"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose," right? Maybe not! Because this month's special issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine, out today, really is something different – it doubles as the launch of the new CEE In-House Matters publication.

After a week of counting down, only two deals remain in contention for the 2019 CEE Deal of the Year. And, in an extremely close contest, the Steinhoff Group's Financial Restructuring, which received 9 votes from this year's Final Selection Committee, falls an agonizing one vote short of the 10 received by Advent International and Zentiva’s Acquisition of Alvogen’s CEE Business, meaning the Advent-Zentiva/Alvogen deal is CEE Legal Matters' 2019 CEE Deal of the Year.

One more finalist for 2019 CEE Deal of the Year is removed from the shortlist, leaving only two nominees left. In other words: We're almost there!

Tension is rising, as the second 2019 CEE Deal of the Year finalist is removed from the shortlist, leaving only three nominees in contention for this year's most prestigious award.

With the removal of the first 2019 CEE Deal of the Year finalist from the shortlist, only four nominees remain.

Each day this week CEE Legal Matters will be counting down towards Friday's revelation of the 2019 CEE Deal of the Year winner, but today, before we start revealing which deals were voted off the island, we have the singular pleasure of announcing the finalists: Those five deals that received the greatest number of votes from the Final Selection Committee.

With COVID-19 still on the prowl for victims like the titular focus of a gothic horror story, CEE Legal Matters will change the prevailing narrative next week by announcing the winner of the 2019 CEE Deal of the Year Award.

We're distancing ourselves from many things these days. Friends. Colleagues. Clients. But for our subscribers, at least, one thing is coming right towards them, with the specific intention of defeating their attempts to stay away: Yes, the July 2020 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine is on its way!

The 2019 CEE Legal Matters Table of Deals — the annual collection of all law-firm-reported deals and other client matters in CEE — has been launched and is now available for viewing, searching, exploring, and exploiting.

Confusing as it normally is, the fact that excited cries of "May Day! May Day!" can be interpreted, alternatively, as panicked calls for help, celebrations of spring, or demands for labor rights, today seems strangely appropriate. But fear not — a balm for frayed nerves has arrived in the form of the Special May 2020 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine, focused extensively on the 2019 CEE Deal of the Year Award Winners, which is out today!

CEE Legal Matters is proud to introduce its second Comparative Guide, focusing on Capital Markets in CEE.

The bad news: We're all stuck inside. The good news: More time to read the new April 2020 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine, out today!

It is with great pleasure that we announce the winners of the 2019 CEE Deal of the Year Awards!

Remember: Only two days left until CEE Legal Matters announces the CEE Deal of the Year Award Winners!

If one item of good news is welcome in these dark times, two items are especially so. Thus, CEE Legal Matters is proud to announce both that the Deal of the Year Awards Banquet and Dealer's Choice International Law Firm Summit, originally scheduled for London on April 23, 2020, have now been rescheduled for October 13, 2020, and that CEELM has moved the date that the CEE Deal of the Year Award winners will be announced up from April 24 to April 1, 2020.

Consistent with our mission to keep lawyers and the greater business community informed of legal developments in the 24 countries of CEE, and cognizant of the dramatic spread of the Covid-19 virus across Europe in recent weeks, CEE Legal Matters is pleased to present the CEELM Covid-19 Comparative Legal Guide: Contracts.

In light of the growing coronavirus crisis, the 2020 Dealer’s Choice International Law Firm Summit and CEE Deal of the Year Awards Banquet, originally scheduled for April 23, 2020, in London, have been postponed. 

As the audience grows quiet with anticipation, the orchestra readies itself, and with a subtle nod from the stage director, the heavy red curtains are slowly pulled back to reveal … is it? Is it? It is!!! The March 2020 issue of the CEE Legal Matters magazine is here!