Charles Vernon, a US-qualified attorney, has joined the Bucharest branch of City firm Taylor Joynson Garrett, strengthening its presence in a region it sees as having “huge potential”.
He joins from the Saudi Arabia office of US firm Graham & James, which is affiliated to TJG. He is the third expatriate lawyer in TJG's Romanian office, having joined English-qualified Nicholas Hammond and Oliver Meister. In addition there is a team of three-to-five local-based lawyers. The firm is currently recruiting after the recent departure of one of the Romanian lawyers.
Vernon's specialisms are cross-border transactions and international mergers and acquisitions, but he described himself as a “good general corporate lawyer”.
“There are lots of different types of work to be done; banking and securities work is very hot at the moment – we all do a little of everything,” said Vernon. “It's a period of change but the potential is huge.”
Mark Fletcher, a partner based in London, agreed, saying that apart from the former Soviet Union, Romania had the second largest population in eastern Europe and “before the fall of the wall had a GDP comparable with that of Spain”.
He added: “There was a stampede of firms going to Moscow and Warsaw, and there is only one other English firm in Bucharest, so it seemed sensible to set up in Romania.”
