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A gem in a turbulent marketplace

Glatzová & Co. weathers the many legal aspects of investing in Prague real estate

By Kathleen Kralowec
For The Prague Post
April 18th, 2007 issue

Jan Přerovský/THE PRAGUE POST
Senior associate Gabriel Achour heads the real estate division at Glatzová & Co.
It’s not every day you run into a team of lawyers who also double as real estate specialists.
Glatzová & Co. is one of just a handful of Prague-based law firms that have found a way to capitalize on the Czech real estate boom. Realizing this flourishing industry would come with its own set of unique legal challenges, Glatzová, in 2002, formed a two-person division devoted entirely to real estate law. Today, Glatzová’s real estate team is now up to seven lawyers strong.
Gabriel Achour, a senior associate who oversees the division, explains that the current growth in the real estate market has given lawyers plenty of work to do.
“As a developer, you can be 100 percent sure someone will come with legal actions against your project,” Achour says.  
He notes, for example, that the firm’s retail clients often have to face environmental and preservationist groups in court, usually over ownership disputes. Achour says the firm advises all its clients to invest in title insurance, to protect against this possible barrier to project completion.
The real estate branch of Glatzová offers a variety of legal services, spanning all stages of real estate development, including land acquisition, sales, project financing, risk management, project management and zoning permits.
Glatzová’s clients range from large international retailers to small local developers and also include construction firms and private-fund investors.
“It’s important to have a mix of large and small,” Achour says, adding that about 50 percent of the firm’s clients come from outside the Czech Republic, while 60 percent are referrals from past clients.
Achour says his division was started five years ago as a direct response to the growing market. “We had the right combination of people who had been involved in real estate,” he says. “But mainly it was the vision of [firm founder Vladimíra] Glatzová. … She saw early on that the company must be ready for the boom.”
Glatzová, a graduate of Charles University law school, says the legal needs of the country’s real estate players were evident to her from the beginning.
“The main reason was my prediction and forecast of future huge demands for legal services in this field,” she says. “It was absolutely clear that there would be a boom of construction and development projects in the Czech Republic. There was no doubt for me. I was prepared for this period.”
Glatzová, who was named one of the top seven most influential women in Czech business by Hospodařské noviny two years ago, worked in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany before coming back to Prague to open her own company in 1994. She still heads the 25-lawyer firm’s mergers and acquisitions division.
Glatzová’s international experience has given the firm a legacy that, according to Achour, sets it apart from other local offices.
“We are different from a typical Czech law firm because almost everyone has experience gained in the U.S. or UK, through study or practice,” Achour says. “Our advantage is the combination of international skills, and local legal know-how.”
Managing Director Zdeněk Švanda also notes that Glatzová is affordable.
“We have international experience and a team which is trained up to international standards, but we can offer our services at a very competitive price,” Švanda says.
In spite of its international edge and focus on quality over quantity, Achour says Glatzová doesn’t intend to remain focused on the local market. “We don’t want to just be a Czech firm with an international background. We also want a presence on the international scene.”
In particular, he points to the firm’s interest in Bratislava, where the real estate market has yet to reach its peak.
“The Slovak Republic is very attractive right now, and we want to be there, too,” Achour says.
While a small firm compared to its closest competitors, Glatzová does not seek to dramatically increase its size. “Our aim is always quality over quantity,” Achour says. “This is not normal here in the Czech Republic, where sometimes quantity is preferred over quality.”
Glatzová may be small; however, the firm is increasing in prestige, its managers contend.  Last year, for instance, two of their lawyers were named in the 2006 edition of Who’s Who in Construction Law, an annual publication honoring three outstanding individuals from every country globally in the field of construction law.
“It is extremely unusual for two people from one firm, out of a whole country, to be nominated for this honor,” Achour says. “For me this is a sign that we’re doing things the right way, and [that] gives us a criterion of expectations for the future.”

Kathleen Kralowec can be reached at specialsection@praguepost.com


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