Business-minded legal support
We advise and represent you in legal matters related to your business and help you navigate the Slovak legal environment. Our advice is business-minded, solution-oriented, and pragmatic.
We are a Slovak business law firm with international expertise
We are a Slovak law firm (registered in the Slovak Bar Association) advising and representing corporate clients and entrepreneurs in legal matters related to their business.
We have extensive experience in
- supporting international companies and law firms in projects and proceedings governed by Slovak law
- advising clients on corporate and commercial legal matters, on employment law, as well as on drafting and negotiating contracts
- representing clients in litigation and arbitration.
As a team of former in-house counsel of an international corporation, our expertise includes cross-border matters and M&A transactions, corporate governance, intellectual property, executive remuneration and collective bargaining, as well as contractual and regulatory matters related to transport and logistics.
We fully understand that our clients want concise, commercial, pragmatic, and solution-orientated legal advice, tailored to the specific requirements of the matter at hand.
Availability, responsiveness, quality, flexibility, and excellence in client service are a matter of course for us.
Foreign language skills
Our language skills involve communication and review of legal documents in English, German and Russian as well as legal document drafting in English and German.
Modern technology
Use of modern technologies such as electronic signature, document automation, document and task management tools save our time and minimize costs of the client.
Experience in international business
Rich experience in international business as well as established cooperation with partner lawyers abroad enables us to handle cross-border cases effectively.
Our clients are such companies as
Pro bono
Latest insights
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Contestability of legal acts in German insolvency proceedings (Insolvenzanfechtung)
Many companies (including Slovak ones) operating on the German market have experienced a shock in recent years when they received a letter from a German insolvency administrator calling on them to return monetary benefits paid to them for the supply of goods or services by their German contractual partner, on whose assets insolvency proceedings were later opened.
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Liability for loss of consignment in "phantom carriage" (case study)
Defense against filed damage claim resulting from loss of consignment | Collection of claims of the carrier / forwarder from arranged transportations
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Possibilities of verifying the financial situation of a Slovak entity from publicly available sources
Loss of liquidity or the insolvency of business partners is one of the most significant business risks ever. At present, this risk is aggravated by the COVID - 19 pandemic, which brings about changes in both the economic and political environment often resulting in debtors inability to pay their debts properly and on time.
What others say
Leonardo Maghetti, Sole Director, S.I.F.RA. EST SPA, Italy
My company had to recover unpaid invoices from a Slovak customer and Berník & Partners, s.r.o. in a very quick and professional manner achieved the goal. Highly recommended.
Thijs Hebben, Advocaat, Belgium
Dear colleague, thank you for the efficient collaboration in which I especially appreciated the timely and motivated correspondence relating to the case.
Dr. iur. Raffael Büchi, Founder and Owner of Owlegal, Switzerland
Bernik & Partners is a small but powerful Slovak law firm. Driven by its ambitious founder and owner Peter Bernik, the firm delivers quality and high service levels. What impresses me most is the firm’s international outlook, its pursuit of continuous improvement, and its ability to listen to feedback and advice.
Chris Clementi, CEO, Associated Energy Group, LLC, Miami (FL), USA
We needed to register our company in the Slovak UBO register within a very tight deadline, and although the job required a fair amount of legal work, especially reviewing a large volume of corporate documents as well as cooperation with a US lawyer, Bernik & Partners were able to make it professionally and on time! Thank you for your good work!
A.P. Buzamet, Senior Lawyer, Bierens Incasso Advocaten
The office of Berník & Partners has proven to be a very reliable partner of Bierens. They have proven their efficiency and decisiveness in our debt collection cases and beyond. Always glad to assist and willing to go the extra mile.
Marian Slivos, CEO, CHEMOSVIT CHEDOS, s.r.o.
Berník & Partners has been our choice for many years. We appreciate most their experience in the specific area of international road transport and forwarding. We entrusted to them legal collection of our receivables from international transport within Europe, where we record high success rate and dynamics of the process. Besides that, they have successfully represented us in several complicated legal disputes triggered by damage events in transport of goods, which posed a risk of great losses to our company.
Jaroslav Mervart, CEO, CHEMOSVIT, a.s.
In the course of many years, we got used to high level of legal support provided by Berník & Partners, especially in the area of commercial and labour law. As CHEMOSVIT Group exports more than 80 % of its products abroad, the ability of the law firm to analyse and review contracts in English, German and Russian as well as to actively communicate in these languages is particularly important for us. We use their advice in other specific areas such as corporate governance or issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. We highly appreciate almost incredible flexibility of service, resulting in instant reactions to our often-unplanned requests. All of the above, together with transparent reporting, completes the image of a modern law firm you can rely on!
Ján Drobný, president, BK ISKRA SVIT
Our basketball club has been cooperating with Berník & Partners for some years. The cooperation works on high level, the law firm has a very professional attitude and approaches our problems promptly and actively. "Guys" like sport, they do the job free of charge! We highly appreciate that this law firm has been our partner on such basis.
David Toparkus, Rechtsanwalt, Bonn, Germany
I have been cooperating with Mr. Peter Berník and his colleagues from Berník & Partners for more than a decade. We have worked on numerous international cases and business transactions, in different roles. Professionality, responsiveness and quick orientation in issues with international reach makes them a reliable partner for international business cases related to Slovak legal environment.
Andrea Benetton
If you have a business in Slovakia and you have to solve a commercial dispute, I would like to suggest you the services of Berník & Partners. I have had first hand experience because of an unfair term in a contract and they have solved the issue in a month and the final terms of the settlement was well below my expectations.