Penkov, Markov & Partners: Building Bulgarian Business Law Around People

The Strategist – 2027 award winner: Best Law Practice Business of the Year 2027 – Bulgaria

Penkov, Markov & Partners (PMP) is widely associated with Bulgaria’s modern business-law era, but the story begins in a more practical place than branding or ambition. The firm’s founders started their careers at the Ministry of Foreign Trade, at a time when foreign trade touched almost every part of the Bulgarian economy. What they carried forward was not only legal knowledge, but the working discipline of negotiations, joint ventures, and day-to-day collaboration with international partners—along with a conviction that, as Bulgaria opened its economy, businesses would need lawyers who understood how business really functions.

From that small team led by Vladimir Penkov, PMP grew over the years into one of the largest and most prominent law firms in Bulgaria. In 2027, that long arc of growth and professional consistency is recognised with The Strategist – 2027 award for Best Law Practice Business of the Year 2027 – Bulgaria.

A firm built for an economy in motion

PMP was founded in 1990—at a moment when Bulgaria’s market economy was developing faster than the legal framework supporting it. Many of the rules that businesses rely on today were still emerging, and legal work often required building solutions without the benefit of settled practice. In that environment, PMP’s role was never limited to “applying the law” in a narrow sense. Over time, the firm contributed to the development of legislation that remains part of Bulgaria’s business framework, including the Commercial Register Act, the Concessions Act, tax legislation, and the regulatory framework for renewable energy.

That perspective—understanding not only what the rules are, but where they came from and how they work in practice—continues to shape how the firm advises clients today. It is a mindset grounded in the realities of investment decisions, operational pressures, and cross-border expectations, rather than legal formalism.

“Good law is built by people, not paperwork”

PMP’s Chairman and Senior Partner, Vladimir Penkov, expresses the firm’s defining belief simply: good law is built by people, not paperwork. Across more than 35 years, Bulgaria has rewritten almost its entire legal and economic framework. PMP’s lawyers have been part of that evolution—in courtrooms, in transactions, and in the broader work of helping businesses and institutions interpret and apply changing rules.

The firm’s emphasis is not on speed for its own sake, but on getting things right. In practice, that means critical thinking, clear responsibility for advice given, and an understanding that each legal decision can set real-world consequences in motion.

Advice the firm puts into practice

• For businesses: involve your lawyer early—while there is still time to shape outcomes, not only when a dispute or crisis is underway.
• For young lawyers: remain curious, keep learning, and use new tools, including AI, thoughtfully—without allowing technology to replace independent judgment.
• For everyone in the profession: remember that legal advice carries responsibility beyond the “right answer” on paper.

For Penkov, the profession’s essence remains unchanged: law is, in his words, “the art of the good and the fair”—and worth practising that way.

From landmark deals to precedent-setting disputes

PMP’s experience spans the early years of market transformation through to today’s complex, regulated environment. Among the moments Penkov returns to often is one of the firm’s first deals: a joint venture that brought Coca-Cola Bottling Company to Bulgaria through the cooperative system, completed before the country had a Commercial Act and amid debate over whether a cooperative union could legally sign such an agreement.

In the years that followed, PMP advised on some of Bulgaria’s best-known privatisations and investment milestones. These include work connected with:

• Zagorka for Heineken
• Gipsfaser in Vidin for Knauf
• Bulgarian Telecommunication Company
• Bulgarian Maritime Fleet
• Zlatna Panega Cement (part of Titan Cement Group), where PMP advises the Privatisation Agency

In dispute work, the firm defended state interests in the Vrana case, named Case of the Year in 2015. PMP also won a precedent for Enertrag on connecting the largest wind farm in Bulgaria to the grid, and took a case for TOTO Costruzioni to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Yet in Penkov’s view, the most meaningful “result” is not a press headline or a one-off win: it is continuity. As he notes, clients from those early privatisations are still present, still investing in Bulgaria decades later. In an industry often judged by individual matters, that long-term trust is its own benchmark.

A one-stop shop where business meets the law

PMP’s services have expanded from an initial corporate and commercial foundation into what the firm describes as a sophisticated, innovative one-stop shop for the future—covering the areas where legal risk and business opportunity most often meet. Today the firm advises across corporate and commercial, tax, real estate, employment, banking and finance, energy, competition, and IT and media.

In response to new compliance expectations and operational realities, PMP has also added focus areas that modern companies increasingly treat as board-level priorities, including anti-money laundering, personal data protection, and cybersecurity.

Energy remains a close focus. PMP worked with renewable energy investors from the very start of their endeavours in Bulgaria, and continues advising the sector as it reaches another turning point. The firm’s depth here reflects both regulatory knowledge and a practical understanding of how investors, lenders, developers, and regulators interact.

Culture as strategy: growing lawyers from within

Perhaps the most revealing measure of PMP’s identity is the pattern that repeats each year: a new group of students arrives as interns; many stay; over time, some come to lead teams of their own. PMP says it has never relied on large recruitment campaigns. Instead, strong lawyers have consistently found their way to the firm, and many partners began there as students.

The firm also fosters breadth of thinking. Lawyers are encouraged to build expertise beyond a single practice area, reflecting a basic truth of commercial life: business problems rarely arrive neatly divided into legal categories. PMP supports that approach through internal working groups that meet regularly to examine new legislation, exchange knowledge, and test implications from different angles.

This is where values become operational: collaboration, intellectual curiosity, continuous improvement, and individual responsibility for client outcomes. As Penkov puts it, “PMP’s most valuable capital is its people.”

Leadership recognised at the highest levels

Penkov’s professional contributions have been recognised through multiple honours over the years. He has been awarded Lawyer of the Year twice, featured in Best Lawyers Bulgaria, recognised in Barons “Who’s Who of the World” Global Edition and Barons 500 – Leaders for the New Century, and listed by Chambers as a Senior Statesperson in the Energy and Corporate & Commercial categories every year since 2020. He is also the recipient of the BCCI “Hermes” Award for contribution to enhancing transparency and advancing Bulgarian commercial law, and has received the “Grand Prix” for overall contribution to the legal profession in Bulgaria.

Legal insight as a client service: PMP Legal News

In addition to advisory work, PMP publishes its own newspaper, Legal News, in Bulgarian, English and German, aimed at keeping clients up to date on legal developments and modern practices such as AI. The firm has also released special editions emphasising AI’s impact, the introduction of new technologies, and their influence on society.

Why this award matters in 2027

A law firm can be evaluated by deal lists, court victories, or size. PMP’s 2027 recognition speaks to something broader: a sustained ability to serve business through transformation—by investing in talent, contributing to the legal framework that supports commerce, and operating with a steady sense of professional responsibility.

If this feature is about anything, Penkov says, it is about how one person’s path turned into a shared one—“as we do it at PMP.”

Contact details

Penkov, Markov & Partners

Headquartered in Sofia, with offices in Varna, Burgas, Stara Zagora, Pleven and Ruse.