About us

I come from a family where law and sports have been passing on from generation to generation. Legal discussions within the environment that shaped me while growing up, in my opinion, significantly sharpened my sense of law, way of thinking, argumentation and negotiation skills, and finally, methods for developing strategies for alternative legal solutions outside the framework.

My family set an example of diligence. Thus, I followed their advice that I should – if I wanted to be a good lawyer – get practical experience as soon as possible. During my studies, I began practicing law in our family law firm Cerar Hafner in Ljubljana. Due to my proficient knowledge of English, I was able to practice law in international offices. Afterward, I became an in-house lawyer for a successful Slovenian bank, in lieu of my desire for in-depth knowledge for commercial law and the field of banking and finance. Currently, I am continuing our family tradition within the scope of my own law firm, whereby I am still collaborating in business with the Cerar family.

Since I believe that one’s character and principles are also determined by activities that are not fundamentally of business-related nature, I am proud to emphasize that I have been actively involved in sports since as long as I can remember, and I have gained so much from it. Foremost I trained and competed in kickboxing, where I was a multiple national champion and a member of the Slovenian national team. Nowadays, I try to implement the knowledge and skills I acquired through sports also in business, and because of my love for sports law (and the fields that consist of it (e.g. labour law)), specialisation in this field is a special feature of the law firm Cerar Žugelj. I obtained considerable experience in the field of sports law due to my involvement in sports (from legal consultations to assistance in finding sponsors or club financing, as well as resolving complex contractual relationships and disputes among players and agents).

I graduated from the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana in 1992. I was inspired to get into the field of law by my family: my father Miroslav Cerar – an experienced lawyer, my mother Zdenka Cerar - a Prosecutor General and Minister of Justice. Their success and mentality had a great influence on me. In a family environment and through in-depth discussions, I had obtained rich experience in various legal fields. Post-graduation in 1992, I started my legal internship under guidance attorney Miroslav Cerar. I proceeded my practice with a judicial-prosecutorial traineeship at the Higher Prosecutor's Office in Ljubljana until 1994, when I successfully passed the bar exam and hence became a lawyer candidate. In 1997, I was admitted as an attorney-at-law at the Bar Association of Slovenia. I had a joint legal practice with Miroslav Cerar until 2005, when he retired, where I thereafter succeeded his office in joined venture with attorney-at-law Ladislav Hafner, who is also a bankruptcy administrator. As equal shareholders we established a law firm Cerar-Hafner ltd., based in the center of the city Ljubljana, where we have represented clients and practiced law ever since.

In 2011, I was elected as a deputy member of the Disciplinary Court of the Slovenian Bar Association and in 2015, I was appointed as a member of the respective court.

I graduated from the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana in 1982.  Thereafter, I worked as a judicial trainee at the District Court in Kranj until 1984. After successfully passing the bar exam, I was appointed as a judge for misdemeanors in Škofja Loka, where I succeeded practice from 1984 to 1987 as the Head of the department. Then I received an offer from a successful Slovenian insurance company, i.e. Zavarovalnica Triglav d.d., where I was employed from 1987 to 1989 and practicing mostly tort law, resolving claims for compensation of damages. In 1989 I established my own law office in Medvode, which I then relocated to Škofja Loka and later on to Reteče. Since 2005, I have a joint law firm Cerar-Hafner ltd. based in the center of Ljubljana with attorney-at-law Alenka Cerar, where we have represented clients and practiced law ever since.

Since the year 2000 I am also a bankruptcy administrator and I have been governing insolvency proceedings until today.

From September 2002 to January 2005, I was the President of the Regional Chamber of Lawyers of the Gorenjska region and a member of the Management Board of the Bar Association of Slovenia.

Born in Ljubljana in 1939, Mr. Cerar graduated from the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana in 1964 and kept his private office as an attorney from 1973 to his retirement in 2005. In 2023 he was awarded an honorable plaque of Dr. Danilo Majaron Plaque from Slovenian Bar Association for his life's work as an attorney at law.

Since 1992 he has been active as sports official, first as an individual founder of the Slovenian Olympic Committee – Association of Sports Federations and been its Executive Committee member ever since; he was also the founder and the president of the Slovenian Olympic Academy and became the first and only President of the Club of the Slovenian Olympians.

He was double Olympic champion on pommel horse in 1964 and 1968 and won bronze medals on horizontal bar (Tokyo and Mexico); he won two medals – gold on pommel horse and bronze on parallel bars at Pre-Olympic Games in 1963 and 1967 (Tokyo and Mexico) and has won in total 6 medals at the World Championships, 21 medals at the European Championships and 15 medals at the Mediterranean Games.

He was awarded the “Olympic Order (L´Ordre Olympique)”, the highest award of The International Olympic Committee and the highest state awards of former Yugoslavia and the Republic of Slovenia. From 1995 to today he has been appointed by the Slovenian Government as the National Ambassador of Sport, Tolerance and Fair Play, and in 1994 he was one of the founders of the EFPM (European Fair Play Movement) and remained a member till now.

In 2013 he took over the position of EFPM Vice – President. Since 2008 Mr. Cerar has also been a member of the International Committee for Fair Play (CIFP) Council.

Today his name is Foundation of Miroslav Cerar for support of athletes from socially deprived  environment, Ameriška ulica 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia (EU), ID number 4076826000 (https://fundacija.olympic.si/o-fundaciji)

More:

- https://olympics.com/en/athletes/miroslav-cerar

- https://www.ighof.com/inductees/1999_Miroslav_Cerar.php