The French President, François Hollande, signed the decree for the nomination as Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of Ms. Dana GRUIA DUFAUT, attorney of law at the Paris Bar and the Bucharest Bar, being in the early ‘90s one of the pioneers in the business law in Romania.
The decree signed by French President on March 25 was published in the Official Journal of the French Republic on Sunday, March 27, as part of the Easter Civil Promotion.
Ms. Dana GRUIA DUFAUT is one of the remarkable feminine personalities of Romania business law. Born in Romania but raised in France, Dana GRUIA DUFAUT returned to Romania in the beginning of the ‘90s. At that time, as a member of the Paris Bar Association, she took part to numerous legal projects. In 2002, she became a member of the Bucharest Bar Association and founded the “GRUIA DUFAUT” Law Office.
In collaboration with E&Y, starting from the ‘90s, she provided legal advice in PHARE privatization programs, she performed legal audits and strategic development studies for large Romanian companies proposed for privatization. Subsequently, as legal counsel of the French Embassy in Bucharest, French Foreign Trade Advisor or managing partner of the GRUIA DUFAUT Law Office that she created in Bucharest, Ms. GRUIA DUFAUT assisted some of the largest French companies enter the local market and offering them legal advice during their day-to-day operations. In parallel with her legal activity, Ms. Dana GRUIA DUFAUT was actively involved in all aspects regarding the development of French-Romanian relations. Starting 2010 she is also member of the Board of Directors of the French Chamber of Commerce in Romania (CCIFER).
Appointed in 2006 as Knight of the National Order of Merit by the French State, Ms. Dana GRUIA DUFAUT was elected, in 2014, by the French community in Romania, by universal suffrage, for a 6-year mandate, as French consular advisor for Romania and Moldova.
The Legion of Honor is the highest French order for military and civil merits, created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte. This distinction has been awarded uninterruptedly since 1804.
Bucharest, April 1, 2016
