Category: On the Move

Vasil Kisil & Partners has become a member of Cathay Associates, the China-based global legal service network of law firms. 

According to a VKP statement, “the mission of the network is to provide cross-jurisdictional legal services to Chinese enterprises with ambitious global expansion strategies, as well as international companies from other countries seeking to do business with China, and to be a bridge between China and the rest of the world. Launched late in 2015 the network already aggregates more than 31 offices and continues to grow rapidly.”

VKP reports that Ukraine has become a growing target for Chinese direct investment and is expected to gain a significant amount of attention from Chinese companies. In 2015, the overall turnover between China and Ukraine was over USD 7 billion, and the China Exim Bank has extended a USD 3 billion loan facility in Ukraine’s agriculture. In addition, VKP reports, “Chinese private and state companies already participate in various private projects in Ukraine, including agriculture, silo operation and port facilities,” and the firm claims that “notably, in the agricultural industry, Ukraine has become the largest exporter of corn to China, and Chinese-Ukrainian agricultural trade has increased by 56% since 2014.”

VKP Partner Alexander Borodkin, who served as the Cathay Associates’ main point of contact at the firm, said: “The requisite capacity and established leading market position helped Vasil Kisil and Partners to become one-stop-shop advisor for Chinese investors in Ukraine. The latest meetings in Shanghai and Beijing proved high investor interest in Ukraine and we are looking forward to enhance this collaboration, making our input into growing Ukraine’s economy.”

Rupert Varnai, the Global Chief Executive Officer of Cathay Associates, said: “Now that we are present in Ukraine and China, we can work seamlessly between the two countries to eliminate the headaches that can occur when Ukrainian companies are seeking out Chinese investors, and also when Chinese businesses are looking to do business in Ukraine. Cross-cultural issues can be daunting as well as the full magnitude of the different legal and business aspects can be time consuming for investors. Now we have leading legal counsels that can tap into, simultaneously, in both countries.”

As reported by CEE Legal Matters last year, the Cathay Associates network of law offices was launched by China’s Kejie Law Office in September 20015, and it announced its first nine CEE members — Drazic, Beatovic & Partners in Belgrade and Podgorica, Dvorak Hager & Partners in Bratislava and Prague, BWSP Hammond Bogaru & Associates in Bucharest and Chisinau, Varnai & Partners in Budapest, Bozo & Associates in Pristina and Tirana, Kolcheva, Smilenov, Koev and Partners in Sofia, RE-Structure in Vienna, Kijewski Gras in Warsaw, and Benko i Partneri in Zagreb — shortly thereafter.

Sorainen is reporting that Saule Dagilyte, head of Tax & Customs in the firm’s Lithuanian office, has been promoted to Partner.

Dagilyte joined Sorainen in May 2010 from Deloitte, where she had spent the previous two and a half years. According to a statement released by Sorainen, “during her 10 years of legal and tax practice, Saule has contributed to clients’ success by advising on cross-border and local tax planning and structuring, reorganizations, and asset and share acquisitions and disposals, and she has represented clients in disputes and negotiations with tax authorities. Saule holds a master’s degree in law from Vilnius University and she is also a trusted public expert on taxation matters.”

“We are delighted to have such a strong team leader joining our partnership,” noted Sorainen Co-Managing Partner Laimonas Skibarka. “Over the last four years, Saule has developed an exceptional tax team. The size of the team and its revenues have both more than doubled and continue to grow. Many clients have enjoyed her innovative and proactive solutions in various projects and tax matters.”

According to Janis Taukacs, head of the Sorainen Tax & Customs Team: “Sorainen is demonstrating its strong strategic vision by strengthening the tax practice in the entire Baltic and Belarus region with this promotion. Saule plays a significant role in major international projects and she has proved that our clients can benefit from integrated tax services in the region.”

Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners has announces the restructuring of its business and its division into two areas of practice under separate brands in the framework of a common association.

One part of the firm, continuing to operate under the Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners brand and headed by Partners Alexander Nektorov and Marat Davletbaev, will focus on a full range of corporate investment services and transactional work under Russian and English law. The practice will also be supported by L&DR services and tax advice.

Partners Sergey Saveliev and Egor Batanov will work under the Saveliev, Batanov & Partners brand and will concentrate their efforts on complex high-value litigation, corporate conflicts, and dispute resolution matters.

“I believe that I, Sergey, and the partners have created an outstanding firm,” said Alexander Nektorov in a statement released by Nektorov, Saveliev & Partners. “So why not give the market more and create two outstanding firms? Two brands will help us be more flexible in our decision-making, react more quickly to our clients’ changing needs, and attract and retain the best talent.”

“We concluded that the two strongest areas of our joint firm require slightly different development strategies and that the best solution is an association with separate brands,” added Sergey Saveliev. “Our teams have worked together extensively. We remain friendly firms and will continue to collaborate on joint projects when it is in a client’s interests.” 

In that same statement, Dmitry Timofeev, legal and corporate affairs executive with Rosvodokanal Group and a client of the firm, expressed his approval. “Alexander and Sergey are real market leaders, and I’m pleasantly surprised to hear of their new initiative. For me, as a client, a law firm has to have a clear focus. I prefer to do business with firms whose teams are most concentrated on their product. So I’m in favor of the new format and wish my colleagues success in implementing the idea.”

Finally, competitor Andrey Korelskiy, Managing Partner of Korelskiy, Ischuk, Astafiev & Partners also expressed his best wishes: “I’m very glad to see that Alexander and Sergey have found a new formula for developing their business that keeps their teams intact and also preserves the good relations within the collective. I hope they can become a positive and successful example for the entire market to follow and that they are able to realize their potential under the new format.”

Magnusson is reporting that former Kochanski Zieba & Partners Partner Magdalena Mitas is joining the firm’s Warsaw office with her team.

Mitas, who focuses on energy, natural resources, infrastructure, construction, public procurement, and environmental law, will head Magnusson’s energy practice in Poland. According to a statement released by Magnusson, “for more than 10 years Magdalena has been advising large domestic and international corporations, including listed companies. Her experience includes advice on all issues related to infrastructure and industrial projects, renewable and conventional energy investments, coal, coke and conventional gas plants, as well as production facilities in a variety of sectors. Magdalena also represented clients in a wide range of regulatory, competition and antimonopoly proceedings, as well as in commercial arbitration cases.”

Prior to joining Magnusson in September 2016, Mitas was a partner and head of the energy practice at KZP. Before joining that firm in March 2011, Mitas worked for almost four years at DeBenedetti Majewski Szczesniak, for three years at the Andrzej Sikora law office, and for a year at the Sobolewski Szuwara law firm.

“I am delighted to welcome a Partner and practice head of Magdalena’s calibre,” said Magnusson’s Poland Managing Partner Agnieszka Pytlas-Skwierczynska. “Together with her team, we add another dimension to our practice in Poland and in the region.”

“Magnusson is a great platform for further growth, based on an impressive entrepreneurial culture, focused on team work and exploration of both new opportunities and synergies between practices,” stated Magdalena Mitas.

This has been a busy year for Magnusson in Poland. The hire of Mitas and her team follows shortly after the news that former Chadbourne & Parke Partner Marek Krol had joined the firm in June (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on June 23, 2016), that new Dispute Resolution head Daniel Klementewicz had joined from Wolf Theiss (as reported on April 27, 2016), and that tax lawyer Tomasz Rysiak had been promoted to Partner (as reported on February 3, 2016).

Taylor Wessing is announcing that former DLA Piper Weiss Tessbach Head of Real Estate Clemens Barenthaler will join its CEE Real Estate in Austria as a Partner on September 1, 2016.

Barenthaler worked for CHSH Cerha Hempel Spieglfeld Hlawati from 2003-2007, for Schoenherr for 16 months in 2007/2008, and then for DLA Piper from January 2009 to the present. Taylor Wessing reports that Barenthaler “has years of experience in advising national and international clients in Real Estate law. His main areas of focus include Real Estate transactions and financing as well as project development and the development of retail, office, and business premises. After having worked in renowned law firms like CHSH and Schoenherr he now joins Taylor Wessing coming from DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach, where he was Head of the Real Estate Practice Group.”

Erwin Hanslik, CEE Head of Real Estate at Taylor Wessing, commented in a statement released by the firm that: “I very much look forward to the cooperation with such an experienced attorney, who will – especially on an international level – add a lot of know-how to the group.” 

According to Raimund Cancola, Taylor Wessing CEE Managing Partner, “besides Corporate and IP/IT, Real Estate is one of the three core Practice Areas which Taylor Wessing has a clear focus on. Because we see the global demand, these practices will be enlarged with top-lawyers. Bearing this in mind, Clemens is a perfect fit for our team and we look forward to the joint professional future.”

Speaking about his new challenges, Barenthaler added: “Taylor Wessing CEE — being the CEE/SEE Competence Centre of a global law firm with 33 offices in 20 jurisdictions – to me that is the perfect surrounding to which I can contribute with my knowledge and my – also CEE – experience.”

The Aivar Pilv Law Office, together with the Latvian law firm Fogels, Vitols & Paipa and the Lithuanian law firm Balciunas & Grajauskas, has announced the foundation of Leadell, a new pan-Baltic law firm alliance.

According to a statement released by the new Leadell alliance, “all three law firms will continue providing services in the Baltic market under the new brand Leadell, at the same time keeping the distinctive reference to the historical name of the offices – in Estonia the firm will continue under the new name of Leadell Pilv, in as Latvia Leadell Fogels, Vitols & Paipa, and in Lithuania as Leadell Balciunas & Grajauskas.  

According to that same statement, the “first part of the name Leadell is the word ‘lead’ that symbolizes leading clients in legal issues. The second part of the name is the abbreviation ELL that represents Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The name of the alliance incorporates an abbreviation of the Baltic States, thus underlining that the alliance is providing legal services for local and global clients in this region, based on local experience and competence.”

“In recent years, legal services market in the Baltics has become increasingly competitive in terms of the number of practicing lawyers as well as new offices,” commented Aivar Pilv, Founder and Managing Partner of Leadell Pilv. “At the same time, need for cross-border legal services has increased among international and local clients. The Baltic States are usually viewed as one market, thus the capacity to provide high-quality services concurrently in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is essential. Considering the changes in the market and our long-term fruitful cooperation with colleagues from Latvia and Lithuania, founding legal alliance Leadell was a logical and appropriate step for us.”  

All three firms are members of the TAGLaw global alliance. Karlis Vitols, Managing Partner of Leadell Fogels, Vitols & Paipa, explained that “through membership in an international alliance of law firms TAGLaw, Leadell is able to provide flexible, top of the class legal services at European level and form a cross-border team of highly experienced legal advisors in a matter of hours, if needed.”

Marius Grajauskas, Managing Partner of Leadell Balciunas & Grajauskas, explained that “Balciunas & Grajauskas, Fogels, Vitols & Paipa and Aivar Pilv Law Office formed a close cooperation already in 2012. We have been discussing the idea of establishing one united brand … to maximize the existing pan-Baltic cooperation for some time. We are very pleased that by launching Leadell we will be able to bring additional value to our clients based on the skills and experiences of the three firms.”

The Aivar Pilv Law Office was founded in Tallinn in 1993 and three years later opened its second office in Tartu. The office now employs 25 specialists, including 16 lawyers and legal advisors. Fogels, Vitols & Paipa was founded in Riga in 2005 and currently employs 10 specialists, including 8 lawyers and legal advisors. Balciunas & Grajauskas was founded in Vilnius in 2009 by merger of two law firms – Balciunas & Partners and Grajauskas & Partners. The firm now employs 23 specialists, including 20 lawyers and legal advisors.

Leadell forms the latest in a recent series of tie-ups and shifting alliances in the Baltics in the past year — a phenomenon first summarized in the CEE Legal Matters magazine in June 2015. Most recently, Tark Grunte Sutkiene’s merger with Varul’s Estonia office (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on April 14, 2016), effectively terminated Varul’s own pan-Baltic alliance, and led to its Lithuanian and Latvian offices joining up with Primus and BDO Legal, respectively. 

BADOKH has announced that Jennifer Foss, formerly of Dentons, has joined the firm as a new Partner in Prague. Foss specializes on real estate law, with a particular focus on M&A, joint ventures, asset and property management and construction, as well as general corporate matters.

Foss began her international private practice in 2001 at White & Case in New York. Since 2005, she has worked in international private practice in Central and Eastern Europe, spending several years as the head of legal department for the Moscow office of AIG/Lincoln and another year in Moscow with White & Case before returning to Prague and joining Dentons (then operating in the city as Salans) in 2011 as Of Counsel. 

Foss obtained her juris doctorate from Cornell Law School in 2001. She became qualified to practice international law in the Czech Republic in 2006 and has been a member of the Czech Bar Association since 2011. 

According to BADOKH, “the hire of Jennifer Foss supports the firm’s strategic focus on further growth in the sectors of commercial real estate and M&A and, more generally, in complex cross-border and multi-jurisdictional transactions.” 

“Jennifer is a very skilled and experienced lawyer and a welcomed addition to BADOKH” said Partner Ivo Barta, one of the firm’s co-founders. “Together, BADOKH’s team of international firms-trained lawyers aims to optimally serve our domestic and foreign clients needs and strengthen our fast growing international practice. Jennifer’s seasoned international experience, global real estate expertise, and personable, client-focused approach make her an important new driver in our expanding legal practice.”

Goltsblat BLP, the Russian practice of Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), has announced that Sergey Milanov is joining the firm as Head of Asia Practice in Moscow and Partner in the firm’s Banking & Finance Practice. Georgy Daneliya is also joining the team as a Senior Associate.

According to a Goltsblat BLP announcement, the hire of Milanov “will strengthen the firm’s Asia-related capabilities, driven by the growing demand from our Russian and international clients actively exploring new markets in this region, turning to Asia for investment support and considerable increase in Asia investments into Russia, especially the Russian Far East.”

Before joining Goltsblat BLP, Milanov spent 5 years as a Partner at K&L Gates, splitting his time between Moscow and Tokyo, and before that practised with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in Tokyo and White & Case in Moscow, New York, and Tokyo. Goltsblat BLP describes Milanov as “currently the only foreign lawyer authorized in Japan to advise on Russian law.”

Milanov, the firm reports, “has advised on implementation of big PSA projects for developing oil and gas deposits in the Russian Far East and Eastern Siberia, including representation of the lenders in such projects, as well as some of their Japanese and US sponsors, focusing on both extraction facilities and the export infrastructure, such as pipelines and sea terminals for such projects.” He also works on Corporate/M&A transactions and joint ventures in the oil & gas, car manufacturing, telecommunications, infrastructure, and transport sectors. He also has experience in advising on greenfield projects for establishing Japanese distributors, dealers, and manufacturing subsidiaries in Russia.”

Milanov is admitted to the Bar of New York, the Bar of Primorski Region and the Dai-ni Tokyo Bar Association, and he is admitted in Japan as a Gaikokuho jimu bengoshi (Authorised Consultant in Foreign Law) for the laws of New York State and the Russian Federation. He is a graduate of the Law Faculty at the Law and State Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, (LL.M., 2000), Harvard Law School (LL.M., 1992) and University of Sofia School of Law, (LL.B., 1988).   

In the firm’s formal announcement of the hire, Andrey Goltsblat, Managing Partner of Goltsblat BLP, said: “We are very pleased to welcome both Sergey and Georgy to our team in Moscow. This hire will undoubtedly further strengthen our international capabilities in Moscow and BLP globally. We are convinced that it will help us meet to the maximum the needs and expectations of both Russian and Asian businesses, helping our clients successfully implement new projects in Russia and on the Asian markets.”  

Similarly, Goltsblat BLP Partner Oleg Khokhlov said: “I am sure that the Asian experience of Sergey and Georgy will strengthen our offering. It is also important that our clients will have access to US law capabilities on the ground.”  

Milanov commented that: “I am delighted to join Goltsblat BLP and I believe that, by joining the Moscow office of BLP, we will reinforce its recognition in the Asian, especially Japanese, business community and will also help overcome any communications barriers that current and potential Asia clients of the firm might be experiencing, making sure that the uniquely broad expertise of the Moscow office is made available effectively to each and every client.”