The Legal 500

The firm

Astapov Lawyers International Law Group was founded in 2002 by a team of like-minded lawyers led by Mr Andrey Astapov. The firm’s practice was initially centred on the legal issues pertaining to international trade of commodities but, as the firm has grown, it has expanded into international corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, international financial transactions, international trade and WTO law, tax, international arbitration/litigation, mediation, asset management, real estate and construction, foreign investments, antitrust, family, energy and natural resources, and maritime and transportation law.

Over the past years, the firm has grown and is now one of the most dynamic and fast-growing full-service law firms in the CIS region. The firm provides top-level legal expertise to leaders of the business community, both international companies operating in Ukraine, CIS and Europe, and Ukrainian/Russian businesses.

An ability to effectively combine expertise in Ukrainian/CIS law with international and foreign law is a distinctive feature of Astapov Lawyers. Most of its lawyers are educated at top-ranked European or US schools, and practised with leading international law firms.

Areas of practice

Astapov Lawyers’ main field of activity lies in international corporate transformations and M&A, as well as international matters of finance and arbitration. It also regularly handles high-level real estate deals.

International corporate law and M&A: with an innovative and client-oriented approach, the firm offers practical advice on a broad range of corporate work, including legal services related to capital markets; cross-border mergers and acquisitions; corporate restructuring and attracting finance; private and public companies; joint ventures; public-private partnerships; issues related to corporate governance; corporate conflicts; and hostile takeovers.

International financial transactions: the firm regularly handles high-profile project financing transactions and is distinguished in the area of trade and export financing (including asset-backed financing), as well as other types of structured financing and bank-to-bank lending.

Taxation: the practice offers broad expertise in all aspects of business taxation, including tax structuring of transactions, international tax planning, developments and investment, VAT and customs duties, and tax finance. It offers tax services peculiar to the CIS markets such as advising and litigating in the matters of reimbursement of export VAT and/or structuring to avoid or minimise its payment.

International arbitration/litigation: the practice covers full-scale representation in all the major courts and arbitration forums worldwide, as well as ancillary practices such as cross-border enforcement of arbitral awards and court decisions. Comprehensively experienced at every level, the firm’s attorneys cover arbitration and litigation in commercial, civil, tax, administrative and financial disputes. Astapov Lawyers has links with a network of partner law firms in other jurisdictions for assistance if the project requires local knowledge and/or local Bar admission.

International real estate: the firm regularly handles complex cross-border real estate and development projects, from plot acquisition to completion and possible sale of real estate projects. It has experience in both commercial and non-commercial real estate services.

Anti-dumping and antitrust practice: the firm advises on anti-dumping procedures, supports in obtaining merger clearance, initiates and defends on antitrust investigation in Ukraine and throughout Europe. The firm has considerable expertise in handling all kinds of projects involving the Ministry of Economy and Antimonopoly Authority of Ukraine. The firm also represents clients and advises on antitrust regulations at Office of Fair Trading (UK) and Federal Trade Commission (USA).

Contacts
Andrey Y Astapov (astapov@astapovlawyers.com)
Oleh M Malskyy (malskyy@astapovlawyers.com)
Tatyana L Kuzmenko (kuzmenko@astapovlawyers.com)
Oksana B Kneychuk (kneychuk@astapovlawyers.com)

Languages
Dutch
English
French
German
Italian
Polish
Russian
Spanish
Ukrainian

Other offices
Moscow
Odessa

Number of lawyers 80