Partner (Tomic Stevic Dulic Law Office)

Question: Tomic Stevic Dulic (TSD) is one of the leading international law firms of Serbia. Can you tell me the idea of creating TSD and the evolution during these years?

Answer: TSD was founded in the year 2000, exactly the time of the democratic changes in our country. It is a law office founded by the younger generation of Serbian lawyers. Today we are considered to be one of the leading law offices in Serbia. We are complete local law office which means we have Serbian attorneys with international education. We are all members of the Serbian Association and registered in Serbia. We provide services to national and international clients in Serbia in English, German, Russian and Serbian languages.
We are focused on foreign investors and we fulfil all the needs that they might have, from establishing a company in Serbia and providing all further services related to their business in Serbia by advising in commercial law, company law, labour law, real estate, intellectual property, administrative law and litigation.



Q: Do you consider you are especially strong in one area?

A: Yes, the areas I just mentioned to you are all areas that are covered by our legal specialists. We have different experts for each area. I lead the corporate, privatization, mergers and acquisition department. But if I mention employment, labour law and real estate it is my partner Gordana Stevic-Dulic. The specialist for intellectual property, commercial and competition is the well known attorney  Predrag Groza or for litigation the brilliant  Sasa Sindjelic, and the list goes on….Our strength is our team of experts with solutions for the catalogue of questions of the investor coming to Serbia.



Q: What makes you special from other competitors?

A: We are a Serbian company but internationally profiled. We are not experts from abroad working in Serbia and giving advice in your language with phrases you will quite understand but you will not be able to implement in Serbia. We always work out applicable solutions for you in Serbia in your own mother language and your way of understanding. In one word, our speciality is the way of making things possible and implementing client’s business solutions into the Serbian frame - because we are Serbians, we understand Serbia as well as we understands our clients’ needs and we have the knowledge and experience to put them together and to ensure cost-effective solutions for our client’s business goals.



Q: You have an impressive portfolio of clients with many worldwide known companies …

A: … and I am proud to say that most of them are with us since the beginning and since their beginning in Serbia. Once they enter the Serbian market with us we take care of them on day to day basis- we have developed the system to cover all their legal needs. Even if you come to criminal law we have outsourced experts that connect our clients to these areas. In the end you are covered for everything by accessing our network.



Q: Amongst your clients I see German origin firms but also Austrians, French and many other nationalities. Would be you open to be the local partner of the Spanish companies as well?

A: It is very interesting for us because we share the same mentality in life and business and we would match very well with them. We did not have the opportunity to have Spanish investors coming to Serbia; therefore we do not have Spanish corporate clients.



Q: What is your advice to the Spanish companies coming to Serbia?

A: There are certain issues you have to know about Serbia. Serbia is very focused on attracting foreign investments that is reflected in having very low taxes. For instance there is 10% for the corporate income tax. There are up to 10 years of tax holidays for the big investors starting from 8 million euros and 100 employees. For smaller investors there are advantages for establishing business in underdeveloped zones in Serbia.
We strongly advice investors to seek legal support in deciding on the way how to enter the Serbian market - for instance through a privatization, mergers and acquisitions, asset deals or green-field projects. From my point of view nowadays (at the end of the privatization era)  it is more comfortable to enter the market, because there are already privatized companies on the market and all the strict social or investment obligations towards the state are not as strong as they used to be. Nowadays you are able to enter the market with more private transactions and take advantage of the well educated people. There are also significant incentives given by SIEPA (Serbia Investment and Promotion Agency) for green-field projects that should be taken into account when deciding on the way how to enter the Serbian market.
When you do the whole legal structure of the entrance to the Serbian market you can make also a financial package of incentives for yourself if you analyze step by step. There are no limitations for foreigners to have 100% shares in the Serbian companies, except for weapon industry and some special regions which are protected due to country security, but you can also consider having a Serbian partner and have a joint-venture with them to ensure the local know how. It is very important to consult a lawyer for this last possibility - our company law offers a large space for creative solutions related to shareholders’ agreements which should be intensively used.



Q: What are the sectors you consider they are attractive for foreign investors?

A: Serbia is now focused on the automotive supply industry. As you know FIAT is in Kragujevac. Moreover, there are a lot of municipalities around Kragujevac offering very good conditions for automotive supply and other investors. Textile is another interesting sector because Serbia used to be a textile industry region. Serbia wants to have a developed IT sector and there are incentives also in this field. In the end, every new industry and every project is very welcome to come and most of the incentives apply to all sectors.



Q: How do you see the development of TSD in the future now that you will be celebrating your 10th anniversary?

A: Yes, in October we make 10 years. Regarding our future strategy we attach great importance to expanding but also remaining in our well known good shape in order to efficiently look after the best interests of our clients. We intend to remain devoted to developing our long lasting relation with our international clients and for example the issue that comes towards us now is the European Union access. There is a huge amount of new laws and regulations coming towards the lawyers and the business people that do not have the time to go into the details. We have launched 3 types of free of charge support options to our clients: with regular newsletters on each and every change in the laws that are important for them; secondly, we are doing seminars for certain groups of laws that we consider are very important; third, we see that the State will have strong sanctions if the laws are not applied and the deadlines are short, so we are happy to help the companies teach them within workshops how to apply new regulations. We also do workshops and educations for our clients upon request for certain fields. For example, for the HR Managers to introduce them the new labour law coming this year.



Q: Looks more a consultancy firm rather than a law office.

A: We consider we have to look after the success of our clients and sometimes you can not be sure that the clients know when to ask legal questions. Our long lasting relationship with our clients enables us this both way direction in communication with our clients which is of great value for all of us basically and leads our clients to success. You know, we consider that only the success of our clients can be the basis for our success. That’s how we work.



Interview realized by Xabier Garagorri and Julie Bruneau