The exhibition is being organized in Romania for the first time since 1995, at the initiative of EIDOS Cultural Foundation. The EIDOS organization was founded by the Romanian documentary photographer Cristian Movilă, best known to the public for his reportage and human interest stories for top international magazines such as Newsweek, The New York Times and National Geographic.

“The exhibition reveals an entire world helping us all to better understand the realities and complexities around us by further opening our minds and hearts. It is that kind of knowledge that will most likely change each of us from the inside. The exhibition reflects the highest international standards in photojournalism and documentary photography,” said Cristian Movilă, founder of the EIDOS Cultural Foundation.

“It is a great honor for us to support the World Press Photo Exhibition on its return to Romania after 17 years. It is a unique celebration of the best in photojournalism worldwide, including Samuel Aranda’s winning picture at this year’s World Press Photo Contest,” added Sorin Vlădescu, Partner at Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii.

The exhibition features an astonishing collection of images from the World Press Photo Contest, consisting of more than 170 pictures taken by well-known photographers such as Samuel Aranda (Spain), Jenny E. Ross (USA), Rob Hornstra (the Netherlands), Yuri Kozyrev (Russia), Paolo Pellegrin (Italy) and Adam Pretty (Australia).

The World Press Photo Exhibition is open to the public from May 17 to June 10 in the Aula of the National Library of Romania. The event is part of an international tour that takes in approximately 100 cities in 45 countries.

About World Press Photo:
World Press Photo is the biggest and most prestigious international photojournalism contest. It is an initiative of the World Press Photo Foundation, which operates as an independent, non-profit organization out of an office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where World Press Photo was founded in 1955.

World Press Photo is committed to supporting and advancing high standards in photojournalism and documentary photography worldwide. The contest began in 1955 when it drew entries from 42 photographers from 11 countries, with more than 300 pictures submitted. This year, 5,247 photographers from 124 countries submitted 101,254 pictures. All the prize-winning photographs are assembled into an exhibition that attracts over 2.5 million visitors annually.

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Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii teamed up with Artmark, the country’s leading auction house, which hosted the inaugural series of art management courses, taking place between April 20th and April 22nd, 2012. Two further modules will also take place in June 2012 and September 2012.

Anticipating a growing momentum around art, Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii made an inspired choice in partnering Artmark to run the first art management courses in Romania, which attracted important names in the art world from academia, museums and trade. The courses began in April 2012 and were attended by 30 art collectors, art experts and investment managers. Alongside Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii, highly reputable professors and historians, art critics and appraisers, curators, as well as special guests from Bonhams London, one of the world's largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques, gave lectures on topics such as the legal and fiscal aspects of art trading, art valuation, galleries’ role in promoting art, the history of art, structural inefficiencies of the market and future trends in Romanian contemporary art.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to participate to and also support the first art management courses in Romania. It is a special project, one in which we really believe as art lovers, but also promoters of creativity and innovation under various forms”, Cornel Popa, Partner at Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii said.

In recent years, Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii has developed a considerable body of practice in advising private clients on matters related to intellectual property and copyright issues, complex dispute resolution cases and cultural heritage property claims (i.e. cases regarding abusive expropriation under the Communist regime), as well as tax planning issues and contract negotiation.

For further information about Artmark's Institute of Art Management, please visit www.alegearta.ro.

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Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii Tax has hired Ion Capdefier as an Of Counsel for the firm’s tax division. He joins a line-up of tax consultants to enhance and further develop the tax advisory practice of Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii Tax.

Ion Capdefier brings to the role more than 35 years of professional expertise in Economic Sciences, including over 20 years working for the Romanian public finance and tax administration authorities. In particular, he is well known for his time as a General Director at the Ministry of Public Finance and the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), where he built a consistent track record of success in the settlement of challenges and other tax administrative claims. He was also involved in the regulation of the profession of tax consultant and fostered the professional development of the first generation of tax consultants in Romania.

“The caliber of Ion Capdefier’s fiscal experience, coupled with his in-depth understanding of fiscal policies and the tax administration system, perfectly complements our growing practice and the needs of our clients. As an Of Counsel in our tax advisory division, he will make an enormous contribution to the advancement of our practice by providing our current and prospective clients with concrete solutions for the management of fiscal duties and a clearer perspective on the various tax procedural issues that may arise in taxpayers’ relations with State institutions,” said Alexandru Cristea, Tax Partner at Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii Tax.

Ion Capdefier is a former General Director of the General Directorate for the Settlement of Fiscal Challenges at the Romanian Ministry of Public Finance and the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF), a role that he undertook from 1993 to 2010, after three years as an Investigator with the same institutions and 14 years as an Economist at several local companies. He regularly lectures at various seminars and conferences and authors specialized articles on tax matters. Ion Capdefier is an authorized tax consultant and has a Master’s Degree in Public Management.

Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii Tax S.R.L. specialises in providing tax advisory services and operates as an affiliate of Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii law firm. Tax advice rounds up a range of existing services within the law firm, offering clients an integrated and unitary view on various legal and tax matters and the same standard of quality as the services provided by Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii.

For the past seven years, Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii has developed a widely recognised tax practice, the firm being constantly ranked top by worldwide international directories, such as Chambers Europe. Also, the firm was awarded the “Tax Law Firm of the Year Award 2010” at the World Finance Review Legal Awards and the “Corporate Tax Law Firm of the Year Award 2010” at ACQ Law Awards.   

The firm’s dispute resolution practice group has also successfully assisted and represented clients from a wide array of industries in relation to tax-based litigation at all levels and with regard to a full range of taxes, duties and contributions of any kind to the State budgets; assistance and representation in front of the fiscal and judicial authorities on fiscal incentives issues.

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Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii picked up the “Law Firm of the Year Award: Romania” at the “IFLR European Awards 2012” Gala which gathered 250 participants from across Europe.

Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii was recognised as the best law firm in Romania at this year’s IFLR European Awards in London, following its successes in providing local law advice on innovative, international deals in Banking and Finance, Capital Markets and Mergers and Acquisitions. The citation singled out the firm’s consistent ability to deal with complexity in novel ways over the last 12 months.

Ştefan Damian, Deputy Managing Partner and Silvana Ivan, Partner at Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii received the distinction on behalf of the entire team: “We feel deeply honoured to receive the national law firm award for Romania from the prestigious publication ‘International Financial Law Review – IFLR’. For the past years, the firm’s work in Banking and Finance, Capital Markets, as well as Project Finance has developed significantly, so that this award is yet another confirmation of a visible growth both in the complexity and in the volume of projects being handled for a number of key players in the financial services industry.”

IFLR’s “Law Firm of the Year Award: Romania” rounds up a successful 2011 for Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii, after having won a “Best Managed Workplace” title at the MPF European Leadership Awards 2012 in recognition of the firm’s outstanding leadership, operational excellence, client relationships and financial performance in the course of the past year.

“IFLR European Awards 2012” recognises the best work in both private practice and in-house departments. More than 40 awards are handed out to honour those that have made great strides in the legal profession in the past year and consistently demonstrated excellence in handling debt and equity-linked deals, equity deals, high yield deals, M&A deals, private equity deals, project finance deals, restructuring deals, structured finance and securitisation deals.

Law firms from the United Kingdom, Germany, The Netherlands, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Ukraine, Turkey, as well as Russia and the United States have made the shortlists for the deal and team of the year categories. As there was no shortlist for the national law firm of the year award winners, the recipients of the 25 country awards were announced on the night of March 22, four months after the date when law firms across Europe were invited to hand in their submissions.

Nominees included Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Baker and McKenzie; Hogan Lovells; Latham and Watkins; Simmons and Simmons; Norton Rose; Skadden Arps; Shearman and Sterling; Herbert Smith; Ashurst; Uria Menendez etc.

The “IFLR European Awards 2012”, which have been running for 13 years, are hosted by ‘International Financial Law Review – IFLR’, a Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC product which also publishes the annual IFLR 1000 guide to the world’s leading financial law firms.

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Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii acted for a Romanian bid consortium member in its challenge to award of a EUR 20 million public construction works contract for the Sala Polivalentă Cluj, a 7,070-seat multi-purpose indoor arena.

In a favourable decision obtained by Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii on March 22, the Cluj-Napoca court annulled a decision issued in 2010 by the local municipality whereby it appointed the joint venture of CON-A, Plan 31, Intersport and Dico & Ţigănaş as successful bidder in the public procurement process for awarding a public works contract for the construction of a multi-purpose indoor arena (Sala Polivalentă) in Cluj-Napoca.

Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii fielded a team of lawyers consisting of Ionuț Șerban, Partner and Dan Cristea, Senior Associate who have acted on behalf of ACI Cluj (a recognised local construction company) as leader of the unsuccessful bidder consortium also comprising SC Grup 4 Instalaţii, SC Trustul de Instalaţii Montaj Construcţii SA, Bogart Construct SRL, DAS Engineering Grup. The defence team included a renowned local barrister, Aurel Bujiţă of the Cluj Bar, acting for SC Trustul de Instalaţii Montaj Construcţii SA.

“The case at hand involves intricate issues of public procurement law and highly complex body of evidence. Further to a previous quashing of a judgment ordering a retrial, the challenge made in respect of the contract awarded by the local municipality was tried before the first instance court in parallel with the execution of the public construction works contract by the winning bidder which appears to be an uncommon practice”, stated Ionuţ Şerban, a Litigation Partner at Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii.

The ruling obtained in front of the Cluj-Napoca court also orders the local municipality to review and re-evaluate the bids submitted in the public procurement procedure for the awarding of the construction works agreement for Sala Polivalentă indoor arena in Cluj-Napoca, in compliance with the considerations provided in the annulment judgment.

“We’ll determine which steps to take next upon analysing the court’s decision together with our client. The ruling in this case is enforceable but may be challenged by final appeal within 5 days as of service”, added Dan Cristea, a Senior Associate at Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii and one of the barristers in the case at hand.

Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii’s dispute resolution practice has been consistently ranked first by reputed publications, such as Legal 500. The firm’s litigation and arbitration practice group, comprising 40 lawyers, is one of largest in the country, advising on complex and high-profile matters, including civil, commercial and corporate issues, joint ventures and related business disputes, IP (including patent, trademark, copyright, trade secret and unfair competition cases), banking and finance, tax issues, bankruptcy/liquidation and insolvency, insurance, labor, administrative law, maritime, real estate, criminal law (especially white collar crimes), enforcement of domestic and foreign judgments and arbitral awards, governmental investigation, etc.

The group is also highly experienced in dealing with arbitration matters in front of international or domestic courts of arbitration as regards complex commercial and public law disputes. The team has an in-depth working knowledge of various arbitration procedural rules, such as Rules of Arbitration of the Court of International Arbitration of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, ICC, UNCITRAL and ICSID.

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Leading local independent law firm Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii expanded its current practice in tax advisory services by launching a tax consultancy division, a separate legal entity to the law firm, combining lawyers, tax advisors and former Ministry of Public Finance’s experts. Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii Tax S.R.L. specialises in providing tax advisory services and operates as an affiliate of Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii law firm.

The core team consists of five certified tax consultants having worked for the past 8 to 10 years with the “Big 4”. Five other attorneys experienced in tax law and related contentious disputes are also part of the team. Alexandru Cristea, Tax Partner and Răzvan Gheorghiu-Testa, Partner with Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii supervise the strategic development of the business. The team also comprises Alin Chitu, Tax Senior Manager, and two other experts with vast experience in large audit companies and in the Ministry of Public Finance.

According to the law firm’s representatives, the expansion of the tax business as  an independent player will enable the firm to fulfill the growing needs of local and international clients in Romania while also putting at better use the experience gained by its attorneys in the past 7 years. “For us, setting up a dedicated tax advisory independent firm complements an existing internal structure and allows us to provide a wider array of services and a greater depth of knowledge and expertise to our existing and prospective clients. Besides, this step is in line with the “one stop-shop” policy that we have been promoting in other areas of practice as well, such as insolvency, intellectual property, structural funds, mediation, etc.” says Răzvan Gheorghiu-Testa, Partner at Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii.

Short and medium-term plans envisage further expanding the tax team, clients and project portfolio and reaching a turnover of approx. EUR 500,000 to EUR 600,000 during the first year of operation. Such projections are based on a constantly growing demand for tax advisory services against the background of a dynamic and volatile regulatory framework and in the context where companies increasingly favor operational structures that are fiscally optimized inasmuch as possible and, last but not least, in view of control authorities’ aggressiveness and harsher audits.  

“Tax advice rounds up a range of existing services, our clients benefitting from an integrated and unitary view on various legal and tax matters and from the same standard of quality as the services provided by Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii. This means saving costs and ensuring increased flexibility. We are determined to make our mark in this market and provide feasible alternatives to the services currently offered by other audit companies or various entities, our business model involving no independence issue, but being backed-up by a multidisciplinary team and a well-positioned law firm”, points out Alexandru Cristea, Tax Partner of Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii Tax S.R.L.

During the last seven years, Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii developed a widely recognised tax practice, the firm being constantly ranked top by worldwide international directories, such as Chambers Europe. Also, the firm was awarded the “Tax Law Firm of the Year Award 2010” at the World Finance Review Legal Awards and the “Corporate Tax Law Firm of the Year Award 2010” at ACQ Law Awards.  

The firm’s dispute resolution practice group has also successfully assisted and represented clients from a wide array of industries in relation to tax-based litigation at all levels and with regard to a full range of taxes, duties and contributions of any kind to the State budgets; assistance and representation in front of the fiscal and judicial authorities on fiscal incentives issues. 

About the core team in Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii Tax S.R.L.:

Răzvan Gheorghiu-Testa is a Founding Partner of Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii, having built up a career of 16 years of legal experience in corporate/M&A, real estate, taxation. Further to his expertise in real estate matters, he combines tax and corporate law skills, offering multidisciplinary strategies and solution in relation to a broad spectrum of property matters. He has been directly involved in many of the most important projects taking place in Romania, including acquisitions and disposal of real estate, investment and development real estate projects, and real estate finance. Răzvan regularly offers planning advice on investments to major institutional investors, as well as international companies from a variety of industries, such as retail, consumer goods, steel, energy, telecommunications, oil and gas, pharma. In addition to his role as one of the coordinators of the firm’s real estate practice group, he co-heads the firm’s specialised tax division, Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii Tax SRL.

Alexandru Cristea is a Partner with Țuca Zbârcea & Asociații Tax SRL, an affiliate of Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii law firm. Previously working with Deloitte and PricewatehouseCoopers, Alexandru has over 10 years of experience focusing primarily on indirect taxation. Alexandru has broad knowledge in tax planning and international efficiency structures, as well as in VAT and excise duty audits. He served major local and multinational clients from a wide array of industries, mainly Energy, Finance and FMGC. He acted as a local consultant in the PHARE program for the implementation of EU Harmonised Romanian VAT legislation, being involved in the drafting process of the law, as well as in organizing training sessions to professionals from the Romanian Ministry of Finance. Also, he actively managed Pre-Accession and Post-Accession projects, consisting in mappings, ERP implementations and industry-focused training sessions for top companies in Romania. Alexandru is a reputable speaker at various tax conferences and seminars and plays an ongoing role in the tax groups of AmCham/Foreign Investors Council (FIC) for the modernization of tax legislation, as well as in the discussions with the Ministry of Finance. Alexandru is a certified tax consultant and holds an MBA degree in Finance.

Alin Chitu has more than seven years of experience in tax matters and previously worked with Deloitte and KPMG. He advised various businesses on a wide range of international and domestic tax issues, including direct corporate taxes and indirect taxes, and worked with a large group of multinational clients active in various industries. Alin specializes in corporate tax issues, including transactional work, and has advised clients on how to structure their investments in Romania. He provided tax advice on the negotiation of transaction documents in asset and share deals and was involved in several tax due diligence investigations. Alin is a certified tax consultant and holds a Master degree in Finance.

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Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii is the sole Eastern European Law Firm to have scooped an award at this year’s ceremony hosted by Managing Partners’ Forum (MPF), a UK-based professional body for those involved in the management of professional firms worldwide.

Already in their 10th edition, the MPF European Leadership Awards celebrate professional services firms that have demonstrated leadership, collaboration, vision, brands, operational excellence, client relationships and financial performance in the course of the past year.

The 2012 winners were announced on March 1st in the presence of 300 audience members at a ceremony presided over by former World, European and Commonwealth 110m hurdles champion, Colin Jackson CBE as Master of Ceremonies.

Joint winners for the “Best Managed Workplace” award, Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii and LABLAW (Italy) shared the honours for having obtained the highest score from their employees on the perceived quality of the firms’ management.

In the citation, the judges noted that all of the firm’s employees are proud to be associated with the firm and would recommend Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii as a good place to work. The firm also achieved very favourable results on the following employees’ satisfaction drivers: leadership, communication, engagement and client service. Employees rated the way Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii is managed as excellent or very good. Scores across the leadership category were very high. Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii scored above Towers Watson’s Global High Performance Companies Norm across many questions, specifically in providing leadership, making decision promptly, managing change and providing a clear sense of direction.

“Best Managed Workplace is a unique award for us as it truly reflects an ongoing commitment to good management practices, positive work environment and vibrant corporate culture. Our management policies, employee benefits or workplace practices were seen as particularly strong and overall the firm scored consistently above the MPF Employee Survey average which is an extraordinary achievement by all means. We are thankful and grateful to all of the team members who have actively participated in the MPF’s survey, as well as for all of their hard work and dedication to this firm”, stated Alina Pintică, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii.    

Ţuca Zbârcea & Asociaţii has been consistently recognised as one of the best places to work for by local and international surveyors, while also being acknowledged as one of the most innovative law firms in Continental Europe in the Financial Times’ Innovative Lawyers Report. The firm is also a recipient of a “Best Employer” in the SMEs category title for 2009/2010 from Aon Hewitt.

Nominated law firms in the various categories included the likes of Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), Hogan Lovells, Garrigues, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Linklaters, as well as Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance, Eversheds, BDO, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield, Colliers International, McKinsey, Accenture etc.

A panel of judges comprising 30 leading international management consultants or experts worked together to assess each shortlisted entry against Award-specific and four general criteria: impact, buy-in, performance improvement and added value.

A number of 63 shortlisted firms were up for an award in 15 categories including “Best Leadership Development Programme”, “Best Community Engagement”, “Best Innovation in Client Service or Relationship Management”, “Best Performing Brand”, “Best Use of Technology to Enhance the Client Experience”, “Best Strategic Leadership” etc.
For a full list of the MPF European Leadership Awards 2012, please visit: www.mpfglobal.com/awards.

About the Managing Partners’ Forum (MPF) and MPF European Leadership Awards:

MPF is a UK-based professional body that represents the leadership team at professional firms to government and other audiences, and provides its members with knowledge, insights and networks to help them reach better-informed business decisions. MPF introduced its Awards in 2002 to recognise the contribution of specific management disciplines. Ten years on, the Awards were radically redesigned with a new set of categories focused on leadership, collaboration, vision, brands, operational excellence, client relationships and financial performance. Any professional firm or network with a European presence was eligible to enter the Awards. For more information, please visit www.mpfglobal.com.

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