Zsolt Okányi

Zsolt graduated summa cum laude from Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Law (Budapest) and earned his Master from Yale Law School (New Haven, CT). Zsolt also studied in Rome, Italy and Göttingen, Germany. Zsolt joined the firm in 2002, where he concentrates on litigation as well as domestic and international arbitration proceedings. The disputes Zsolt worked on encompassed primarily banking, construction, energy, pharmaceutical, media, IP and commercial controversies but Zsolt also obtained valuable experience in employment and tax matters. In addition, Zsolt gained relevant practice in bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings acting as creditors’ representative in several high-profile cases of the last years’ history in Hungary. Zsolt is a skilled and learned negotiator and is familiar with several alternative dispute resolution techniques, such as mediation.

Besides his position at CMS Cameron McKenna, Zsolt lectures on contract law at the Civil Law Department of Eötvös Loránd University’s Law School, and is the author of the book “International Arbitration in Hungary – in Domestic and International Matters” as well as that of a number of articles on matters of contracts, torts, civil procedure, liquidation and intellectual property. Zsolt is a country rapporteur for Hungary at the ICC Task Force on National Rules for Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Awards pursuant to the New York Convention of 1958. Zsolt is a native Hungarian and fluent in English, German and Italian.

Zsolt's areas of expertise: alternative dispute resolution, banking litigation, commercial litigation, construction & infrastructure disputes, defamation, energy disputes, fraud, bribery & corruption, insurance & reinsurance disputes, international arbitration, real estate and technology disputes.

Relevant experience includes:

• BMW – Representing the German carmaker in a dispute against a major supplier.
• Scania AB – Representing the Swedish truck manufacturer in labour litigation in connection with the termination of a former director.
• Siemens – Representing Siemens AG (Germany), Siemens s.a.s. (France) and Siemens Zrt (Hungary) in a high-profile international arbitration against a regional public transportation company (FIDIC-based construction dispute)
• E.On Hungary – Advising the client about class action proceedings in Hungary.
• FGUP ‘Goszagranszobsztvennost’ - Representing the Russian state entity being in charge of handling the foreign properties of the Russian Federation in several controversies both in arbitration and before national courts regarding real estates located in Budapest