Novak Law (NLaw) was established in 2016 in Ljubljana by Nejc Novak. Beginning in Slovenia, the firm has expanded into Croatia, establishing an office there. The team consists of six lawyers, two partners and four attorneys and associates.
Focusses / specialisms
The firm is well known for its corporate and commercial work particularly in venture capital funds and technology industries. It mainly advises on M&A transactions, acting for both buyers and sellers.
Many of the firm’s clients are venture capital funds, angel investors, startups and founders.
Key clients
Key clients for the firm include ACH Invest, Pullus Wines, Gamanza Group Ltd, Magnus Lindberg, Contrade, Ernst & Young Svetovanje, Modra Jagoda (mediately), Fil Rouge Capital, Fishing Points, Iconomi, Palo Alto and Silicon Gardens Fund.
Research period review: 33rd edition
(2023/2024)
During this research period, the firm is particularly active in investment funds, including fund raising and structuring, and M&A transactions. A larger amount of the firm’s M&A work includes financial investments by venture capital funds.
The firm also advised clients in other industries such as technology, investment management and real estate.
Deal highlights: 33rd edition
(2023/2024)
Iskraemeco €50 million acquisition of 70% shares in GL charge
Client Feedback:
33rd edition (2023/2024)
Banking
“We work internationally, namely in the last years we worked in Slovenia, Croatia, Italy, Australia. Nlaw can cover all this, either themselves, or with their partners.”
“We have been working with the firm in relation to various matters in different legal fields and we can always be certain that they will provide advice we can rely on.”
Financial services regulatory
“Speed, effectiveness and professionalism in communication.”
“As a blockchain based company we require unique expertise to navigate unclear regulatory water.”
Investment funds
“Professional, friendly, understanding, fast, effective, knowledgeable, actionable advice.”
“In the past years, we have developed a partner-level relationship, based on knowledge, experience, responsiveness and trust. Novak Law is the leading legal firm in the regional VC ecosystem.”
“They are one of rare Slovenian law firms with the capacity and experience to execute complex cross border deals. They have collected some unique experience in this field, and it is great to work with them.”
“Novak Law provided excellent legal guidance regarding the process in question.”
M&A
“Full-service Law office.”
“They advise on the best structure and listen to us (the client) in what we want from the deal. They are on time and always engaged.”
“Nlaw is really good and helps agree or negotiate the terms. In our case, it wasn't really a negotiation, but it was a challenge for founders and key employees to figure out the right balance of shares in the capital and distribution of rights and powers. Nlaw mastered it by analysing our relationship and proposing a balanced solution.”
“Very professional and responsive with extensive knowledge and experience. Additionally, always looking for alternative solutions and having substantial business acumen.”
Private equity
“They are very knowledgeable, reliable and try to help us in any aspect.”
Project development
“Market insight, broad knowledge.”
Project finance
“The most positive attribute is that they solved all the challenges so far. I would say that they are very clear on what are the goals and how to reach them.”
Restructuring
“Straight forward communication. Knowledgeable staff which leads to results quickly.”
“Very responsive, fast thinking, solution oriented, professional, knowledgeable, see the big picture and take into consideration impacting factors which are not always necessarily linked to pure legal steps.”
Ambroz Arko
“Knowledgeable, reliable.”
“Responsive, knowledgeable, creative, problem solver, is able to provide meaningful and tailor-made solutions to verity of client profiles, very easy to work with.”
“Ambroz is very diligent and structured. He covered the majority of the work that was done with us. He is super flexible at finding ways to make it work and is able to offer multiple possible options to go with. He is also very easy to understand, and he explains legal language in commercial terms.”
“Very deep knowledge and understanding of corporate and M&A matters. Fast thinker and very versatile.”
Urška Cujnik
“Speed, excellence of deliverables and professional communication.”
“Urška is efficient, knowledgeable, and pragmatic. She is our go-to person for anything Management Rules & legislation related. Great attitude and seamless collaboration.”
“Urška covers compliance and finance. She took over some cases from Nejc related to meeting compliance requirements, mostly AML. We sometimes transfer large amounts of money back and forth, as part of the transactions or refinancings, and naturally banks ask for clarification. Urska services the banks to provide all necessary data and correctly fill in the forms. Also, in cases of lending, she typically structures the facility agreements. Very good work from here!”
“Knowledgeable, responsive, creative, solution orientated, easy to work with.”
“Urska is a partner at Nlaw and covers financial contracts, real estate and generally project finance. She is super on top of things. Gets things done, understand the problems, including peculiarities of real estate development. She is very knowledgeable and has a structured approach. Great lawyer to work with!”
Nejc Novak
“Attention to detail, sharp mind, focused on finding solutions.”
“Friendly, extremely knowledgeable, hands-on approach, effective, best value for money.”
“Nejc has very deep expertise in all things related to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, besides the regular law expertise. Moreover, communication is great, and we always find a good solution. Without Nejc, it would be impossible to achieve goals we reached in the past.”
“Competent and cool lawyer.”
“He is very good in communicating with the client.”
“Nejc has unmatched knowledge of/insight into venture capital investing, which helps him stay pragmatic and oriented in problem-solving with his legal solutions and advice.”
“Nejc is the founder and absolute leader of the team. Ambroz Arko is now stepping in a lot and seems to be covering the majority of Slovenia corporate work. Nejc is very experienced and a good strategist. He understands very well how to identify challenges and in what order to deal with them.”
“Nejc is the founder and we have been working on numerous projects for a very long time. Nejc is very well connected. Even when I ask him for non-legal advice, he has a good recommendation of what to do or who can help. He is also very stubborn in a good way. He keeps hustling until it’s done.”
“Nejc does most of the work for us. He is very confident in negotiating and running the deals. We typically only agree on the main or core commercial terms of the investment and leave almost everything else to him. Probably we do not even know of many problems he solves on the fly. He is also comfortable orchestrating transactions in different jurisdictions, and we are assured all will be in order.”
“Nejc is an exceptional lawyer with immense knowledge and strong analytical skills. His advice is always clear and well structured, plus he always looks at things from all angles and is great at predicting any potential issues and coming up with a plan on how to avoid or tackle them. At the same time, he has a very pleasant personality, and a calm and kind approach.”
“Very intelligent and going beyond legal framework by considering overall business and financial implications.”
“Nejc is the founder, and he gets involved in our project when and if things get complicated. He does not work on the case, but he joins meetings to discuss it. He is very good at planning and coming up with a strategy for how to address problems. He takes into account a wider picture of the story. Super experienced. Knows how to relax us when we are concerned.”
“Nejc Novak is the lead partner of the firm who handled our case. His attitude and approach was very professional, forthcoming and transparent. Nejc Novak demonstrates and exceptional understanding of the legal field in question (Directive 2011/61/EU).”
“He has very good international connection, innovative, correct.”
Nejc Setnikar
“Attention to details.”
“Setnikar got involved in one of our cases, which got complicated. One of our financiers withdrew their funding for no good reason (their liquidity problems), and one rejected us in their tender for wrong reasons. Setnikar has experience in dispute resolution and he was the right guy for both cases. He had a strategy of taking both cases to court, and then settling when a good deal was put forward. And it worked as he planned!”
