3 minute read
Tamás Szabó
BACKGROUND Tamás Szabó has more than 30 years of experience in domestic and international corporate and commercial law. He focuses on large-scale commercial and real property acquisitions and developments, as well as corporate acquisitions, take-overs, and restructurings. Szabó is regularly featured in legal directories as a leading individual and notable practitioner in corporate / M&A in Hungary. Szabó graduated from ELTE Law School and started his traineeship in Law Firm No. 50, which was a general practice in 1986 in Budapest’s District XX. He was admitted to the Budapest Bar in 1989, joined one of the Big 4 in 1991 and became a partner in 1994. He started the law firm that is now Szabó Kelemen & Partners Andersen in 1996 and was managing partner for about 20 years, and is now comanaging partner with László Kelemen, Domonkos Kiss and Péter Vincze.
OF WHICH ACHIEVEMENTS ARE YOU MOST PROUD? I am proud of our international clientele. Some clients have been with us for 20-25 years or even more. I am proud of our team, because it consists of gifted people. Although they are strong individuals, and sometimes they
have to be able to stand up for their clients on their own, they have learnt to cooperate as a team, too. The core group has been with us for decades and are in their best lawyering age now. Also, we have been able to attract young people and I am proud that we could win their devotion to the common cause of client service, generation after generation. Recently, I am very proud that Andersen have accepted us into their global tax and legal team. It has been an excellent experience to work with this fast expanding network of professionals.
WHAT DREW YOU TO LAW AS A PROFESSION? In secondary school I studied mathematics. I figured solving problems for people in need of legal assistance would be a good field for me. However, I had to find out the hard way that there are a lot of smart people among the competition, therefore, I would need my training in sports, too, to stay above the water. I like the battle, I like the teamwork and I like when our clients are happy.
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Name of law firm Szabó, Kelemen és Társai Andersen Ügyvédi Iroda
Name of associate non-Hungarian law firm or cooperation network Andersen Global
Address 1024 Budapest, Lövőház utca 39.
Managing partner Tamás Szabó
In charge of position since 1996
Year of Hungarian law firm's establishment 1996
No. of attorneys with license to practise in Hungary on Sept. 15, 2020 28
No. of partners of Hungarian law firm on Sept. 15, 2020 14
HOW DID YOU PICK YOUR LEGAL SPECIALTY AREA? I started as a trainee working for solo practitioners on the outskirts of Budapest, then I became a solo practitioner myself. I did everything from criminal law to civil litigation and representing smaller companies. I spent a lot of time in courts, at the police and in prisons meeting with clients. I spoke English, which was rare among lawyers in the early ’90s, and I was invited to the legal practice of one of what is now the Big 4. Given my colorful past, I was given transactions, which I do since. Lately, most of the transactions are related to real estate. WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE TO IMPROVE THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT IN HUNGARY? Lawyers do their part improving the legal environment every day. Besides the legislative bodies, the courts and the jurisprudence, lawyers shape the law with almost everything they do, and they helped a lot in forming the market economy in Hungary. Apparently, there are overall issues with respect of the rule of law, but those issues are larger than us and belong to the political sphere.
