The Lawyer European Awards winner this year for the Russia, Ukraine and CIS category was Ukrainian-headquartered Integrites. The firm took home the top accolade for a targeted, international strategy which appears to be paying off with impressive growth and clients.
The firm, which grew turnover by 35 per cent last year to €31.8m, has a network of offices across the region and launched in Kazakhstan last year. Additionally it brought in several new lateral hires in a number of offices, including Moscow and Kiev, and launched representative bases in Amsterdam and Munich.
Integrites also developed a new asset tracing practice last year to assist clients in debt recovery overseas. Key clients for the firm include Lloyds; Morgan Stanley; Rockwool; Samsung Electronics; and Shell.
“Integrite’s diverse mix of fee-earning and pro bono work was noteworthy, as was its drive and ambition”
While developing its own network of offices, Integrites also offers a unique internships programme for European students. Judges said the firm’s diverse mix of fee-earning and pro bono work was noteworthy and also praised Integrites’ drive and ambition.
Aequo
The Ukrainian one-office firm may have had a total fee-earning capacity of 27 last year, but its results show that it is growing exponentially. Having launched in 2014, the firm has managed to achieve a 100 per cent year on year growth reaching $4.2m in 2015.
The firm, which broke off from Vasil Kisil two years ago, has attracted new clients such as the European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, George Soros’ Ukrainian Redevelopment Fund, private equity firm NCH Capital, Sberbank of Russia, Porsche Bank AG, Portigon Financial Services, UK-based AXA Travel Insurance Group, TIS Group (the largest private port in Ukraine), European private equity group IK Investments Partners, private equity firm Apax Funds, Fairfax Financial (a Canadian financial services company), and British American Tobacco (Ukraine), among others. In order to achieve this growth Aequo bolstered its headcount in 2015 by 49 per cent. Hires included Vasil Kisil partner Denys Kulgavyi and, in 2014, the entire banking and practice group. In July 2015, Astapov Lawyers’ Bohdan Dmykhovskyy joined the firm.
The firm co-operated with international firms such as Allen & Overy, Ashurst, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Hogan Lovells, Morgan Lewis & Bockius; as well as European firms Manheimer Swartling and Bredin Prat.
Asters
Ukrainian firm Asters grew its turnover by approximately 15 per cent last year, performing various management restructurings aimed at involving as many partners as possible in different management activities at the firm.
The firm also focused on enhancing referral channels by networking with professional associations, such as World Services Group, Legalink, L2B Aviation and the International Trademark Association.
Asters aimed to retain its current position last year, developing new practice areas and “outpacing the market” through innovative approaches in business development, which is especially valuable during a time in which Ukraine is facing many challenges.
“Asters outpaced the market through innovative business development”
As part of this investment, Asters partner Oleksiy Demyanenko was appointed to head a newly created aviation practice group within the World Services Group. The practice aims to consolidate professionals practising in similar areas, and facilitates the exchange of business and knowledge about their sectors of expertise. Asters is also looking to develop practices in international arbitration, white-collar crime and family law.
The firm’s clients include Coca-Cola; the International Finance Commission (IFC); Nissan Motor; Siemens Ukraine; and Wizz Air.
Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners
CIS firm Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners has a strategy focused on ‘top tier projects’ and establishing best friend relationships in the region.
“Our size and expertise allow us to take on big, complex matters that cannot be handled by the majority of existing players on the market,” the firm claims.
“Our size and expertise allow us to take on big, complex matters that existing players cannot handle”
Egorove Puginsky Afansiev
The firm’s five offices in St Petersburg, Kiev, Minsk and associated offices in London and Washington DC consistently refer work to CIS regions, such as Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Moldova.
The firm also invested in its headcount, growing by 2 per cent last year with strategic hires such as ex-deputy general counsel of the Federal Animonipoly Services Denis Gavrilov as of counsel, and former Supreme Commercial Court head of department Helen Avakyan. The firm’s retention rate continued with no partner exits in the past three years, notwithstanding one former partner who became the deputy mayor of Kiev.
According to the firm’s entry in The Lawyer European Awards, new major client wins in the last year include Ikea, Allianz, Kellogg, Subaru, Aeroflot, Nokia and Unicredit Bank.
Ilyashev & Partners
Ukraine-headquartered Ilyashev & Partners’ turnover grew by 8 per cent last year to £8.5m. Last year was marked by expansion at the firm thanks to the opening of an office in Moscow to respond to the large number of matters relating to sanctions imposed on Russian business by Ukrainian authorities, new trade restrictions and vice versa.
Vladimir Zakharov, who was hired last year and is the former Asahi Glass general counsel for Russia and Eastern Europe, manages the office.
Since its establishment the firm has handled more than 100 disputes and arbitrations in Russia, many of which were highly complex. Currently this is a core practice area in its Moscow office. Meanwhile, Ilyashev’s Simferopol office provided assistance with regard to the outcome of business from Crimea.
Ilyashev & Partners counts on a strong client and partners’ referral network of more than 150 law firms worldwide. The firm has partnership relations and common projects with firms including Hogan Lovells, Eversheds, Freshfields, Dechert, Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom, Linklaters, Slaughter and May, Jones Day, E. Papandreou & Co in Cyprus, Alvarez and Marsal, and Weil Gotshal & Manges in Poland.
The firm’s clients include mining and steel investor ArcelorMittal Kryvyi Rih, Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank, Danone Ukraine and plastic packaging manufacturer Ukrplastic.
Sayenko Kharenko
Ukranian independent firm Sayenko Kharenko posted a 28 per cent increase in revenue in 2015.
Like many of its peers, Sayenko Kharenko continued to invest in its relationships with clients swiftly responding to their needs in the changing political and business environment by creating new practices focusing specifically on the clients’ ongoing needs.
The firm prides itself on having weathered the problems in its domestic market well. The firm preserved all of its personnel during a time when other firms on the market laid off a percentage of their staff and a number of international law firms left Ukraine for good. These include Beiten Burkhardt, Chadbourne & Parke, Clifford Chance, Noer, Schoenherr, and most recently Gide Loyrette Nouel.
By contrast Sayenko Kharenko added several practice teams from the shrinking law firms, adding a number of niche practice groups such as tax, privacy and data protection, brand protection, corporate security, compliance and Crimean/ATO desks, to further its strategy to become a full-service law firm.
Having doubled its legal staff within the past years, the firm has now launched a series of new training programmes.
Vasil Kisil & Partners
Kiev-headquartered Vasil Kisil & Partners grew its turnover by 14.5 per cent last year to €4.6m following a number of internal and external changes.
Andriy Stelmashchuk was appointed as the new managing partner of the firm last year. This is the first time in the history of Ukrainian legal market, a non-founding partner became its managing partner. The firm also introduced the rule that a managing partner should be elected by the board of partners for a definite term and that this position would be successive. International companies consider such principle as a standard, but for the Ukrainian legal market this is innovative change.
Vasil Kisil also promoted business development director Klaudia Shevelyuk to the newly created role of COO, in order to secure efficient management and achievement of the firm’s long-term strategic objectives.
The firm plans to develop new prospective practice areas, such as high-tech and IT law. A good start for this was the hire of Andriy Kovalov (former head of legal at Samsung) as of counsel to represent firm’s interests in the Silicon Valley. The focus in long-term development lies in an industrial approach to keeping the leading position in promising industries such as agriculture, telecommunications and IT – the fastest developing industries in Ukraine.
The firm’s clients include Google; Imperial Tobacco Production Ukraine; NCH Capital; and Shell.
The Lawyer European Awards 2016
The firms featured in this report were shortlisted for The Lawyer European Awards’ Russia, Ukraine and CIS category in 2016. Find out more about this year’s winners and the event on:
www.thelawyereuropeanevent.com.
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