Category: Russia

Liniya Prava has promoted Alexey Kostovarov, the firm’s Head of Antitrust Law and Procurement, to Partner.

According to Liniya Prava, Kostovarov “has been representing clients in courts of all levels for over 11 years, he specializes in resolving civil disputes and supporting bankruptcy proceedings, and is also a recognized specialist in the field of antitrust law. ” According to the firm, he “accompanied a number of major and significant disputes, including the Transneft vs Sberbank currency options case and the Bashkirskoe antitrust case.”

Before joining Liniya Prava in June, 2009, Kostovarov spent a little over a year at the Padva & Epshtein law firm.“

Alexander Rymko, former International Senior Counsel at Harney’s, has joined Alrud to head the firm’s Banking and Finance practice.

Rymko studied at Moscow State Institute of International Relations and specialized in International Law. He has worked in the financial services sector for more than 20 years, and has represented lenders and borrowers in cross-border syndicated financings across many industry sectors, with a particular emphasis on structured trade and export finance. According to Alrud, “he is experienced in advising both domestic and international clients on Russian financial services regulation.”

Before joining Harney’s in February 2018, Rymko spent ten and a half years at Hogan Lovells, a year and a half at Denton Wilde Sapte (now Dentons), four years as Head of Legal at HSBC Bank (RR), a year and a half with Credit Lyonnais Rusbank, and a year with Bank Menatep.

According to Alrud, “Alexander’s arrival strengthens the firm’s practice and builds up the firm’s capabilities in Russian financial services regulation.“

Yulia Yarnykh has been promoted to Partner at Gowling WLG as part of a promotion round involving a total of 36 promotions to the firm’s partnership around the world.

According to Gowling WLG, “the incoming partners possess a wide range of expertise across the firm’s business law, litigation, and intellectual property practices. They are located in the firm’s seven offices in Canada, as well as its office in Moscow.”

“I am delighted to congratulate our new partners on this significant career milestone,” said Peter Lukasiewicz, CEO of Gowling WLG Canada. “We look forward to their ongoing contributions to the success of Gowling WLG and its clients across Canada, Russia, China and around the world.”

Yarnykh graduated from the Lomonosov Moscow State University. Prior to joining Gowling WLG she practiced law for over four years with Hogan & Hartson. 

Baiju Vasani has joined Russia’s Ivanyan & Partners, where he will head the firm’s newly-formed International Arbitration practice.

Vasani will also become Managing Partner of the firm’s international office, which is to be established somewhere in Europe in early 2020, according to Ivanyan & Partners.

According to the firm, “Vasani has served as lead trial counsel and arbitrator in international arbitrations across a range of sectors and industries involving ICSID, ICC, LCIA, ICDR, SIAC, UNCITRAL, BITs, the Energy Charter Treaty, and public international law. He has also advised states on negotiating and drafting investment treaties, and investors on (re)structuring their investments for maximum treaty protection consonant with tax and corporate governance strategies.” 

“Welcoming a lawyer of Baiju’s expertise and caliber to Ivanyan & Partners marks a new horizon for our firm’s dispute capabilities and the representation of our clients overseas,” commented Partner Khristofor Ivanyan. “He will lead our new international arbitration practice and our very first international office in Europe to be established shortly, both of which will allow us to serve more effectively than ever our key clients in their disputes worldwide. This move validates the exceptional efforts our existing lawyers have made over the last decade to place us among the leading law firms in Russia in Public International Law and global dispute resolution.”

“I’m truly delighted to join Ivanyan & Partners and grateful to be invited to build on the sterling work the firm has already accomplished in developing a market-leading international disputes practice,” stated Vasani. “Khristofor’s inspiring vision for the future of the firm internationally, along with the impressive portfolio of international arbitration casework already existing for key firm clients, rendered this a perfectly synergistic opportunity for the firm and for me. I look forward to working with my new colleagues in Moscow and St. Petersburg in building our first international office in Europe in 2020 and beyond.”

Vasani holds an LL.B. from King’s College, an LL.M. from LSE, a BVC from City University London, a JD from Northwestern, and a BCL from Oxford. Prior to joining Ivanyan & Partners he spent two years in-house with AON, then almost four years with Norton Rose Fulbright in Houston, Texas, over five years with Cromwell & Moring in Washington D.C., and seven and a half years with Jones Day in London.

Alevtina Kamelkova, former Partner and Head of FinTech and IT at Ivanyan and Partners, has left the firm.

According to Ivanyan and Partners, Kamelkova leaves to “focus on her our own projects in the field of technologies. We are grateful to Alevtina for the time that she worked in the firm and wish her success and new achievements.”

Kamelkova graduated from the European Humanities University with an LL.B. in law and holds an LL.M. from the Radboud Universiteit. She spent two years in-house with Alpha Bank in Belarus, and held the same position for another two years with Unitary Enterprise Velcom, then spent ten years with Nokia. Before joining Ivanyan & Partners in 2018, Kamelkova spent over three years  at Baker McKenzie.

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners had helped BlaBlaCar to obtain clearance from Russia’s competition authority for its purchase of Busfor, an online bus ticker aggregator.

According to EPAM, the firm “successfully demonstrated that the merger would have a favorable social and economic effect and that the synergy of the Busfor’s GDS service (an innovative system of tickets distribution, reservation, and booking) and BlaBlaCar’s consumers (over 20 million users in Russia) would facilitate the growth and digitalization of the Russian market for bus tickets, which still lags behind the Russian air and railway ticket markets.”

The EPAM team included Partner Anna Numerova, Senior Associate Ksenia Firsova, and Associates Karin Ovakimyan and Alexander Silakov.

Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners’ lawyers Sergey Kalinin, Vera Rikhterman, and Andrey Mashkovtsev will join the firm’s partnership on January 1st, 2020.

Sergey Kalinin, who joined EPAM in 2016, is Head of Tax at the firm, and he advises clients on various matters of Russian and international taxation, specifically as related to the tax structuring of deals and investments, as well as taxation of financial instruments and derivatives. He is also experienced in advising private clients on de-offshorization and capital amnesty. Before joining EPAM in 2016, he spent three and a half years as a Tax Partner at Liniya Prava, three and a half years as a Senior Associate at Goltsblat BLP (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner), a year and a half at Deloitte, a year and a half at Pepeliaev, Goltsblat & Partners, and three years at United Counselors FDP.

Vera Rikhterman, who joined EPAM in 2006 after graduating from the Kutafin Moscow State Law University, represents Russian and foreign companies in Russian courts, including the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. She specializes in corporate disputes, disputes arising out of contractual relations, disputes arising out of corporate or individual bankruptcies, and bringing management bodies  to liability, as well as intellectual property disputes. She has successfully represented clients in comprehensive multi-jurisdictional litigations, including disputes involving foreign parties.

Andrey Mashkovtsev, who joined EPAM in 2007 after graduating from the Saint Petersburg State University, specializes in corporate/M&A, establishing joint ventures, corporate restructuring, and private equity, as well as corporate governance and corporate conflicts. He advises clients on asset deals, merger control matters, foreign investment control, and commercial contracts.

Rustam Kurmaev & Partners has successfully represented Boris Dubrovskiy, the former governor of Russia’s Chelyabinsk region, in a dispute with the Antimonopoly Service of Russia.

The Moscow City Arbitrazh Court overruled the decision of the FAS, which had found Dubrovskiy guilty of entering into an anticompetitive agreement with a commercial entity and improperly restricting road-building competition in the Chelyabinsk region.

According to Rustam Kurmaev & Partners, “this dispute is unique for Russia, for heads of Russian regions have never before in the history of the modern Russia been held liable for violating the Competition Law.”

The Rustam Kurmaev & Partners team included Managing Partner Rustam Kurmaev and lawyers Vasiliy Malinin and Zaur Tsarakov.

Rustam Kurmaev & Partners has successfully represented Russian Standard Bank JSC in Russia’s 4th Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction in an administrative case instituted by the Russian Prosecutor’s Office.

According to RK&P, “the supervisory instance took into account the lawyers’ arguments proving that the actions of their client did not contain elements of the offense it was charged with and reversed all the previous rulings of the lower courts imposing a large penalty on Russian Standard Bank JSC.”

Rustam Kurmaev & Partners did not reply to our inquiry on the matter.