For 33 years, The Legal 500 has been analysing the capabilities of law firms and sets across the world. In the research team, we constantly track which sections are used most by clients, and this often matches up with an increase in that section from submissions, client referees, requests for interviews and feedback – all of which make up the research process.

The Arbitration Powerlist: Central and Eastern Europe showcases the leading practitioners working in a broad sweep of countries, stretching from Austria and Poland to the Baltic nations and down to Serbia and North Macedonia.

Among the leading practicioners are also Sorainen partners Valts Nerets and Carri Ginter.

A respected partner at Sorainen, Valts Nerets has made a name for himself in his experience handling international commercial and BIT arbitrations in the corporate, commercial, trade, energy, and transport and shipping sectors. Most recently, Nerets represented one of the largest international insurance groups in Central and Eastern Europe in a post-MNA dispute in a Stockholm-seated arbitration, and also a Lithuanian investor E energija in the first ICSID case against Latvia, an arbitration lasting eight years. He regularly counsels clients on private international law issues and litigates enforcement proceedings of arbitral awards and court judgments in high-scale cases, as well as advising parties on planning and protection of foreign investments.

Dr Carri Ginter is the head of Sorainen’s dispute resolution and risk management practice in the Baltics and Belarus. Sorainen handles some of the most high-profile, high-revenue cases on the market, and Ginter has litigated hundreds of matters in the interest of clients. Ginter has a civil law background, combined with in-depth knowledge of EU law and international law. He has served as a member of the management board of Port of Tallinn – the biggest port authority in Estonia with a turnover of over €100m, and as far as both cargo and passenger traffic are taken into account, the biggest port on the Baltic Sea.

Ginter is also a member of the supervisory board of Estonian Railways, which provides him with specific skills in various areas including international trade, regulated sectors, real estate, procurement and anti-corruption matters. In addition, he has been involved in arbitrations in trade and energy (construction and grid). Ginter holds the Jean Monnet chair for EU law at the University of Tartu, running the UproEU project together with his team. As a renowned expert on EU law, Ginter served as an expert witness in a historic hearing before the Estonian Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of the European Stability Mechanism. In 2020, he has been invited by the Government Office of Estonia to provide a legal analysis of the consistency of the EU recovery plan with primary EU law.

Find the full Powerlist HERE.