Category: On the Move

Greece’s Kyriakides Georgopoulos (KG) law firm has announced the promotion of Ioanna Kyriazi to Partner.

Kyriazi advises multinational and Greek companies on employment issues, including transfers of undertakings, corporate restructurings, outsourcing transactions, temporary agency work issues, individual and collective dismissals, incentive schemes, European Works Councils, Collective Bargaining Agreements, and union negotiation, among other things, as well as on social security issues. She is also an experienced employment law litigator.

She began her career in September 1998 as an Associate with Apostolos Tsiantis & Associates in Piraeus, and stayed there for four and a half years. After several years as a contract lawyer she moved to the KG law firm in Athens in August 2006. She received her law degree in 1997 from the Aristoteleion University of Thessaloniki.

K&L Gates has confirmed that it closed its Moscow office in December, 2015, leaving Warsaw the firm’s only remaining office in CEE. The Pittsburgh law firm opened in Moscow in 2010.

Although the economic downturn in Russia and significant affect of sanctions imposed by the West on the country following its 2014 annexation of Crimea have led most US and UK-based international firms in Moscow to downsize, K&L Gates is the first since those developments to shut its doors completely.

In response to our request for information about the firm’s decision to close its office in Moscow, a K&L Gates spokesman sent the following message, reprinted here in full: “Following a lengthy evaluation of economic and geopolitical conditions and projected client needs and related business conditions in the region, K&L Gates LLP has closed its four-lawyer Moscow office, effective early December 2015. One lawyer from the office has relocated to another office within K&L Gates’ extensive global platform; specifically, corporate/M&A partner William Reichert has moved to the firm’s Dubai office to augment the firm’s Middle East practice.”

While Reichert moved to sunnier climes, his colleague Georgy Borisov stayed in Moscow, moving 4 km into the city center to Squire Patton Boggs, where he joined the Cleveland firm as a Partner in its Global Corporate Practice. 

Borisov specializes in corporate and M&A, particularly in the energy and natural resources sector. He focuses on complex transactional work, and advises Russian and international companies in the oil and gas industry, as well as in coal and agrichemicals production and related sectors. He also advises on commercial real estate matters and on the business of trade shows, and acted in the first ever sale of a Russian trade show to multiple buyers. According to Squire Patton Boggs, “among his representative energy and natural resources work highlights are: advising a Russian mineral fertilizer producer on the USD 400 million acquisition of a gas condensate field; acting for a Russian gas producer in its USD 8 billion acquisition of production and LNG assets in the Sakhalin area; and advising a European energy company on a USD 200 million acquisition of oil and gas assets in the Volga region.”

Borisov began his professional career as in-house counsel with the White Nights oil company in Russia, and subsequently served in private practice in the corporate departments of Lovells, Baker Botts, and Latham & Watkins, from which he moved to K&L Gates in October 2010. He is a graduate of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations School of Law, and holds an LL.M. from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

“We’re delighted to have Georgy Borisov join us,” said Sergey Treshchev, Office Managing Partner of Squire Patton Boggs in Moscow. “Energy and resources make up a key industry sector in the Russian economy and it is one where we have long-standing relationships and outstanding credentials. Georgy’s reputation is also well established in this arena and his arrival will be a significant asset for clients.”

“Georgy’s expertise and versatility make him a great fit with our team,” commented Patrick Brooks, who leads the Corporate Practice in Moscow. “His sector knowledge is reinforced by strong commercial acumen which informs all his cross-border deals, whether in energy or real estate. He joins a strong and dynamic corporate team here in Moscow, part of a global practice that works alongside our Energy & Natural Resources group, both of which continue to see significant expansion and investment.”

The Cathay Associates network of law offices, which was launched by the Chinese boutique Kejie Law Office in September 2015, reports 9 CEE members. The network was initiated to offer global coverage, with a special focus on China and cross-border matters.

The CEE members are: Drazic, Beatovic & Partners in Belgrade and Podgorica, Dvorak Hager & Partners in Bratislava and Prague, BWSP Hammond Bogaru & Associates in Bucharest and in Chisinau, Bozo & Associates in Pristina and Tirana, Kolcheva, Smilenov, Koev and Partners in Sofia, RE-Structure in Vienna, Kijewski Gras in Warsaw, Benko i Partneri in Zagreb, and in Budapest, Varnai & Partners.

According to a Cathay Associates announcement, the network expects to expand to 40 firms by the end of 2016, covering major countries and regions across five continents with new member firms expected from Bombay, Dubai, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Jakarta and Singapore in Asia; Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Milan, and Moscow in Europe; Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, San Francisco, and Toronto in North America; Buenos Aires and Sao Paolo in South America; Johannesburg and Maputo in Africa; and Melbourne, Sydney, and Wellington in Oceania.

He Jie, the Managing Partner of the Kejie Law Office, serves as Global Chairman of Cathay Associates as well as on the global management committee. Rupert Varnai and Pascal Demko, two European co-founders of the network who are also the foreign legal counsels of Kejie Law Office, serve as Global Chief Executive Officer and Global Managing Partner, respectively.

The former Gide Loyrette Nouel office in Budapest and Kyiv have confirmed the news — first reported by CEE Legal Matters on October 21, 2015 — that they have withdrawn from Gide and tied up with France’s Jeantet law firm.

In an email sent to clients, Ioana Knoll-Tudor, formerly of Gide, reported being “happy and proud” to announce that “I joined the Jeantet law firm as a Local Partner of the Jeantet Budapest office, together with the entire team of Gide Hungary.” She also announced that “the move of the Gide Ukraine office under the supervision of Karl Hepp de Sevelinges and Bertrand Barrier is taking place simultaneously.”

Knoll-Tudor concluded her message by writing that, “with this move, Jeantet is considerably reinforcing its position in Central Eastern Europe with the addition of a team of more than 30 lawyers” — an understatement, to say the least, as the firm previously had no CEE presence of any kind.

According to reliable sources requesting anonymity, Paris-based Gide Loyrette Nouel Partners (and long-time CEE veterans) Francois D’Ornano and Karl Hepp de Sevelinges are leaving Gide to join the French law firm Jeantet, with Gide’s Budapest and Kyiv offices likely to follow.

D’Ornano, who joined Gide in 1997, specializes in mergers and acquisitions and the financing of real estate projects, as well as in commercial lease law and construction law. He opened and headed the Budapest and Belgrade offices of Gide (the latter of which now operates as independent firm Maric, Malisic & Dostaniche, acting as Gide’s exclusive correspondent in Belgrade). D’Ornano oversees the Budapest office as well as the firm’s activities in the Balkans, having created the South-East Europe Group.

Hepp de Sevelinges specializes in corporate/M&A, and advises industrial companies, retail groups, financial institutions and funds in France and across Eastern Europe. He joined Gide in 1999 and opened and managed the firm’s Kyiv office in the Ukraine from 2006-2011, before leaving to briefly take charge of the firm’s New York office (2011-2012).

With the addition of D’Ornano, Hepp de Sevelinges, and — probably — the Gide teams in Kyiv and Budapest, Jeantet is poised to make a grand entrance into CEE. This move follows shortly after Akos Kovach, the former Managing Partner of Gide’s Budapest office, left for Hogan Lovells and the team which joined Kyiv from Beiten Burkhardt in January 2014 — including Gide Kyiv Co-Managing Partner Julian Ries — left for Integrites.

When contacted by CEE Legal Matters, D’Ornano, Hepp de Sevelinges, and Gide Loyrette Nouel declined to comment. Jeantet did not respond to several requests for comment. 

Cobalt has announced that lawyers from the Borenius team in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Belarus will join it from January 1, 2016, turning Cobalt into “the largest full-service business law firm operation in the region.” This follows Borenius’ announcement earlier this week that it is withdrawing from the Baltics, and Sorainen’s announcement that it had picked up former Borenius Lithuania Partners Daivis Svirinas and Zygimantas Pacevicius, along with another eleven lawyers (as reported by CEE Legal Matters on September 21, 2015).

Cobalt was formed in May 2015 when the former Raidla Lejins & Norcous offices in Latvia and Lithuania joined with the former Lawin office in Estonia (reported on by CEE Legal Matters on May 19, 2015).

Cobalt reports that once this merger is concluded, it will consist of 180 lawyers. Its Estonia office will be led by Sten Luiga, Jaanus Mody (both formerly of Borenius), and current MP Martin Simovart. In addition, current Cobalt Partners Elo Tamm, Liina Linsi, Marina Tolmatshova, and Pirkko-Liis Harkmaa will be joined by former Borenius Partners Peeter Kutman, Aivar Taro, Karina Paatsi, Egon Talur, Kristel Raidla-Talur, and Margus Mugu.

In Latvia, the team of 50 lawyers will be led by current MP Dace Silava-Tomsone and Borenius Partner Lauris Liepa. Former Borenius Partners Lauris Liepa, Indrikis Liepa, and Gatis Flinters will join current Cobalt Partners Girts Lejins, Guntars Zile, Ingrida Karina-Berzina, and Toms Sulmanis in the Riga office. 

In Lithuania, Cobalt’s team will grow to 65 lawyers and will continue to be led by Founding Partner Irmantas Norkus. Vaidas Mackonis from Borenius joins current Cobalt Partners Zilvinas Kvietkus, Elijus Burgis, Rimantas Simaitis, and Paulius Markovas. Borenius Lithuania Founding Partner Dalia Foigt joins Cobalt as specialist counsel.

In Belarus, Cobalt’s team of 5 lawyers will be led by current Cobalt Managing Partner Darya Zhuk.

Editorial Note: Although Cobalt initially announced that its merger with Borenius “is expected to be completed across the Baltics by January 1st 2016,” in fact the process in Estonia appears to have moved much more quickly than initially anticipated, as Borenius announced on October 5 that the two firms “have completed their merger in Estonia and, as of today, operate jointly under the name Cobalt.”  In an email to CEE Legal Matters, Cobalt Communications Manager Marika Parn explained that “As of October 1st 2015 Borenius in Estonia does not exist anymore, we are operating jointly as one firm and as one business unit under the name Cobalt.

Central Asia’s Grata International law firm continues its expansion into CEE with the announcement that Grata Senior Partner Akhmetzhan Abdullayev had signed an August 26, 2015, Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation with Senior Partner Aldis Alliks of the Alliks un Partneri firm in Riga, Latvia.

Grata’s launch of an associated office in Latvia follows close upon similar launches earlier this year in Belarus (with the Arzinger & Partners firm, reported by CEE Legal Matters on May 13, 2015) and Turkey (with the Isikal Law Office in Istanbul, reported by CEE Legal Matters on August 18, 2015).

Akhmetzhan Abdullayev, the Senior Partner of Grata International, said: “The excellent personal qualities and experience of Aldis Alliks and his colleagues determined the choice of the law firm Alliks un Partneri, as an associated office in the Republic of Latvia. Latvia is one of the key transit [and] transportation corridors of the Eurasian countries. Many of our customers consider the question of exports, imports, and investments into the economy of this country. And now they have a great opportunity to provide their business with the quality legal services of Grata in this jurisdiction “ 

For his part, Aldis Alliks said of the association between his firm — which launched in October 2014 — and Grata, that: “I am truly glad and honored that the Law Office Alliks un Partneri has been given a chance to join what I see as one of the next vital players on the international legal arena. This is going to be a great benefit and advantage not only to the colleagues, but also — and especially — to the clients.” 

On May 18 and 19, 2015, separate press releases came across the wire, announcing that the Lithuanian and Latvian offices of two of the top pan-Baltic alliances – Raidla, Lejins & Norcous (RLN) and Lawin – had, in essence, dissolved, traded Estonian offices, and reorganized. The former Lithuanian and Latvian members of RLN and the former Estonian member of Lawin re-formed as Cobalt, while the former Lithuanian and Latvian offices of Lawin and the former Estonian office of RLN re-formed as Ellex.

Complicated? Well, confusing, at least. And despite the curious names (Ellex stands for Estonia Latvia Lithuania EXcellence, and as for Cobalt, Dace Slava-Tomsone, the Managing Partner of Cobalt Latvia, laughs that “we had to explain to certain people that no, this is not a mining organization”), the news that two of the best-known and most successful legal alliances in the Baltics would be exchanging offices and abandoning two of the strongest brands in the region continues to reverberate.

So Why the Reshuffling? 

Eugenia Sutkiene, the Managing Partner of Tark Grunte Sutkiene in Vilnius, believes that the reason can be found in the merger of Baltic Legal Solutions’ Lithuanian office with her own firm back in October, 2014. Although the markets had been quiet for several years before that, she says, “our merger kickstarted the consolidation of the market.” And she claims that her firm’s success since the merger forced her competitors’ hands. “They couldn’t sit on this situation any more,” Sutkiene says. “They had to react.”

Maybe. Unsurprisingly, both Cobalt and Ellex offer different – though separate – explanations for the change.

Cobalt’s Integration Vision

Irmantas Norkus of Cobalt in Lithuania explains that the re-formation was necessary because financial integration – including sharing of equity between partners – is “the only way to go, [and] is the ultimate goal we want to achieve.” He notes that, although Sorainen is currently the only integrated pan-Baltic firm at the top of the market, “the Big 4 accounting firms are integrated, our clients – the banks and insurance companies – are integrated, [and] the international firms outside the Baltics are integrated.” Norkus believes the analysis points only one direction: “There’s no way you can be efficient and compete without being integrated. That will become the prevailing practice in 2-3-4 years. To me, integration is a must.” Norkus explains that he and his colleagues in Riga saw the writing on the wall several years ago and concluded that “the obvious solution to us was to merge our offices into one and consolidate our services into one, leading to more efficiency.”

Unfortunately, not everyone in his previous alliance agreed. “Riga and Vilnius wanted to move towards integration, while Tallinn preferred the status quo.” As a result, “it became impossible to reconcile these views, and it became clear we had to separate and pursue our own strategies. So we peacefully agreed to terminate the RLN alliance.” 

And indeed, Norkus’s enthusiasm for full integration is shared both by new Estonian Managing Partner Martin Simovart (who took that role over from former MP Peter Lepik – who remains on board as Counsel – simultaneous with the alliance re-formation) and Latvian Managing Partner Dace Slava-Tomsone, who took over the reins of that office from Founding Partner Girts Lejins two years ago.

In other words, the analysis of Kuldar-Jaan Torokoff, Managing Partner at Fort Legal in Estonia, seems directly on-point: “When it comes to integration, one of the critical first steps is firm founders letting go of the management of their firms. You need this generation swap before real integration happens because you need to be young enough to see the long term benefits of the integration rather than the autonomy you are giving up, which you enjoyed for so many years.”

Ellex Prefers the Alliance Model

While Cobalt says they initiated the change to facilitate their pursuit of the “Sorainen Model” (profit sharing across Baltic offices), the partners at Ellex say that in fact it was they who initiated the change, as a means of improving their service to clients by joining with their new partners in Tallinn, who many experts agree are among the best in the region. According to Partner Zilvinas Zinkevicius at Valiunas Ellex in Lithuania: “The goal is to provide seamless Pan-Baltic service, with a new and improved level of service.” And Filips Klavins, the Managing Partner of Klavins Ellex in Riga, says the purpose of the change was simple: “We were seeking greater quality.”

Partner Jaunius Gumbis of Valiunas Ellex in Lithuania agrees that, “the goal has always been to provide the best service to clients.” He refers to that goal in explaining the change: “We felt a little bit that we had to improve. We are thankful for our Tallinn partners during these 10 years. We achieved a lot, and we enjoyed it. But sometimes, even when everything is fine, you need to move from good to great.”

In contrast to their counterparts at Cobalt, the Partners at Ellex say they have no interest in pursuing what’s known as the Sorainen Model. Filip Klavins says,  “It just comes down to the best service for a client. The client doesn’t care if the offices are sharing profits or not.”

Conclusion?

Unsurprisingly, both of the new alliances (Ellex refers to itself as a “circle”) claim it was their side that initiated the change, putting forward competing explanations in support. At the end of the day, however, Irmantas Norkus prefers to keep the conversation positive. He says that everyone got what they wanted: “We had differences of opinion [among the offices in our alliance], and they did as well – so now it’s a happy ending for everybody.”

This Article was originally published in Issue 2.3. of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.

GRATA International has signed Memorandum of Understanding and Co-operation with the Isikal Law Office in Istanbul, giving the law firm a foothold by the Bosphorus.

The Isikal Law Office was established by Alper Isikal. According to a GRATA press release, Isikal “provides legal support and consulting services in many areas of law, such as: real estate and construction, business, energy, commercial law, corporate law, contract law, zoning law, intellectual property, as well as provides opportunity to clients by acting as a solution partner.”

According to GRATA Senior Partner Tiek Baigabulov, “appearance of our associated office in Turkey, represented by Isikal Law Office, is a great convenience for our customers, professional development for the team and strengthening of the friendship between our countries and people. Office in Istanbul will be a great support for the further promotion of our firm”.

Alper Isikal, the Founding and Managing Partner of his eponymous law office, is similarly enthusiastic: “I think it is exciting for all of us that the professional expertise and experience of the team of the Isikal Law Office is going to integrate with Grata International. As is known, Turkey is between Asia and Europe from the East to the West as well as it is between Russia and Middle East from the North to the South. The Isikal Law Office is located in Istanbul, which is the heart of the business life in Turkey. I believe the team of the Isikal Law Office will continue to give legal support to the clients effectively and efficiently as known, and within this association with Grata International will carry out it to as enlarged area.”

GRATA’s associated office in Istanbul comes a mere three months after it entered into a similar MOU with the Arzinger & Partners law firm in Minsk, as reported by CEE Legal Matters on August 13, 2015.