Legal 500 has today published its latest ranking and announces that LEX law offices has been ranked as a top tier firm. In its review it is stated that:

“LEX is one of Iceland´s leading law firms, providing clients with a comprehensive, range of services on a wide spectrum of financial, corporate and commercial issues, as well as other aspects of the law.

It is the firm´s policy to meet the legal requirements of its clients in the context of ever-changing local and international markets.

Over the past decades, LEX has successfully acted on behalf of a large number of internationally respected corporations, organisations and private individuals both in Iceland and abroad.

Among LEX´s clients are major local and international banks, financial institutions, merchants and ship owners, along with a large number of municipalities, government organisations, insurance companies, manufacturers, businesses, media outlets, utilities and private individuals.”

LEX’s Breakfast seminar on current issues in Public Procurement and Tendering Law took place today. The agenda of the meeting was the following:

Duty to request tenders. Ásgerður Ragnarsdóttir, Attorney at Law, discussed the principles and current issues.

Qualification of bidders in public procurement. Arnar Thor Stefansson, Supreme Court Attorney, explained the effects of Directive 2014/24/EU on current rules in the field.

Rules and issues concerning the selection of tenders. Ásgerður Ragnarsdóttir, Attorney at Law, reviewed the possibility of correcting tenders and the use of experience as an award criterion with reference to recent case law.

Tenderer’s entitlement to damages. Arnar Thor Stefansson, Supreme Court Attorney, discussed the right to compensation for participants in public tenders in the light of recent Icelandic case law.

The meeting was attended by various representatives of the major municipalities in the south western region of Iceland, as well as representatives of several public bodies.

Chambers Global has today published its annual ranking. LEX is ranked as a band 1 firm for yet another year, cementing its place as one of Iceland’s leading law firms.

In its review several of LEX’s attorneys are reccommended such as Garðar Gíslason, Attorney at Law, Ólafur Haraldsson, Supreme Court Attorney and Aðalsteinn, Jónasson Supreme Court Attorney.

Practice head Ólafur Haraldsson earns praise for his strong negotiation skills: “I was very happy with his approach to negotiations. He’s calm and prepares his argument really well – the argument did the work for him,” states a client.

Garðar Gíslason attracts praise for his tax expertise and business knowledge: “He’s got deep, detailed knowledge of tax issues. He’s effective and knows a lot about our business and all the issues that we face,” say clients.

Interviewees describe Aðalsteinn Jónasson as “the most knowledgeable banking and regulatory lawyer – my first choice. When you show up with him by your side you know that others will listen.”

In its fifth publication World Trademark Review (WTR) has ranked the IP practice of LEX Law Offices in its “Gold Band”. The review is as follows:

“Full-service Lex “is truly one of the best law offices in Iceland. It is very dedicated to clients’ needs and provides a personal and proactive service”. “I give my highest recommendation to Lex; they have a glittering reputation backed up by a track record of success and achieving real results for their clients. Their greatest strength lies in the team’s breadth and depth of expertise,” enthused another happy client. Trademark head Erla Árnadóttir “knows everything about litigation, with significant experience before the Supreme Court. She has a rare talent to be open to all angles of a case, giving constructive feedback to ill-defined ideas without limiting the discussion with premature judgement. Without doubt, this gift has helped to solve complex situations at an early stage, giving the best value for time a client can hope for”. Colleague Hulda Árnadóttir, valued for her “excellent performance in and out of court. She has a superb practice and is thorough and attentive to the case and her clients. She develops exceptionally clever strategies and has an in-depth understanding of trademark law”.

IFLR 1000 has today ranked LEX law offices as a tier 1 law firm in today’s publication. LEX is therefore ranked as a top tier firm by all major rating agencies.

In its review IFLR 100 states: “Feedback from clients with experience working with a number of the top firms suggests that the firm’s work is on a par with the best in the market and as a result it moves to Tier 1 this year. “The service from Lex has been very helpful. Their legal team has great knowledge and experience from the field they focus on,” says one client. “I was very pleased,” says another, “Lex provides professional yet quick service and have a knowledgeable team.”

Karl Axelsson has temporary been appointed a judge to the Supreme Court of Iceland. Mr. Axelsson’s appointment is from October 16 2014, untill June 15 2015 at which time he will resume his duties at LEX law offices. Karl Axelsson has for several years been one of the country’s most renowned and coveted attorneys. He has extensive experience in litigation and has argued a great number of cases before the Supreme Court since 1997, including several major landmark cases. Karl’s areas of expertise lie primarily in the fields of property law, real estate law and natural resources law but he has since 1992 been a lecturer in property law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Iceland, where he currently serves as Associate Professor.

The Research Center on Corporate Governance at the University of Iceland has decided that Landsbréf hf. will receive a recognition as an exemplary in good corporate governance. The decision comes following a thorough review of Landsbréf’s corporate governance done by LEX law offices. The conclusion of the review is that the corporate governance of Landsbréf is in many respects exemplary to other companies.

The Evaluation is supervised by the Chamber of Commerce, SA-Confederation of Icelandic Employers, Nasdaq OMX Iceland hf. and the Research Center on Corporate Governance at the University of Iceland who have teamed up to promote and enforce corporate governance of Icelandic companies. For this purpose, companies are provided the opportunity to undertake a formal assessment of the conduct of the Board and management. The Research Center on Corporate Governance undertakes this assessment. The collection of data is carried out with consultants or other entities The Research Center on Corporate Governance deems qualified for the task. The Research Center on Corporate Governance bases its assessment mainly on whether the data indicates that the company follows the guidelines on Corporate Governance issued be the Chamber of Commerce, SA-Confederation of Icelandic Employers and NASDAQ OMX Iceland hf. The companies that pass the evaluation of the above criteria are provided the title “Model Company” in corporate governance.

LEX law offices congratulates Landsbréf with this recognition.

Ever since the global banking crisis, which hurt Iceland in a spectacular fashion, things have slowly but surely been picking up. Iceland has become an interesting place for investors for several reasons, such as vast amounts of green energy, high availability of businesses coming to the market as a result of restructuring and a favourable exchange rate to name a few.

Iceland is a member of the EEA and as such adheres to the legal framework of the EU. In general the investment environment is therefore similar to most European countries. The country has developed through the centuries relying heavily on foreign trade and doing business with foreigners has been a part and parcel of every day’s life of the normal Icelander for decades. The tax system is considered to be friendly towards investors and Iceland enjoys one of the lowest corporate tax rates within the OECD. The reformed banking system is modern and one of the positive consequences of the crisis is that the legal system is more sophisticated post the crisis as abundance of experience has been gathered as a result of the endless legal battles that inevitably are associated with a banking crisis of the magnitude that Iceland faced.

The labour law has the necessary elasticity to allow businesses to grow which appears in the relatively low unemployment ratio. In general Icelanders are well educated and historically education has been sought on both sides of the Atlantic giving Iceland a truly international flavour.

One of the consequences of the crash of the Icelandic economy was currency restrictions that were implemented. A lot of foreign debt was accelerated immediately following the crash and the foreign exchange reserves were nowhere large enough to be able to deal with it. These currency restrictions both have pros and cons. It is difficult for investors to convert change whatever assets they may have in ISK into foreign currency but on the other hand investors that wish to invest foreign currency into Iceland can with certain conditions obtain get a more favourable exchange rate than the official exchange rate suggests and can convert the proceeds of their investment with certain conditions back into foreign currency.

Investing in Icelandic real estate has been popular by foreign investors in Iceland in recent years. For parties that reside within the EU/EEA area the process is very much simple and straight forward but for residents outside of that area it is somewhat more complicated.

The lawyers at LEX have decades of experience assisting foreign investors in Iceland, and the tasks range from assisting global corporates that wish to build large energy intensive smelters to individuals who wish to acquire a second home.

Many of LEX’s customers are aware of the importance of ensuring that their brands and other identification are well protected and guarded. LEX performs registration of trademarks for many customers, both domestically and abroad, and provides a full range of services relating to their trademark collections.

Among the services LEX offers associated with this is a special worldwide trademark watch by which LEX monitors trademark registrations worldwide. The monitoring means that every time an application for a registration of a trademark, in any country or area, that could cause a risk of infringement of the monitored brand is submitted, LEX provides information about the application as well as information about the opposition possibilities, and other things that are needed to respond to those applications. LEX receives such information on behalf of their clients and helps them to identify the need to respond. In cases where actions are required, LEX provides customers with assistance and advice on the implementation.

More and more customers of LEX are beginning to take advantage of this service and we encourage interested parties to seek further information from us about these issues. This is particularly important for parties that are marketing and selling their products and services abroad, or to foreign entities. Ideally, these issues may be directed to Hulda Árnadóttir Attorney at Law (hulda@lex.is) or email iplaw@lex.is.