Asters > Kyiv, Ukraine > Firm Profile

Asters
LEONARDO BUSINESS CENTRE
19-21 BOHDANA KHMELNYTSKOHO STREET
01030 KIEV
Ukraine

Ukraine > Banking, finance and capital markets Tier 1

Ukraine > Commercial, corporate and M&A Tier 1

Ukraine > Competition Tier 1

Ukraine > Dispute resolution Tier 1

Ukraine > Employment Tier 1

Ukraine > Energy Tier 1

Ukraine > Intellectual property Tier 1

Ukraine > International trade Tier 1

Ukraine > Private client Tier 1

Ukraine > Real estate and construction Tier 1

Ukraine > Tax Tier 1

Ukraine > White-collar crime Tier 1

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 stageprotecting 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.

DepartmentNameEmailTelephone
Co-managing partner Oleksiy Didkovskiyoleksiy.didkovskiy@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Co-managing partner Serhii Sviribaserhii.sviriba@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Senior partner Armen Khachaturyanarmen.khachaturyan@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
BD partner Tetiana Tyshchenkotetiana.tyshchenko@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Banking, finance and capital markets Armen Khachaturyanarmen.khachaturyan@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Banking, finance and capital markets Iryna Pokanayiryna.pokanay@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Banking, finance and capital markets Roman Stepanenkoroman.stepanenko@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Competition and antitrust Igor Svechkarigor.svechkar@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Competition and antitrust Alexey Pustovitalexey.pustovit@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Corporate and M&A Armen Khachaturyanarmen.khachaturyan@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Corporate and M&A Vadym Samoilenkovadym.samoilenko@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Corporate and M&A Oleksiy Demyanenkooleksiy.demyanenko@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Domestic litigation Gleb Bialyigleb.bialyi@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Domestic litigation Andriy Pozhidayevandriy.pozhidayev@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Energy, resources and constructions Armen Khachaturyanarmen.khachaturyan@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Energy, resources and constructions Yaroslav Petrovyaroslav.petrov@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Energy, resources and constructions Anzhelika Livitskaanzhelika.livitska@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Family law Talina Kravtsovatalina.kravtsova@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Family law Olga Lepikhinaolga.lepikhina@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Intellectual property Julia Semeniyjulia.semeniy@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
International arbitration and cross-border litigation Markiyan Kliuchkovskyimarkiyan.kliuchkovskyi@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Labour and employment Vadym Samoilenkovadym.samoilenko@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Labour and employment Inesa Letychinesa.letych@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Private clients Kostyantyn Solyarconstantin.solyar@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Real estate Oleg Boichukoleg.boichuk@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Real estate Roman Kostenkoroman.kostenko@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Restructuring and insolvency Andriy Pozhidayevandriy.pozhidayev@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Restructuring and insolvency Iryna Pokanayiryna.pokanay@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Taxation Kostyantyn Solyarconstantin.solyar@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Tech & comms Yuriy Kotliarovyuriy.kotliarov@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Trade Alexey Pustovitalexey.pustovit@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
Trade Gleb Bialyigleb.bialyi@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
White-collar crime Sergiy Grebenyuksergiy.grebenyuk@asterslaw.com+38 044 230 60 00
PhotoNamePositionProfile
Gabriel Aslanian photoMr Gabriel AslanianCounsel. Gabriel has vast experience in banking and financial transactions, project finance,…
Gleb Bialyi photoMr Gleb BialyiPartner. Gleb focuses on domestic litigation specializing in commercial, civil and administrative…
Oleg Boichuk photoMr Oleg BoichukPartner. Oleg focuses on complex cross-border M&A deals, transactional real estate matters,…
Sergiy Burnus  photoMr Sergiy Burnus Counsel. Head of London Office. Sergiy Burnus heads Asters office in London…
Oleksiy Demyanenko photoMr Oleksiy DemyanenkoPartner. Mr. Demyanenko focuses on: Corporate and M&A – cross-border investments, pre-M&A corporate…
Oleksiy Didkovskiy photoMr Oleksiy DidkovskiyCo-Managing Partner. Oleksiy focuses on international arbitration and cross-border litigation, corporate and…
Sergiy Dusanovsky photoMr Sergiy DusanovskyCounsel. Sergiy specializes on representing foreign and Ukrainian clients in corporate investigations,…
Oleksandr  Frolov photoMr Oleksandr FrolovCounsel. Oleksandr Frolov is a member of the International Arbitration and Cross-Border…
Sergiy Glushchenko photoMr Sergiy GlushchenkoCounsel. Sergiy counsels across a variety of antitrust matters, from mergers and…
Sergiy Grebenyuk photoMr Sergiy GrebenyukPartner. Sergiy focuses on representing clients facing criminal cases and court procedures. He…
Marta  Halabala photoMrs Marta HalabalaCounsel. Mrs. Halabala’s main focus is energy law (oil & gas, electricity…
Armen Khachaturyan photoMr Armen KhachaturyanSenior Partner. Armen has extensive banking, finance, and project finance experience. His…
Oleksandr Khomenko photoMr Oleksandr KhomenkoCounsel. Mr. Khomenko focuses on: Corporate and M&A – cross-border investments, pre-M&A corporate…
Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi photoMr Markiyan KliuchkovskyiPartner. Markiyan focuses on international arbitration and cross-border litigation disputes, specializing in…
Roman Kostenko photoMr Roman KostenkoPartner. Mr. Kostenko focuses on real estate acquisition, real estate financing, general…
Yuriy Kotliarov photoMr Yuriy KotliarovPartner. Yuriy Kotliarov leads the firm’s Telecommunications, Media & Technology practice. He focuses…
Olena Kozhokar photoMs Olena KozhokarSenior Associate. Olena’ s main areas of expertise include intellectual property rights…
Talina Kravtsova photoMs Talina KravtsovaPartner. Co-head of Family Law Practice. Talina Kravtsova has over 15 years…
Oles Kvyat photoMr Oles KvyatCounsel. Oles focuses on corporate, commercial, contract law, M&A, restructuring, securities and…
Oksana Legka photoMs Oksana LegkaCounsel. Oksana advises clients on both contentious and non-contentious issues. Her legal…
Olga Lepikhina photoMs Olga LepikhinaCounsel. Co-head of Family Law Practice Olga advises Ukrainian citizens and non-resident…
Inesa Letych photoMs Inesa LetychCounsel. Inesa co-heads Asters Employment practice and focuses on labour and employment law…
Anzhelika Livitska photoMs Anzhelika LivitskaCounsel. Co-Head of Energy, Resources and Construction Anzhelika has more than 25…
Andrew Mac photoMr Andrew MacPartner, head of Washington D.C. office. Andrew specializes in cross-border transactions involving…
Yuliia Matsiuk photoMs Yuliia MatsiukAssociate. Julia focuses on intellectual property issues, including copyright, trademarks, industrial property,…
Kateryna Oliynyk photoMs Kateryna OliynykCounsel. Ms. Oliynyk has over 15 years of experience in banking and…
Yaroslav Petrov photoMr Yaroslav PetrovPartner. Yaroslav focuses on energy law projects (oil & gas, electricity, renewable…
Viktoriya Podvorchanska photoMs Viktoriya PodvorchanskaCounsel. Head of Pharmaceuticals/Healthcare Viktoriya advises life sciences and healthcare companies on…
Iryna Pokanay photoMs Iryna PokanayPartner. Iryna focuses on cross-border banking and finance transactions, project and trade…
Svitlana Poroschuk photoMs Svitlana PoroschukPartner. Ms. Poroschuk focuses on M&A, corporate, capital markets, banking and securities…
Andriy Pozhidayev photoMr Andriy PozhidayevPartner. Andriy co-heads the dispute resolution and debt restructuring practice of the…
Alexey Pustovit photoMr Alexey PustovitPartner. Mr. Pustovit is the partner of the firm’s Competition & Antitrust…
Vadym Samoilenko photoMr Vadym SamoilenkoPartner. Vadym is active in M&A, business restructuring, securities, corporate and labor law…
Julia Semeniy photoMs Julia SemeniyPartner. Julia focuses on intellectual property, data protection, anti-corruption and other compliance…
Anton Sintsov photoMr Anton SintsovCounsel. Anton Sintsov has over 13 years of experience, specializing in business…
Kostyantyn Solyar photoMr Kostyantyn SolyarPartner. Kostyantyn Solyar is a tax and private client partner. He chairs…
Orest Stasiuk photoMr Orest StasiukCounsel. Orest focuses on criminal cases with international element, anti-bribery compliance work,…
Roman Stepanenko photoMr Roman StepanenkoPartner. Roman focuses on capital markets and financing transactions. He advises on…
Igor Svechkar photoMr Igor SvechkarPartner. Mr. Svechkar is the partner heading the firm’s Competition & Antitrust…
Serhii Sviriba photoMr Serhii SviribaCo-Managing Partner. Serhii focuses on international arbitration and cross-border litigation with particular…
Maksym  Tereshchuk photoMr Maksym TereshchukCounsel. Maksym Tereshchuk focuses on M&A and corporate restructuring, corporate and commercial…
Sergiy Tsyba photoMr Sergiy TsybaCounsel. Sergiy is a legal expert in telecommunications and media. In particular,…
Pavlo  Verbolyuk photoMr Pavlo VerbolyukCounsel. Pavlo focuses on competition and antitrust law. He provides legal advice…
Oleksandr Volkov photoMr Oleksandr VolkovCounsel. Mr. Volkov has over 13 year of experience in international commercial,…
Tetiana Vovk photoMs Tetiana VovkOf Counsel. Tetiana has over 14 years of experience during which she…
Oleksandr Voznyuk photoMr Oleksandr VoznyukPartner. Oleksandr’s area of expertise encompasses a wide variety of competition law…
Number of lawyers : 130
English
Ukrainian
Russian
German
Lex Mundi
World Services Group
Legalink
BioLegis
Energy Law Group

Asters pays great attention to such crucial issues as diversity and work-life balance. Particularly, the Firm was recognized as one of the Best Law Firms for women’s professional growth according to the Ukrainian Women in Law research conducted by Yurydychna Gazeta (a Ukrainian weekly). According to Focus weekly research in December 2017 Asters was recognized as one of the best employers in Ukraine.

CSR

Corporate social responsibility for Asters means high attention to ethical business practice and contribution to the economy’s growth, as well as improvement of life of the Firm’s employees, their families and the society in general. We believe that adhering to the corporate social responsibility strategy and to the sustainable development policy will provide a combination of economic and socio-cultural factors as the basis of the Firm’s business strategy.

Asters’ corporate social responsibility strategy is implemented through the support of pro-bono activities, arts, and education.

Among the most successful firm’s CSR projects are:

  • ???Asters Legal School, a unique free of charge platform for legal practitioners to share their experience and best practices in legal support and business protection. School’s launch back in 2013 was caused by a great demand for high quality educational programs among the representatives of the Ukrainian legal community. For 5 years EBA-Asters Legal School has been proving the relevance and feasibility of the project as the only regular and free platform for the experience exchange among lawyers in Ukraine.
  • Art Asters, a non-profit project, launched in 2009 in order to benefit Ukrainian artists and create additional opportunities for them to display their work. As part of this project the Firm provides artists with an opportunity to display their work in a gallery-like space of the office where lawyers, clients, and other visitors can admire artistic works. Asters also sponsors regular wider events inviting interested public to the gallery to celebrate the work of the artists cooperating with Art Asters.

 


OFFICES

Washington D.C.

Asters USA PLLC focuses on cross-border investigations and disputes and commercial and regulatory matters involving Ukraine.

The DC office works in unison with Asters’ “best friend” law firms in the United States and coordinates the growing amount of work in North America for both our multinational and domestic clients, assists in particular American companies with all aspects of doing business in Ukraine, and Ukrainian companies with expanding overseas.

Brussels

Asters’ office in Brussels provides a convenient interface for the firm’s friends and clients in Brussels and throughout the EU. This helps further optimize and streamline domestic work done for Asters’ partners, such as multi-jurisdictional merger filings and trade issues.

The office does not advise on Belgian or EU law but focuses on developing longstanding relationships with international law firms to better serve mutual clients. It also acts as a liaison to EU institutions and Brussels-based NGOs and as a platform to organize events and other initiatives in Brussels profiling the firm or Ukraine as a whole.

London

Asters representative office in London allows lawyers from multiple practice groups to be closer to the clients’ decision-making centres and serve multinational clients investing in Ukraine.

The office focuses on further development of long-standing relationships with London-based clients and international law firms. The London office of the firm does not provide English law advice.

INTERNATIONAL DESKS

Asters international desks – Nordic, French, and German – unite the firm’s lawyers offering legal advice in different languages adapted to country-specific business culture.

NETWORKS

As a member of the most esteemed networks – LexMundi, World Services Group, Legalink, Biolegis, Energy Law Group – Asters is able to meet clients’ every business need with preferred access to high calibre law firms worldwide.

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

On 5 April 2022, the Government adopted Resolution No.423 "On amendments to the procedure for examination of commissioned construction facilities", which establishes a mechanism for examination of construction facilities damaged as a result of emergency situations, military operations or terrorist acts (hereinafter –  "damaged facilities").

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

Asters announces that Sergiy Burnus has rejoined the firm as the Head of its London office and expresses gratitude to Olga Khoroshylova for her contribution.