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ZOLTÁN HEGYMEGI-BARAKONYI MANAGING PARTNER, HEGYMEGI-BARAKONYI AND PARTNER BAKER & MCKENZIE ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW is the president of the Hungarian Competition Law Association and serves as a non-governmental adviser to the International Competition Network. He also lectures on competition law at Pázmány Péter Catholic University. OF WHICH ACHIEVEMENTS ARE YOU MOST PROUD? Baker McKenzie opened its Budapest office in 1987. I am very proud that over the past three decades we have attracted some of the best talents in law to the firm and have managed to build a team that can offer the highest quality of legal services to our clients in the most complex transactions, disputes and other legal matters. The strength of the team is confirmed
“I chose this profession because I was always interested in supporting a cause and speaking on behalf of others. As my history teacher used to say, I was the “advocate” of the class, which, I must admit, often caused problems for me in school.”
BACKGROUND Zoltán Hegymegi-Barakonyi has been the managing partner of Baker McKenzie’s Budapest office since July 1, 2013. He studied law at Janus Pannonius University in Pécs and went on to receive a Master’s degree in politics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), USA and a Master of Laws degree from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, USA before joining Baker McKenzie in 1994. He became a partner in 1999 and led the disputes, intellectual property and competition law practices of the Budapest office. His main focus is competition law. Hegymegi-Barakonyi
by our rankings in the legal directories and by the fact that so many of our alumni lead other law firms in town and head legal departments at blue chip Hungarian and multinational companies. I am also very proud of the useful pro bono work performed by my colleagues for such clients as the Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, Hintalovon Foundation, the Opera House and the Budapest Strings, to name just a few of the social, health and cultural organizations that we have supported with free legal services over the years. This achievement was also recognized by the Hungarian Bar Association and PILNet when they awarded our team the prestigious Pro Bono Firm of the Year title in 2016. Last but not the least, I am pleased and proud of how fluently our lawyers and non-lawyer colleagues have collaborated and worked together as a team in the current pandemic when the lockdown and remote work presented new challenges to everyone,
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