Member Profiles

Alina Lefter is partner of “Dragomir & Asociatii” Law Firm and has been a member of the Bucharest Bar since 1991. Alina has over 20 years of experience in litigation focused on commercial, public procurement, administrative, corporate and real estate. She also practices in the areas of public procurement, commercial & corporate, mergers & acquisitions. Alina holds a degree in law since 1990 from the Faculty of Law, University of Bucharest and she became a specialist in International Law in 1991. Also, she completed a scholarship in the Academy of European Law in Florence and became a specialist in European Community Law in 1994. In 2012, Alina completed a postgraduate programme of continuing professional development in Private Law and since 2016 she holds a master degree in Security and Defence, Security and Defence Faculty, National Defence University “Carol I”. Alina is an arbitrator of The Court of Maritime and Commercial Arbitration attached to the Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Navigation and Agriculture Constanta, a public procurement expert and also an expert in accessing European structural and cohesion funds. In 2014, she was awarded with the Prize for Excellence in Developing the Legal Profession for the Category PPP/ Public Procurement/ Infrastructure at the "Lady Lawyer” Gala. Alina speaks fluently English and at a conversational level, French. The Firm Dragomir & Asociatii Law Firm has been established early 1996 and since then its activity has been in a continuous development in order to accommodate the needs of its clients as well as to face ongoing changes in the legal and institutional environment of the Romanian society.  The client is the key element of our firm’s activity; consequently, any decisions regarding strategy and legal solutions in legal cases/ projects handled by us are always focusing on the essential objectives and expectations of clients. We are stressing to provide best strategies and legal solutions, tailored to fit our clients’ interests and we do not hesitate to invest as much time as needed in order to reach such fundamental goal. By anticipating and mediating disputes before they become lawsuits, we succeeded in numerous cases to avoid litigation, to the benefit of our clients. By responsibly managing legal cases and projects entrusted to us we are obtaining the expected results and efficiently controlling costs and time. By the developed partnerships we are able to provide legal services in various law fields through lawyers having an outstanding professional experience. And, because we understand that business means positive results, we have a business-like approach in all our legal undertakings.

Mihai Mareș, managing partner and founder of Mareș & Mareș Law Firm, is highly regarded as one of the brightest white-collar crime attorneys in Romania. With over two decades of experience in economic criminal cases, he has earned the reputation of a „go-to lawyer” for white-collar crime-related offenses and is recognized as a renowned name in the field of criminal law. Mihai specializes in criminal defense for senior executives, entrepreneurs, major industrial groups, financial institutions, and large international and domestic companies, with a remarkable track record of handling corruption and economic offenses at both national and cross-border levels, representing clients across various sectors. He has successfully crafted defense strategies and advocated in numerous highly-publicized cases involving money laundering, fraud, bribery, and other forms of corporate misconduct, representing major industrial groups and companies across various sectors, as well as individuals, before all courts in Romania in cases investigated by DIICOT (The Agency for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism) , DNA (Anti-Corruption Agency), and ANI (National Integrity Agency). Under his leadership, Mareș & Mareș has become the leading white-collar crime team in Romania, providing legal counsel to clients facing complex criminal matters. Described by The Legal500 as “an energetic legal brain” and named one of the top White-Collar Crime lawyers in Romania, he is recommended as a Leading Lawyer in disputes. ”Mihai Mares is an expert in his field, he invest a lot of time and effort in understanding the client.”  ”Mihai Mares is our main choice for criminal matters. He is a star of the Bar, being extremely meticulous and has great oral skills, while dealing with a variety of cross-border matters related to the Romanian jurisdiction.”  ”Mihai Mares runs the best white-collar crime team in Romania and is a star of the criminal Bar.” With a Ph.D. in criminal procedure from the Romanian Academy’s Legal Institute, Mihai regularly publishes articles and studies on criminal law and criminal procedure and participates in national and international conferences. Mihai Mareș is a guest professor in the Master’s program in Criminal Law at the Faculty of Law, State University of Moldova (USM), as part of the partnership established with this institution; during the academic year 2022-2023, Mihai Mareș was a lector (associated teacher) at the Law Faculty – University Alexandru Ioan Cuza (Iași) where he taught within the Master Program, the courses of „European Criminal Law „and “Witness and Victim Protection in Crimes”.  He is a founding member of ARDPA (Romanian Association of Business Criminal Law). Mihai is a member of several relevant national and international bodies, among which:  The International Bar Association – Business Crime Committee The American Bar Association The European Criminal Bar Association The European Fraud and Compliance Lawyers The Romanian Association of Criminal Sciences The Romanian Forensic Association The American Chamber of Commerce The Global Criminal Law Counsel The Roxin

The "QUORUS GmbH" is a management and consultancy Limited Liability Company (Ltd.) with an exclusive operational focus on Swiss-Russian cross-border activities. The company is registered in the commercial register of the canton of Zurich (CH-020.4.060.084-6) and fulfils a dual role, in that it advices, sustains and accompanies activities from Russia towards Switzerland and in the opposite direction. Legal, management, business consulting and lobbying are the main operating fields the QUORUS is covering. Focusing on holistic exclusive tailor-made specialist service-solutions based on expertise in Russian, Swiss and EU-law, banking-, asset-management, and further fields, depending on clients' needs, the QUORUS business-model provides for targeted partnerships with specialists in Russia, CIS, Switzerland Europe and beyond. The company domiciles the Russian legal expertise and the Russian expertise beyond legal issues in persona on the Swiss market and its managerial set-up feeds the QUORUS with diversified knowledge, expertise and credibility.

A founder of MZS has extremely broad experience in Dispute Resolution, Securities and Finance, Intellectual Property, Taxation, Financial Services, Insolvency, Telecoms, Media & Technology, Real Estate, Anti-trust, Transport, White-collar Crime as well as general corporate law. Yuri is a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He also holds a Candidate of Law degree from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of State and Law. Yuri is a member of the Moscow Bar. People Our firm is built on a group of driven, dynamic and intellectually focused people who are pleasant and inspiring to work with. We invest heavily in broadening their skills and knowledge to ensure success when working across multiple jurisdictions and cultures. International Network In addition to our clients, we also work with many of the world’s leading international law firms, delivering specialist expertise and services that are either not available or not practical for them to deliver themselves. Our network of friends extends well beyond the legal world, to relationships with banks and various financial institutions that can benefit our clients. Thought Leadership We strive to put the huge intellectual capital within MZS to good use for the benefit of the legal and wider commercial worlds. To date lawyers from our firm have authored more than 80 publications, covering a wide variety of topics – helping to shape, not just debate, Russian law itself. Academic Relationships We maintain extremely close links with Russian academia. Not only does this enable us to share knowledge and experiences, but also to identify and recruit the bright young stars of tomorrow to the MZS team. Pro Bono We provide pro bono services (and financial contributions) to a range of good causes including the Moscow Journal of International Law, as well as The Fund of Grateful Alumni of the MGIMO International Law School. MZS is a key participant in the events held by the Association of Russian Corporate Lawyers; and we also sponsor various student moot courts around the world, helping the next generation get a taste of the legal profession. Through a charitable foundation MZS supports one of the leading doctrinal periodical in Russia, The Journal of Civil Law.

We handle the following matters at the ICAC Russia and state arbitration courts: • disputes arising from contractual or other civil-law relationships in the course of foreign trade and other forms of international economic affairs, provided that the place of business of at least one of the Parties is situated abroad; • disputes arising between enterprises with foreign investment, international associations and organizations set up in the territory of the Russian Federation, disputes between their participants and, their disputes with other subjects of law of the Russian Federation. Additional services at the ICAC Russia: • recognition and enforcement of the ICAC Russia decision; • preparation of the review of the ICAC Russia practice