Major legal changes have become a hot issue in the Czech Republic, from constitutional amendments that would drastically alter the election system to a new Labor Code that is likely to take effect Jan. 1. Andreas Ueltzhöffer, who, with Jan Balada, established an independent law firm in Prague, talks to The Prague Post about whether laws should be changed according to recent developments and whether companies should look for loopholes in legislation to get what they want. He also reveals the secrets of how a smaller law firm can operate in the shadow of major international law companies.

Politicians are considering a constitutional amendment to avoid stalemates such as the one that has taken place since the general election in June. As a lawyer, do you think it's appropriate to change a law according to immediate needs?

Well, I don't think the current political situation can be fixed by changing the Constitution. I actually think the Czech Constitution is a modern and very solid document that should not be changed according to immediate political needs.

It's just a matter of time until the current political situation will be solved, and I hope it'll bring a stable government to the country again. In the end, it's not that important which political party is leading, but stability is. The economy has not yet been affected by the political situation. But I see a danger that it could be unless stability is reached soon. Foreign investors often make their decisions about new investments in a country on a short term basis, and if there's some political instability, they might simply go to another country.

It is acceptable when an entrepreneur somehow structures his business in compliance with the law, but, at the same time, he uses all possibilities that the law gives him.

Some people say there are still quite a few loopholes in the current legal system that give many lawyers an opportunity to be "creative" with their clients. Do these hastily written laws aid law firms' business?

I'm not really working in the market where people look to go around the legal system. Many multinational investors employ their own business standards, and the legal part — the adoption of contracts to the local system of a country where they are currently investing — is an important but minor issue. These investors would not look to get around anything.

Until February, you worked for an international law firm that tended to work with multinational corporations. Now that you've launched a much smaller local firm, is it more difficult to find a niche on the market?

Large international law firms in Prague almost always offer very good quality to clients. I wanted to go back to where I came from — to go back to my own firm. I had one from 1994 to 2003 in order to gain some freedom and be closer to clients, to provide more personalized service. Large international law firms in Prague can be divided into two groups: There's a group of very successful firms that do not see small firms like ours as competitors, but there's a second group of large law firms, and they are downsizing. They might even disappear from the market because they focused exclusively on large transactions and privatizations and they forgot to establish good relations on the local market. More Czechs are getting involved in management teams in larger Czech companies, and the number of foreign managers is decreasing. If you completely rely on foreign relations and on incoming business from abroad, you can't be successful in the long term.

Then was it a strategic move that you partnered with a Czech lawyer when establishing your law firm?

Honestly, I worked with Jan Balada in the past, and he simply was the best lawyer I ever worked with. Plus, we get along very well on a personal level.

Do you think clients consider firms that have both Czech and international experience more trustworthy?

We can offer both, but I don't think the international part is that important anymore. The business of law firms here is much more locally oriented than a few years ago. It's more important that you know Czech laws and that a law firm is based in Prague. And this is what we are.

The country has been criticized for a high level of corruption. On one hand, you're saying that the legal system is modern, but there must be some loopholes when this corruption is happening without major legal consequences.

Society must be based on the shared value that corruption is a crime and not admire someone craftier than we are. I sometimes think that people in the Czech Republic don't really think corruption is much of a crime. There will always be loopholes in legal systems because legal systems are abstract and everyday life is concrete.

What do you think of Interior Minister Ivan Langer's recent proposal to draft a blacklist of companies that were involved in corruption in order to restrict the access of such firms to future public tenders?

Public tenders here are often controversial because they are frequently shaped in a way that only one company can win. This is then not a tender but rather a camouflage. A blacklist is a questionable way of dealing with this problem. Companies should not be banned forever if individual managers were corrupt and then left the company a long time ago.

You are president of the Czech chapter of the American European Community Association (AECA). Is this your first step into politics?

Absolutely not. I'm very happy about what I'm doing now. The AECA is purely a hobby. I used to be active in low-scale politics in Germany before arriving in the Czech Republic in 1994. I missed it after I got here, and I wanted to do something besides my daily routine, so the AECA was a good opportunity. I was asked in 2002 by the president of the AECA in Brussels if I wanted to establish the AECA here. I found it a good platform for an open exchange of opinions between business leaders and politicians.

Do you have any personal goals left?