The Legal 500

Baker & McKenzie – CIS, Limited is ‘the only international firm in Russia with a tax practice to match the accounting firms’. ‘Very impressive’ team head Alexander Chmelev’s ‘considerable experience’ lends him a ‘unique perspective and insight, which is invaluable given the frequent lack of black-and-white answers in Russia’. The ‘very well-positioned’ firm advised SABMiller on tax issues relating to its acquisition of Russian brewer Vladpivo, and successfully represented Western Union MT East in a dispute with the Russian tax authorities. Maria Kostenko and the ‘extremely knowledgeable’ Sergei Zhestkov, whose ‘abilities extend beyond the technical and into the practical application of the law’, are both highly recommended.

With 87 tax lawyers and five specialist auditors, Pepeliaev, Goltsblat & Partners’s tax group is ‘an absolute behemoth’. Led by co-managing partner Sergey Pepeliaev, the practice primarily acts for corporates and senior executives across four main sectors: oil and gas, financial institutions, trade and services, and industrial production. Half of the ‘impressive’ practice is based around the firm’s main strength – tax litigation – with clients including Gazprom, Coca-Cola, VimpelCom and Ford Motor Company. Andrey Tereschenko, Denis Schekin, Rustem Akhmetshin and Sergey Savseris are all highly recommended.

Led by the ‘confidence-inspiring’ Ruslan Vasutin in St Petersburg, DLA Piper now has on-the-ground capacity in Moscow following the hire of real estate tax specialist Igor Venediktov from developer Snegiri Group, where he was CFO. The firm has received an increase in stand-alone tax instructions from clients such as Maersk, and advised adidas on issues surrounding its global purchasing system. Clients for the team, which include Stockmann, praised its ‘objective judgement’.

Oleg Konnov’s smoothly run tax practice at Herbert Smith CIS LLP focuses on international tax structuring and restructuring. Recent highlights include advising TNK-BP on the tax issues relating to its well-publicised shareholder dispute, while the firm successfully represented Japan Tobacco International in a $100m tax dispute.

Hogan & Hartson LLP’s practice is led by the ‘charismatic and talented’ Ilya Rybalkin, who has a particular focus on cross-border tax structuring. The firm recently advised Norilsk Nickel on the structuring of its $6.3bn acquisition of LionOre, and OJSC Ammonij on tax issues relating to its framework and early work agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Sojitz Corp. Newly promoted senior tax advisor Vadim Kukushkin is also recommended.

Linklaters CIS’ tax offering primarily operates in support of the firm’s top tier corporate and finance practices. The practice has recently assisted on deals such as the RUR10.7bn residential mortgage-backed security by CJSC ‘Second Mortgage Agent of AHML’, and Suek’s planned $16bn joint venture with Gazprom. Managing associate Victor Matchekhin leads the team.

As the legal arm of one of the ‘big four’ accounting firms, PricewaterhouseCoopers CIS Law Offices BV is ‘extremely adept’ at handling tax matters. Yana Proskurina leads the contentious tax practice, which successfully represented a major international beverages maker in all court instances relating to a $3m tax dispute. Svetlana Stroykova is highly recommended.

Jointly led by the Alexei Panich – who impressed clients with his ‘attitude, commitment and level of expertise’ – and global practice co-head Evgeny Timofeev, Salans represented Japan Tobacco International in a three-and-a-half-year, $250m litigation, and advised Segezhski ZBK on the restructuring of its pan-European operations. 2008 saw the ‘flexible and professional’ firm launch a tax due diligence service.

White & Case LLC’s stand-alone tax structuring practice is led by Irina Dmitrieva. The firm advised Google on the tax structuring aspects of its $140m acquisition of Rambler Media.

Highly regarded senior partner Maxim Alekseyev leads ALRUD Law Firm’s tax practice. Clients include Hyperion Systems Engineering Rus, JVC and Tupperware.

Beiten Burkhardt’s Moscow-based tax team is led by partner Elena Balashova.

Clients of CMS’s tax team, which is led by Stanislav Tourbanov, include Eurasia Logistics.

The key tax name at Clifford Chance is counsel Alexander Anichkin, who clients hail as ‘very responsive, technically excellent and has good commercial understanding’.

Led by senior tax attorney Tatiana Kirgetova, Gide Loyrette Nouel’s tax clients include Eurocopter, Sumitomo and Thales Avionics.

Tax is one of the most significant practices of Nörr Stiefenhofer Lutz ooo’s Moscow office. The large and well-respected team includes many outstanding practitioners, with Silvia Sparfeld, tax managers Nadezhda Schorochova and Nikolay Baranov, auditor Sergei Schelkalin and senior tax advisor Olga Surikova all recommended.

Other recommended names include Macleod Dixon ELP associate Konstantin Litvinenko and Vegas Lex Law Firm’s tax arbitrator Oleg Bazhenov.