Zoltán Hegymegi-Barakonyi

MANAGING PARTNER, HEGYMEGI-BARAKONYI AND PARTNER BAKER & MCKENZIE ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

BACKGROUND Zoltán Hegymegi-Barakonyi has been the managing partner of Baker McKenzie’s Budapest office since July 1, 2013. He studied law at Janus Pannonius University in Pécs and went on to receive a Master’s degree in politics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP), USA and a Master of Laws degree from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, USA before joining Baker McKenzie in 1994. He became a partner in 1999 and led the disputes, intellectual property and competition law practices of the Budapest office. His main focus is competition law. Hegymegi-Barakonyi is the president of the Hungarian Competition Law Association and serves as a non-governmental adviser to the International Competition Network. He also lectures on competition law at Pázmány Péter Catholic University.

OF WHICH ACHIEVEMENTS ARE YOU MOST PROUD? Baker McKenzie opened its Budapest office in 1987. I am very proud that over the past three decades we have attracted some of the best talents in law to the firm and have managed to build a team that can offer the highest quality of legal services to our clients in the most complex transactions, disputes and other legal matters. The strength of the team is confirmed

by our rankings in the legal directories and by the fact that so many of our alumni lead other law firms in town and head legal departments at blue chip Hungarian and multinational companies. I am also very proud of the useful pro bono work performed by my colleagues for such clients as the Food Bank, Habitat for Humanity, Hintalovon Foundation, the Opera House and the Budapest Strings, to name just a few of the social, health and cultural organizations that we have supported with free legal services over the years. This achievement was also recognized by the Hungarian Bar Association and PILNet when they awarded our team the prestigious Pro Bono Firm of the Year title in 2016. Last but not the least, I am pleased and proud of how fluently our lawyers and non-lawyer colleagues have collaborated and worked together as a team in the current pandemic when the lockdown and remote work presented new challenges to everyone,

“I chose this profession because I was always interested in supporting a cause and speaking on behalf of others. As my history teacher used to say, I was the “advocate” of the class, which, I must admit, often caused problems for me in school.”

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including lawyers and their clients. There is no question that the flexible working solutions introduced by Baker McKenzie’s BeAgile program helped a lot; this innovative program made it possible for our lawyers to work remotely in the last five years by using the latest technology and communication tools offered by the IT services of our international law firm.

WHAT DREW YOU TO LAW AS A PROFESSION? My grandfather was an attorney. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to know him personally and did not get personal encouragement from him because he practiced law more than a century ago and died in 1927. Besides this family tradition, I chose this profession because I was always interested in supporting a cause and speaking on behalf of others. As my history teacher used to say, I was the “advocate” of the class, which, I must admit, often caused problems for me in school.

HOW DID YOU PICK YOUR LEGAL SPECIALTY AREA? First, I studied competition law at IUP, where a professor of economics lectured us about the antitrust cases of the U.S. Supreme Court. I was the only law student in that class. It was truly fascinating to hear about the economic context of those landmark cases, and I also learned for life that you can never solve a complex competition case without the assistance of an economist. Later, I worked for the Hungarian Competition Authority and had the privilege of doing internships at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.

WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE TO IMPROVE THE LEGAL ENVIRONMENT IN HUNGARY? Well, it is a very difficult question. We live in a very complex and fast changing world. On the one hand, businesses and entire industries change at the speed of light due to new technologies and innovation. Digitalization is one of the strongest driving forces in this development. The legal environment has always had to follow social, economic and technological developments as quickly as possible in order to facilitate and not to hinder further development. On the other hand, life has become very complex, which is true for transactions as well as other business and legal matters that we work on. In this complex world, the legal system and lawyers should give people and businesses guidance and offer them solutions. In the 21st century, it is a huge challenge for all legal professions: the legislators and regulators, as well as the law enforcement agencies and legal counsels. One thing I am certain about is if we want to meet these challenges, as a starting point and a minimum, we have to have an open mind to innovation and we have to make the best use of the available digital and other technologies in our work, in all legal professions.

Name of law firm Hegymegi-Barakonyi and Partner Baker & McKenzie Attorneys-at-Law

Name of associate non-Hungarian law firm or cooperation network Baker & McKenzie International

Address 1051 Budapest, Dorottya utca 6.

Managing partner Zoltán Hegymegi-Barakonyi

In charge of position since 2013

Year of Hungarian law firm's establishment 1987

No. of attorneys with license to practise in Hungary on Sept. 15, 2020 23

No. of partners of Hungarian law firm on Sept. 15, 2020 8