Kinstellar has big plans to expand and aims to become one of the leading independent law firms in emerging Europe.

Jason Mogg
Jason Mogg

“The quality of our services and the team we have means we’re competing with domestic and ­international firms,” claims managing partner Jason Mogg.

The outfit began as a joint venture with Linklaters in 1999, having been spun out of the magic circle firm at that time. By the millennium, Kinstellar’s offices in Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest and Prague were operating together as Linklaters’ regional force, spearheading operations throughout Central and South Eastern Europe.

Kinstellar emerged as an ­independent practice in November 2008 and opened new offices in Belgrade and Istanbul in 2010.

Business has been “okay” over the past year, according to Mogg. “Clearly the economic crisis ­continues,” he adds. “We’re not back to the pre-2007 days yet.

We’ve been busy with energy sector work and projects that haven’t been affected by the ­economic crisis, for example domestic M&A.”

Earlier this year Kinstellar successfully completed the largest acquisition of retail parks in recent years in the Czech Republic and Slovenia on behalf of investment and development group Czech Property Investments.

Mogg says the background of the firm makes it unique. “Consistency and quality are what ­distinguish us in the market,” he argues.

Mogg himself has more than 15 years of ­transactional experience in Central, Eastern

and Southern Europe, having worked on several ­privatisations across the region. His colleague Lukáš Ševcík, managing partner of the firm’s Prague office and head of the M&A and corporate practice, was elected to the board of directors of the British ­Chamber of Commerce in June this year.

In addition to expanding in the neighbourhood, Kinstellar is looking to invest further in the quality of its services by establishing a tailored ‘knowhow’ training team.

Managing partner: Jason Mogg

Number of partners: 18

Number of lawyers: 78

Number of fee-earners: 111

Number of offices: Six

Locations: Belgrade, Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Istanbul, Prague

Main practice areas: Banking, dispute resolution, energy, M&A/corporate, ­private equity, real estate, tax

Key clients: Barclays Bank, Goldman Sachs, Mars Group, Microsoft, RBS, Siemens, Tesco