Insurance Companies and was chair of the Corporate Governance Committee.”
Zaloudek specializes in corporate tax law, international taxation, restructuring, and related aspects of civil and commercial law. According to Havel & Partners, “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 [the] firm, he worked at the Ministry of Finance.”
“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,” said Managing Partner Jaroslav Havel. “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.”
