Moscow team hire: Goltsblat BLP take on real estate trio from Akin Gump

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Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) has bolstered its global real estate capability with the hire of a rated three partner team from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld’s Moscow office.

The team, which is set to join Goltsblat BLP in mid-January 2014, includes the current head of Akin Gump’s real estate practice in Russia, Vladislav Sourkov, who will be joined by his colleagues Rustam Aliev and Dmitry Maltsev. Sourkov is described by The Legal 500 as ‘dedicated, experienced, and very driven on client service’. Continue reading “Moscow team hire: Goltsblat BLP take on real estate trio from Akin Gump”

A question of confidence – Russians strive to keep high stakes disputes at home

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Given that domestic litigators in Russia and the CIS regularly see their clients’ largest commercial disputes go abroad, usually to be resolved under English law, they treat the outflow of work with unexpectedly good grace. This is mostly based on the realisation that this exodus of high-value litigation not only reflects what clients want, but also what they need. But what’s best for clients isn’t always best for advisers’ bottom lines.

‘The tendency for cases to go to the UK High Court will remain for the next two or three years,’ says Markian Malskyy, head of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) at Ukrainian law firm Arzinger. ‘Normally the bigger Ukrainian law firms would try to exclude the domestic courts from any potential disputes. One party will usually hope that the UK courts will accept jurisdiction. This looks like a good platform for objective justice – still hard to find in the CIS.’ Continue reading “A question of confidence – Russians strive to keep high stakes disputes at home”

After the gold rush – has the age of the oligarch dispute passed?

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Boris Berezovsky v Roman Abramovich; Michael Cherney v Oleg Deripaska – these were the two headlining title bouts that for a brief and glorious moment took the often prosaic world of shareholder disputes out of the business sections and on to the front page of almost every national newspaper.

They involved a cast of colourful litigants with a seemingly bottomless pit of money and grudges, whose lawyers, particularly the barristers, were turned into media stars, if only for a while. The costs were huge and the outcomes of both cases well documented. Continue reading “After the gold rush – has the age of the oligarch dispute passed?”

Russia: pipelines east

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The Russian legal market can be an unpredictable beast. A history of interfering politicians, corruption and debt crises, both internal and external, have meant that since the collapse of the Soviet Union, law firms in Moscow have struggled to maintain a steady grasp on just what might be around the corner. Despite all the variables, however, there is one constant, and that is the energy and natural resources sector, which dominates Russia’s foreign exports – in 2011 oil and gas revenues accounted for 10.4% of Russia’s GDP (up from 7.6% in 2009). Provided that commodity prices don’t drop for a sustained period of time – particularly crude oil, which has been strong since going above $50 a barrel in 2005 – a decent volume of work can be assured.

This was underlined in 2010, when the Russian state-owned oil producer Rosneft launched projects in the Kara and Barents Seas after obtaining licences to explore four blocks in Russia’s Arctic shelf. Three major joint ventures with the Western energy companies Exxon Mobil, Statoil and Eni were subsequently signed in 2011 and 2012. Continue reading “Russia: pipelines east”

Russia: Shades of grey

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Russian business and politics can rarely be described as boring. Each year throws up its share of dramas, and 2011 is no exception to the rule.

From prime minister Vladimir Putin’s recent, and not entirely unexpected, self-anointment as Russia’s next president, through to Rosneft’s doomed oil exploration joint venture with UK oil major BP and its subsequent rebound into ExxonMobil’s welcoming arms. These events, and more, have shown that Russia hasn’t lost its flare for political and economic intrigue and infighting. Nevertheless, compared to the problems faced by some of its neighbours in the CIS and Western Europe, Russia has come through the year with a veneer of respectability and stability. Any knocks it has taken have come from external sources. Continue reading “Russia: Shades of grey”

Russia: Space Invaders

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Global law firms have traditionally dominated the corporate market in Russia and the CIS. LB assesses the chances of those domestic firms taking on the internationals at their own game.

Dimitry Afanasiev, chairman of the Russian law firm Egorov, Puginsky, Afanasiev & Partners (EPA&P), is fully aware of the challenges that lie ahead. On 19 July, EPA&P announced that it was to take over the Ukrainian firm Magisters, creating a pan-CIS firm with over 300 lawyers and, as reported in the legal press, a combined turnover of €115m. In doing so, the firm has planted a serious flag in a market that has always been dominated by major internationals. Continue reading “Russia: Space Invaders”

Litigators of Russia – unite!

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The Russian commercial justice system has suffered from image problems in the past, but recent court reforms and a boom in litigation look set to challenge this. LB investigates the impact on the domestic litigation market

In 2005, when Anton Ivanov was appointed chairman of Russia’s Supreme Court of Arbitration, the country’s highest commercial court, the domestic judicial system was blighted by accusations of political interference and corruption. It is fair to say that, for those seeking greater judicial independence within Russia and a broom to sweep away the court system’s perceived problems, Ivanov’s appointment wasn’t immediately seen as a great herald for change. For anyone hoping for an outsider, his arrival was an immense disappointment. Continue reading “Litigators of Russia – unite!”

Over a barrel

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A recent victory in The Hague has green-lit a record-breaking $100bn claim by Yukos’ majority shareholders against the Russian Federation. Legal Business investigates an arbitration that could change the face of international investment forever

On 31 May 2005, Mikhail Khodorkovsky shuffled into the spartan confines of Moscow’s Meshchansky courtroom for the last time, his hands and feet bound in shackles. Alongside co-defendant Platon Lebedev, he was placed inside a steel cage, flanked either side by armed militsiya guards. He was not facing trial for murder or some other violent crime, but for alleged fraud and tax evasion as part of a wider case against Russian oil giant Yukos, of which he was CEO.

Continue reading “Over a barrel”