Asters > Kyiv, Ukraine > Firm Profile

Asters > Firm Profile

The firm: Asters is the largest Ukrainian law firm (130 lawyers including 24  partners) with presence in Kyiv, London, Washington DC and Brussels. The firm combines strong transactional and regulatory expertise, as well as significant experience in dispute resolution, which helps to advice on all business aspects in Ukraine.

Asters has consistently remained at the top of the Ukrainian legal market throughout its history:

• Law Firm of the Year: Ukraine, The Lawyer European Awards 2021, 2020, 2015, 2014
• Law Firm of the Year in Ukraine, Who’s Who Legal 2022-2018, 2014
• Law Firm of the Year in Ukraine, Chambers Europe Awards 2020
• Law Firm of the Year, Legal Awards 2020, 2018, 2014, 2012 by Legal Practice weekly
• 1 Law Firm in Ukraine 2022, 2020-2018, 2016-2011, National Ranking Top 50 Law Firms

Areas of practice
Banking, finance and capital markets: bank acquisitions; equity investment; bank mergers; syndications; debt restructuring; eurobonds/local bonds; IPOs; secondary offerings and private placements; CLNs.

Corporate and M&A: structuring and implementation of M&A transactions; title transfer advice; tax, currency regulation, securitisation advice; antitrust clearance; arranging and holding of shareholders meetings, protecting and enforcing shareholder rights, representing in shareholder litigation; corporate-related registrations, filings, disclosures, listings, securities, and other compliance matters.

Compliance and anti-corruption: development of anti-bribery policies and programmes; anti-corruption audit; providing local support to global compliance due diligence; handling internal investigations regarding alleged misconduct; compliance risk assessment; development of defense strategies; representing clients before courts and government agencies in connection with anti-corruption and other compliance matters; compliance trainings for clients’ staff.

Competition and antitrust: merger control; concerted practices; abuse of dominance; competition compliance; restrictive and discriminatory practices; antitrust investigations; unfair competition; public procurement review.

Cybersecurity: cyberlaw consulting, including compliance of critical information infrastructure operators with cybersecurity law; cyber-advocacy and investigation of high-tech incidents, including cyber-forensics that facilitates collection of digital evidence admissible in courts and law-enforcement agencies; information security audits of networks, systems, applications and other assets; implementation of information security management system; cybersecurity trainings and awareness programs.

Dispute resolution: development of the dispute resolution strategy; assistance at the pre-trial stage; drafting of procedural documents; representing in courts; enforcement of Ukrainian court judgments; recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments; drafting of arbitration clauses and agreements; developing global dispute resolution strategies; acting as counsel in arbitration proceedings, as an expert witness on Ukrainian law issues, as an arbitrator, as a mediator or as counsel in mediation; assisting in collection of evidence in Ukraine; recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards.

Energy, resources and construction: production sharing agreements, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions; EPC (FIDIC) and Supply Agreements; advising on regulatory matters in oil and gas, electricity, renewable energy and emission reduction projects; obtaining all relevant permits and licensing documentation; project structuring and development; construction, real estate, land and health safety environment matters; tax, currency control, customs clearance, and employment matters; government relations; financing and refinancing; securities; mediation; litigation and arbitration.

Intellectual property: trade marks; patents; copyrights; trade secrets and confidential information; due diligence; parallel import, franchising, licensing, distribution agreements; litigation, unfair competition matters.

International trade:  import and export of goods under Ukrainian legislation; customs clearance procedures; anti-dumping and safeguards investigations; WTO rules and legislation.

Labour and employment: employment planning: employment contracts and agreements, personnel policies, benefit packages and incentive programs; executive compensation; employment of foreign employees and immigration law; collective bargaining and agreements, cooperation with trade unions; workforce reorganization and redundancies; corporate governance and the coordination of corporate elections; payroll tax planning and structuring of compensation plans; advice on compliance with mandatory preferential treatment requirements for employees with benefits, the structuring of work time and vacation time; termination and severance payments; occupational health and safety; mediation and litigation; data protection, privacy and access to information; general support in other labour issues, including the audit of internal policies and documents, as well as support in the course of labour inspections.

Private clients: establishing an effective system of control over business and management by owners, their family members and trustees; international tax and corporate structuring of asset investments and holdings in various jurisdictions; legal registration of the rights of clients’ family members and other people specified by clients in relation to the clients’ assets; structuring and establishing of trusts and family funds; drafting of business inheritance programs; ensuring clients’ property interests upon entering into the marriage, during divorce procedure and in other personal life aspects; ensuring the impossibility of abuse by management and partners if the owner is absent and during the inheritance transfer; protecting the clients’ assets, their family members and trustees from hostile actions of third parties; providing legal assistance in obtaining investment visas and residence permits; establishing a system of control over the business after an owner leaves the business.

Restructuring and insolvency: negotiating out-of-court or in-court settlement; representing in extrajudicial settlements; overseeing settlement implementation; restructuring of secured and unsecured debts; developing debt recovery procedures; terminating voluntary and collusive insolvency proceedings initiated by debtors to avoid fulfilment of obligations and debt payment; initiation of special procedures aimed at renewal of debtors’ ability to service indebtedness; out-of-the-box enforcement of court rulings.

Taxation: tax consultancy; tax rulings support; tax accounting support; tax risk management; transfer pricing compliance; M&A support; joint ventures; tax-wise cash-flow forecasting; taxes budgeting; negotiations and correspondence with tax authorities; administrative appeals of additional tax charges; full-scope tax litigation; enforcement of court decisions.

White-collar crime:  full legal support for business activities, evaluating their legal compliance, and conducting internal investigations; representing the client’s interests before regulators and law enforcement agencies, providing legal assistance in the course of audits and in connection with inquiries made by such agencies; conducting attorney investigations; ensuring the comprehensive protection of the client’s interests regardless of their procedural status at the pre-trial stage; protecting the client’s interests in the course of a trial, as well as at appellate reviews by second and third instance courts.

Clients: Asters’ lawyers regularly handle a variety of complex matters and the largest transactions for foreign and local blue chips, governments, state-run companies, investors, banks, international financial institutions, HNWI, pro athletes and sports clubs, for instance: Bayer, Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, EBRD, ED&F Man, Facebook, Ferrero S.p.A., General Electric, IFC, L’Oreal, Millennium & Copthorne, Microsoft, Molson Coors, Nielsen, Philip Morris, Prada S.p.A., Sanofi, Societe Generale, Syngenta, Visa, Webuild S.p.A, and many others.

Lawyer Profiles

Photo	Name	Position	Profile
	Mr Gabriel Aslanian	Counsel. Gabriel has vast experience in banking and financial transactions, project finance,…	View Profile
	Mr Gleb Bialyi	Partner. Gleb focuses on domestic litigation specializing in commercial, civil and administrative…	View Profile
	Mr Oleg Boichuk	Partner. Oleg focuses on complex cross-border M&A deals, transactional real estate matters,…	View Profile
	Mr Sergiy Burnus	Counsel. Head of London Office. Sergiy Burnus heads Asters office in London…	View Profile
	Mr Oleksiy Demyanenko	Partner. Mr. Demyanenko focuses on: Corporate and M&A – cross-border investments, pre-M&A corporate…	View Profile
	Mr Oleksiy Didkovskiy	Co-Managing Partner. Oleksiy focuses on international arbitration and cross-border litigation, corporate and…	View Profile
	Mr Sergiy Dusanovsky	Counsel. Sergiy specializes on representing foreign and Ukrainian clients in corporate investigations,…	View Profile
	Mr Oleksandr Frolov	Counsel. Oleksandr Frolov is a member of the International Arbitration and Cross-Border…	View Profile
	Mr Sergiy Glushchenko	Counsel. Sergiy counsels across a variety of antitrust matters, from mergers and…	View Profile
	Mr Sergiy Grebenyuk	Partner. Sergiy focuses on representing clients facing criminal cases and court procedures. He…	View Profile
	Mrs Marta Halabala	Counsel. Mrs. Halabala’s main focus is energy law (oil & gas, electricity…	View Profile
	Mr Armen Khachaturyan	Senior Partner. Armen has extensive banking, finance, and project finance experience. His…	View Profile
	Mr Oleksandr Khomenko	Counsel. Mr. Khomenko focuses on: Corporate and M&A – cross-border investments, pre-M&A corporate…	View Profile
	Mr Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi	Partner. Markiyan focuses on international arbitration and cross-border litigation disputes, specializing in…	View Profile
	Mr Roman Kostenko	Partner. Mr. Kostenko focuses on real estate acquisition, real estate financing, general…	View Profile
	Mr Yuriy Kotliarov	Partner. Yuriy Kotliarov leads the firm’s Telecommunications, Media & Technology practice. He focuses…	View Profile
	Ms Olena Kozhokar	Senior Associate. Olena’ s main areas of expertise include intellectual property rights…	View Profile
	Ms Talina Kravtsova	Partner. Co-head of Family Law Practice. Talina Kravtsova has over 15 years…	View Profile
	Mr Oles Kvyat	Counsel. Oles focuses on corporate, commercial, contract law, M&A, restructuring, securities and…	View Profile
	Ms Oksana Legka	Counsel. Oksana advises clients on both contentious and non-contentious issues. Her legal…	View Profile
	Ms Olga Lepikhina	Counsel. Co-head of Family Law Practice Olga advises Ukrainian citizens and non-resident…	View Profile
	Ms Inesa Letych	Counsel. Inesa co-heads Asters Employment practice and focuses on labour and employment law…	View Profile
	Ms Anzhelika Livitska	Counsel. Co-Head of Energy, Resources and Construction Anzhelika has more than 25…	View Profile
	Mr Andrew Mac	Partner, head of Washington D.C. office. Andrew specializes in cross-border transactions involving…	View Profile
	Ms Yuliia Matsiuk	Associate. Julia focuses on intellectual property issues, including copyright, trademarks, industrial property,…	View Profile
	Ms Kateryna Oliynyk	Counsel. Ms. Oliynyk has over 15 years of experience in banking and…	View Profile
	Mr Yaroslav Petrov	Partner. Yaroslav focuses on energy law projects (oil & gas, electricity, renewable…	View Profile
	Ms Viktoriya Podvorchanska	Counsel. Head of Pharmaceuticals/Healthcare Viktoriya advises life sciences and healthcare companies on…	View Profile
	Ms Iryna Pokanay	Partner. Iryna focuses on cross-border banking and finance transactions, project and trade…	View Profile
	Ms Svitlana Poroschuk	Partner. Ms. Poroschuk focuses on M&A, corporate, capital markets, banking and securities…	View Profile
	Mr Andriy Pozhidayev	Partner. Andriy co-heads the dispute resolution and debt restructuring practice of the…	View Profile
	Mr Alexey Pustovit	Partner. Mr. Pustovit is the partner of the firm’s Competition & Antitrust…	View Profile
	Mr Vadym Samoilenko	Partner. Vadym is active in M&A, business restructuring, securities, corporate and labor law…	View Profile
	Ms Julia Semeniy	Partner. Julia focuses on intellectual property, data protection, anti-corruption and other compliance…	View Profile
	Mr Anton Sintsov	Counsel. Anton Sintsov has over 13 years of experience, specializing in business…	View Profile
	Mr Kostyantyn Solyar	Partner. Kostyantyn Solyar is a tax and private client partner. He chairs…	View Profile
	Mr Orest Stasiuk	Counsel. Orest focuses on criminal cases with international element, anti-bribery compliance work,…	View Profile
	Mr Roman Stepanenko	Partner. Roman focuses on capital markets and financing transactions. He advises on…	View Profile
	Mr Igor Svechkar	Partner. Mr. Svechkar is the partner heading the firm’s Competition & Antitrust…	View Profile
	Mr Serhii Sviriba	Co-Managing Partner. Serhii focuses on international arbitration and cross-border litigation with particular…	View Profile
	Mr Maksym Tereshchuk	Counsel. Maksym Tereshchuk focuses on M&A and corporate restructuring, corporate and commercial…	View Profile
	Mr Sergiy Tsyba	Counsel. Sergiy is a legal expert in telecommunications and media. In particular,…	View Profile
	Mr Pavlo Verbolyuk	Counsel. Pavlo focuses on competition and antitrust law. He provides legal advice…	View Profile
	Mr Oleksandr Volkov	Counsel. Mr. Volkov has over 13 year of experience in international commercial,…	View Profile
	Ms Tetiana Vovk	Of Counsel. Tetiana has over 14 years of experience during which she…	View Profile
	Mr Oleksandr Voznyuk	Partner. Oleksandr’s area of expertise encompasses a wide variety of competition law…	View Profile

Press Releases

GOVERNMENT APPROVES PROCEDURE FOR EXAMINATION OF BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES DAMAGED AS A RESULT OF RUSSIA`S MILITARY AGGRESSION

Sergiy Burnus Appointed as a New Head of Asters’ London Office