As Europe's premier tech business advisors (#1 venture capital law firm in Europe for 23 consecutive quarters, PitchBook Q3 2021), Shawn and his team at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe have overseen several hundred venture financings, private equity buyouts and M&A transactions over the course of the last decade. Leading venture capital and growth funds, private equity, and high-growth tech companies rely upon his unsurpassed industry knowledge as much as his relentless commitment to their business. In addition to sheer volume of deals, Shawn's incomparable market insight stems from his leadership roles at Orrick, the only global firm focused on technology, and his experience working throughout the UK & Europe, North America and Asia.

Shawn serves as the head of the London Corporate practice and as a member of Orrick’s European management board, while leading its Global Emerging Markets practice and co-leading the Global Fintech team. These complement his practice serving public and private companies in UK multi-jurisdictional and complex corporate transactions, including countless acquisitions and disposals, cross-border mergers, bankruptcy infused asset sales, recapitalizations and reorganizations. He is also a recognized leader in late-stage venture transactions and in early-stage private equity transactions in Europe and the emerging markets. Drawing from his particular experience with technology and IP rich businesses, Shawn also advises technology companies from incubation through M&A exits, initial public offerings and other growth opportunities. His participation in the private equity and venture capital sector spans his entire career-with time spent in private practice, in-house and advising investors as well as investor-backed businesses-and affords him a deep knowledge and understanding of the industry and client needs and expectations.

Silvije is a director of the Cipcic-Bragadin Mesic & Associates law firm, and partner primarily in charge of the firm’s vast corporate, banking, and finance practice. His clients include a roster of domestic and international companies, financial institutions, credit institutions, funds, and investment managers, including some of the leading Fortune Global 500 companies. Silvije has advised on some of the biggest transactions and projects in Croatia, including on the acquisition by an American pharmaceutical company of a leading Croatian pharmaceutical company — the first capital market transaction with competing offers valued at over USD 3 billion.

A Chevening scholar, Silvije holds diplomas from the Faculty of Law of the University in Zagreb and the College of Law of England and Wales in London. During his career he was seconded to Deutsche Bank’s corporate finance team in London, where he worked on some of the most complicated M&A and banking and finance matters. Later, he agreed to lead DLA Piper’s Corporate team in Croatia as a member of DLA Piper’s Corporate SEE group. Silvije is publicly recognised as one of the leading figures in Croatia's PE and VC space and is a frequent speaker at various PE & VC investment conferences and workshops. He was one of the founders of the Croatian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (CVCA), where he currently serves as Vice President, and the Croatian business angel network (CRANE), where he is an honorary member. Silvije was also one of the initiators and helped to establish the ICC Croatia. He has also been a member of working groups responsible for drafting new laws in Croatia, including the Investment Funds Law, the Enforcement law, and more.  For a number of years, Silvije drafted the International Tax chapter for Croatia in the International Comparative Legal Guide, and he co-authored one of the first books on SME financing in Croatia.

Kevin-Paul Deveau is a partner with Reed Smith in London. He advises clients on a broad range of domestic and cross-border debt finance transactions, including fund finance, acquisition finance, real estate finance, project finance, general corporate lending, and restructuring. He specialises in emerging markets finance, including advising on market-leading transactions in Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. His work in emerging markets includes leveraged acquisitions, margin loans, real estate finance, project finance, commodity finance, bespoke shareholder financing arrangements, and financial accommodation provided or supported by government agencies and DFIs (including OPIC, IFC, EBRD, EIB, and CDC).

He also has extensive experience in fund finance, and he regularly advises funds on financing matters, including bridge and gearing facilities, hybrid facilities, end-of-life facilities, intra-fund finance and structuring issues, and finance considerations related to fund formation. He regularly provides finance advice to private equity and direct lending clients, and his practice also includes advising banks, financial institutions, alternative lenders, and borrowers on leveraged acquisitions, asset-backed finance, specialty finance, and special situations finance transactions across a range of jurisdictions and sectors.

Joe is the Innovation Lead for Dentons UKIME with the responsibility for legal technology pilots, implementations and innovation culture initiatives, as well as robotic process automation. Although he is a non-lawyer, he previously held innovation roles at Linklaters and Slaughter and May, and started his career at Deloitte as a Tech Consultant.

Tomáš Doležil has been a Czech advocate since 2002 and partner at JSK in Prague since 2014. He focuses on providing advice on mergers and acquisitions as well as private equity, corporate/commercial law and technology, and media and telecommunications matters.

He has a wealth of experience in transactions on both the international and domestic sides. He actively cooperates with the Czech Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, which supports companies operating in the fields of private equity and venture capital.

Ancuța Pop is a highly versed and persuasive litigator backed by over 13 years of practice-area expertise spanning civil and commercial litigation and arbitration, complex administrative law and employment disputes as well as real estate and construction matters. When advising clients, she first seeks to understand the businesses in order to tailor an effective and clear-cut strategy and an optimum defense as the dispute evolves, keeping her focus on each step of the process and without losing sight of the end result. An excellent communicator and strategist, she boasts an outstanding success rate of over 90%.

Ancuța’s impressive client record includes leading domestic and global companies active in various industries ranging from retail, energy and telecom to banks and the steel industry.

Richard is a financing partner at Slaughter and May, where he has practised for 20 years. Richard has a wide-ranging practice covering bank/fund lending (including investment grade and leveraged/acquisition financing), debt capital markets, securitisations, structured finance and derivatives. He has acted for a number of high profile clients including both listed and private companies, banks and other financial institutions, pension funds, private equity firms and various governments. He has experience across a wide number of industries, including the banking, consumer credit, and wider financial sector, and insurance, manufacturing, retail, leisure and hospitality, and energy and natural resources.

Richard is one of the partners at Slaughter and May responsible for maintaining and enhancing the firm’s relationship with independent law firms across the CEE region.

Tijana Kojović is the Managing Partner of BDK Advokati — a regional law firm with offices in Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina — and is the co-founder of Legaltech solutions, an IT start-up that has developed Draftomat document automation and knowledge management software.

Tijana is recognized as top Serbian law expert in transactions, advisory work and dispute resolution by all main legal directors. She is leading her law firm's efforts towards digitalization, and has developed blinkdraft, first online legal service in Serbia.

Recommended in The Legal 500 UK, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2018, 2017, 2016 and 2015 for his work on flotations, the equity capital, debt capital, and emerging markets, and with over 15 years’ experience, Patrick Lyons is a partner on Dechert’s London corporate and securities team. The Legal 500 UK, 2022 ranks Patrick as a ‘leading individual’ for emerging markets. He is also recommended and ranked for his work involving debt and equity capital markets and has been previously recognized for his work in life sciences and healthcare transactions. The 2022 guide also reports that he is described by clients as ‘quick, always available and business-oriented.’ He is ranked in Chambers Global, 2021 for equity capital markets and is described by clients as “extremely efficient” and someone who “brings a refreshing, practical approach to very complex issues.” He is additionally acknowledged in The Legal 500 EMEA, 2021, for his work in Kazakhstan, where he is listed for banking, finance and capital markets. The IFLR1000 2022 to 2017 guides note him as ‘highly regarded’ for matters involving debt and equity capital markets. Clients note he is ‘very knowledgeable’ and ‘able to handle clients with great flexibility’ in The Legal 500 UK, 2020.

Patrick represents life sciences and other healthcare companies, energy companies, banks and financial institutions, sovereign and quasi-sovereign issuers and others in public and private transactions, including IPOs and follow on SEC-registered transactions, Rule 144A and Regulation S offerings, investment grade and high-yield debt issues, PIPEs and other private placements, green, blue and social bond offerings, rights issues, privatizations and liability management transactions, including tender offers, exchange offers and similar transactions. He also has extensive experience advising public companies with respect to SEC periodic disclosure, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, corporate governance and Nasdaq and New York Stock Exchange rules.

Agnieszka Pytlas, Managing Partner at Penteris, knows full well that in today's disruptive economy, only lawyers with a multi-disciplined approach and informed industrial and market knowledge can prepare business partners for an unknown future.

She connects the dots in order to overcome very real challenges and provide tangible benefit for clients across various sectors and industries. Being strategic in outlook, she works closely with market leaders to guide them in today’s volatile economy.

Aku Sorainen is the Founder and Senior Partner of Sorainen, a leading international law firm, which he founded in 1995 in Estonia and later expanded to Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus. Aku is of Finnish origin, but has worked as a lawyer in the Baltic States since 1993. He specializes in advising local and foreign corporations and investors in the Baltic States. He has worked primarily in the fields of M&A and Real Estate, and has led legal teams in tens of acquisition projects across the Baltic States. Aku is also the Honorary Consul of Malta in Estonia. He is a recommended practitioner in many publications, also named an Eminent Practitioner in Estonia by Chambers Global. Aku is also a visionist for the entire law firm’s strategy, business development, and innovation.

Twenty years ago, Aku realized that a successful pan-Baltic law firm requires close cooperation at all levels ‒ work processes, IT, HR, BDM, training, knowledge management, quality management, and finances, making Sorainen the first law firm in the region to start a thorough integration process across all offices. Passionate about legaltech and knowledge management, Aku is the heart of the Sorainen Knowledge Management and Innovation team. Set up in 2008 as the first-of-its-kind law firm in the region, the team’s work has placed Sorainen among the 30 most innovative law firms in Europe, as recognized by the Financial Times — the first pan-Baltic firm to receive such a high accolade for innovation in the legal services sector.

Mykola Stetsenko is the Managing Partner and Head of Corporate/M& at Avellum in Kyiv. He has extensive experience in all types of corporate transactions, including acquisitions, joint ventures, IPOs, and corporate governance.

Mykola led Avellum’s made standout contribution to the reform of corporate laws in Ukraine and the harmonization of the country's corporate regulations with its European counterparts.

Pawel Szaja is a partner in the Capital Markets practice of Shearman & Sterling. He is based in the firm’s Dubai and London offices and has a broad area of expertise covering EMEA Capital Markets, M&A, and Private Equity. He advises corporates, private equity funds and underwriters in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa on complex cross-border equity and debt capital markets, M&A and private equity transactions, and securities law, corporate governance, and ongoing reporting matters.

His practice covers several areas of international corporate finance and capital markets transactions, including SEC-registered equity and debt offerings, IPOs, privatisations, debt offerings, public and private M&A transactions, and private equity investments, including in emerging markets. Pawel is a member of the Fintech Foundry programme at Shearman & Sterling.

Vasile Tiple, the founder and CEO of Goodlegal Inc., was UiPath’s first General Counsel and Head of Legal & Compliance Automation. In these roles he designed and put in place UiPath's global legal team and operations and implemented the internal Legal Automation Program, through which software robots were used to ensure compliance and support the company's infrastructure and global growth while also expanding automation initiatives in the legal industry.

Goodlegal, a one-stop shop for legal compliance, aims to provide organizations with a legal infrastructure platform to drive standardization and a frictionless engagement with internal and external stakeholders. By providing its users with a powerful and varied toolbox of functionalities — ranging from a drag-and-drop document builder to out-of-the-box document, text analysis, and automation functionalities — Goodlegal allows every organization to reach a sound legal-compliance-and-operations level.