Interview with: Aram Orbelyan, Managing Partner

Managing Partner Aram Orbelyan reflects on the evolution of Concern Dialog, the firm’s strong dispute resolution practice, and the growing demand for strategic legal advice in Armenia’s developing business environment.)

 

What do you see as the main points that differentiate Concern Dialog from your competitors?

Concern Dialog’s differentiation is defined by institutional stability and strategic depth cultivated over more than 28 years. Our model was shaped in the early 2000s by my late managing partner, friend and mentor, Sedrak Asatryan, whose vision was to build a firm that transcends individual practitioners. Today, we are a partner-led institution where the collective intelligence of our 26 professionals — including 19 licensed attorneys — operates as a cohesive, high-performing team. This structure provides our clients with operational resilience and technical breadth that is unique in the Armenian market.

Second, Global Connectivity. We act as a critical bridge between local legal realities and international expectations. Because of our sophisticated institutional infrastructure, we are the local partner of choice for many Magic Circle, White Shoe, and other leading international law firms on their most sensitive mandates in Armenia. We provide the procedural fluency and Big Law standards that clients expect when entering the Armenian market. Conversely, our long-standing membership and active participation in elite networks such as TagLaw and Nextlaw (by Dentons) allows us to offer our Armenian clients a truly international reach, connecting them to top-tier expertise in over 100 countries. Whether supporting a global client in a local dispute or leading a multi-jurisdictional transaction for a domestic client, we provide the seamless coordination required for complex, cross-border challenges.

Finally, we distinguish ourselves through our commitment to Value-Based Partnership. We have moved beyond traditional billing to a philosophy of Value Pricing. Our objective is to ensure that our commercial arrangements — whether fixed fees, blended rates, or success-based structures — always reflect the added value we bring to the client’s business. We strive to be a frictionless partner, combining direct partner access at every stage of a matter with a 24-hour response standard, ensuring our interests are perfectly aligned with our clients’ commercial outcomes.

 

Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that?

The next 12 months in Armenia will be defined by a unique intersection of political cycles and long-term economic modernization. While we are mindful that the parliamentary elections anticipated for the summer of 2026 may recalibrate certain immediate regulatory priorities, our strategic focus remains on sectors that demonstrate consistent and structural momentum.

First, we see Major Infrastructure Projects and Project Finance as a primary driver. Regardless of the political landscape, Armenia is committed to historic capital investments. We are seeing a surge in demand for legal support in the modernization of railroads, utility-scale power plants, and large-scale public infrastructure projects, such as metro expansions and the development of major educational and academic hubs. Crucially, we are now advising on the new infrastructure of the digital age — Data Centers and AI Factories — which require a complex blend of construction law, project finance, and specialized technology regulation.

Second, we expect substantial expansion in our Corporate, Advisory, and Litigation practices, alongside Competition and Labour law. This growth is driven by the fundamental maturation of the Armenian business environment, specifically the surge in Capital Markets activity, where non-financial institutions are increasingly issuing bonds and pursuing IPOs. Parallel to this, Armenian businesses are facing a historic moment of Generational Change in the private sector; as first-generation founders transition leadership, there is a critical demand for robust corporate governance and institutionalized management structures to ensure long-term sustainability.

Third, we are witnessing a significant Institutionalization of Criminal Defence. Historically, this was the domain of solo practitioners. A major structural driver of this shift is the 2025-2026 tax reform, which placed all attorneys under the same tax regime regardless of firm size — a change that, whatever its merits, has materially altered the competitive dynamics of the profession. As a result, corporate clients and individuals alike are increasingly gravitating toward full-service firms capable of offering integrated white-collar defence with institutional resources and judicial-level expertise. We are also working with the Chamber of Advocates to find a long-term solution that protects access to justice for individuals through further regulatory amendments.

Fourth, Alternative Dispute Resolution continues to gain meaningful traction. Having worked in this field and actively promoted it for over ten years — including supporting numerous training programs and subsidized and pro bono engagements — we are seeing a genuine culture of settlement emerge, with arbitration and mediation maturing into primary mechanisms for commercial stability and efficient conflict resolution.

Fifth, our Intellectual Property practice has reached a new level of maturity following our successful merger. We are now focusing heavily on Copyright for the creative and artistic sectors—including fashion, jewelry production, and the arts—as well as Franchising, particularly within the HORECA (Hotel, Restaurant, and Café) sector. This allows us to support Armenia’s brand-driven economy beyond simple trademark registration.

Finally, we are positioning for a mid-to-long-term increase in Cybersecurity, following the recent adoption of the Cybersecurity Law, as well as ESG, AML, and Consumer Protection. While we don’t expect a radical shift in these sectors within the next 12 months, they represent the ‘compliance frontiers’ that will define the next phase of Armenia’s global integration

 

What’s the main change you’ve made in the firm that will benefit clients?

The main change has been our transition from a broad institutional model to one of Advanced Specialization and Market-Specific Infrastructure. As we have scaled, we have moved beyond general practice to establish dedicated Desks — such as our ‘Move to Armenia’ Desk — which acts as a multidisciplinary hub for international businesses and individuals relocating to our jurisdiction. This infrastructure allows us to provide a single point of coordination across tax, corporate, and residency advisory, delivering a seamless entry strategy rather than a fragmented, multi-vendor experience. For clients entering an unfamiliar jurisdiction, this means faster execution, fewer gaps, and a single accountable team from day one.

Parallel to this, we have deepened the focused expertise of our leadership. Today, Narine Beglaryan (Corporate/M&A), Artur Hovhannisyan (Administrative and Tax), and Lilit Karapetyan (Mining, Environmental and Arbitration) lead their respective fields with high-level autonomy. To support them, we have refined our talent model; rather than confining our associates to narrow silos, we maintain a dynamic, cross-functional pool of legal talent. This ensures that while our associates develop specialised focuses, they are engaged across a variety of multidisciplinary projects — giving them the broader commercial understanding to anticipate overlapping risks before they reach the client.

Finally, we continue to enhance our capabilities through Strategic Integration and Expert Leadership. Our IP practice is now a market leader following our merger with Knyazyan Law/Arluys CJSC, with Sarkis Knyazyan bringing his extensive experience to head the team. Our Criminal Law practice is managed by Sergey Marabyan, an ex-Justice of the Court of Cassation, providing a rare judicial perspective on white-collar matters. We have also engaged Levon Gevorgyan, a seasoned lawyer with significant law firm and in-house experience and deep expertise in Public International Law and International Human Rights, to bolster our senior bench. At associate level, Shushan Stepanyan leads our Labour Law practice, Sofya Kharatyan manages Family Law, and Ella Mkrtchyan and Ani Mkrtumyan hold solid roles across Litigation and Consultancy. For clients, this multi-layered leadership structure means that the right level of seniority and specialisation is always matched to the complexity of the matter — ensuring that our 28-year legacy of excellence is delivered through a modern, hyper-focused institutional framework.

 

Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them?

Technology is central to our operational efficiency and, more importantly, to our commitment to Professional Responsibility and Data Integrity. Our approach is defined by an early-stage transition to enterprise-grade solutions, moving away from the personal platforms — such as generic email or personal cloud storage — that remain common in our market.

This investment in Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure allows us to adhere to the highest applicable data protection standards. While these systems represent a significantly higher operational cost, they provide sophisticated security features — such as Active Data Loss Prevention and multi-factor authentication — that are typically absent in personal-tier services. For our clients, this means a technical guarantee that their sensitive information is handled within a controlled, legal-grade environment, mitigating the risk of accidental leaks or unauthorised access.

Our integrated Practice Management and Billing software has also fundamentally optimised our workflow. By automating time-tracking and administrative tasks, we have removed the burden of clerical work from our legal professionals, allowing partners and their teams to focus entirely on crafting strategic solutions. For our clients, this translates into a transparent, value-driven service where they are paying for high-level intellectual judgment, not administrative overhead.

We are equally attentive to the rapid evolution of AI-assisted legal tools. Our current focus is on evaluating their responsible integration into research and document review workflows, with attorney oversight and client confidentiality as non-negotiable guardrails. We are committed to adopting these tools where they genuinely enhance the quality and efficiency of our work — and equally committed to not adopting them where they do not.

Finally, technology defines our Multi-Channel Communication philosophy. We recognise that in a high-speed business environment, being responsive means being accessible where the client is. While managing multiple platforms — from traditional email to secure messengers — carries an operational burden, we view it as a core component of our service. Supported by our 24-hour responsiveness standard, this ensures our clients are never left in a communication vacuum, receiving proactive updates that anticipate their needs before they arise.

 

Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business?

The most honest answer to this question begins with a core principle: we do not discuss our clients’ matters — including those that are publicly known or where disclosure is technically permissible. For us, this is not a legal formality; it is a reflection of how we define the client relationship itself.

We are aware that this may not be a conventional marketing answer, and that it may even appear to work against us in a ranking context. However, we have made this choice deliberately. Our ethical and professional standards are not negotiable, and we are not prepared to compromise them for short-term visibility.

In practice, this means that the executives, investors, and institutions who bring us their most sensitive matters — whether a complex market entry, a high-stakes dispute, or a white-collar defence — do so with the total confidence that their situation will never become our narrative. We believe that a client who can share the full picture with their counsel, without reservation, receives fundamentally better and more secure advice.

While we do not share case studies, the value we provide generally falls into three categories:

• Risk Pre-emption. We identify regulatory or structural risks long before they become disputes. By building the correct legal architecture from the start, we allow businesses to scale without the friction of future litigation.
• Operational Continuity. In a fast-changing regulatory environment, we turn compliance burdens into streamlined internal workflows. This allows our clients to focus on growth while we manage the complexity behind the scenes.
• Conflict Navigation and Resolution. When disputes arise, our role extends beyond mere representation. We work closely with clients to map the conflict — understanding its nature, its stakeholders, and its trajectory — to design a strategy that pursues the most effective resolution with the minimum necessary disruption. Much of our most valuable work involves resolving significant commercial or reputational threats before they ever become public. We measure our success by the disputes that the market never hears about.

Ultimately, the measure of our value is not what we are able to say about it — it is what our clients are able to achieve because of it. We are fortunate that the independent research of Legal 500 and Chambers reflects, through their own confidential interviews with the market, precisely the kind of feedback we would never share ourselves.

 

Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms – where do you see the firm in three years’ time?

Clients today expect a great deal from their law firms — stability, strategic direction, genuine availability, and increasingly, the intelligent use of technology. But our ambition goes beyond meeting those expectations. The firms that define the next decade will not be those that respond to client needs most efficiently — they will be those that identify and address those needs before they are fully articulated. That is the standard we are setting for ourselves.

Over the next three years, our vision for Concern Dialog is built on four strategic pillars:

• Deepening our Professional Foundations. We are investing in specialisation and cross-practice collaboration to ensure our advice is both technically precise and commercially coherent. Alongside this, we are strengthening our administrative infrastructure so our lawyers can dedicate their full attention to high-level client work, supported by a professional operational backbone rather than burdened by it.
• Integrated Solutions. We are developing structured partnerships with adjacent professionals — accountants, auditors, forensic specialists, and communications and PR advisors. For clients entering the Armenian market, this delivers a genuinely integrated experience through our Move to Armenia Desk. For those in high-stakes situations — whether a sensitive dispute or a complex transaction — it allows us to surround the legal strategy with the full range of professional support that modern, complex matters demand.
• International Reach and Public International Law. We are expanding in two directions simultaneously — supporting our Armenian clients more actively in their international operations through our global networks, while building a dedicated practice in Public International Law, International Human Rights, and Commercial Arbitration. These are fields where geography is no barrier, and where we believe we can offer expertise fully competitive with major international firms.
• Technology and Research as Leadership. Technology will play an increasingly central role — not as an end in itself, but as a means of continuously improving the precision and efficiency of our work. In parallel, our investment in legal education and research reflects a long-term commitment: a firm that contributes to shaping the profession is better positioned to lead within it.

In three years, we will still be what we are today — a market-leading institution built on 28 years of excellence. What will have evolved is how far ahead of the curve we are — in our expertise, our reach, and our capacity to shape the expectations of the market rather than simply respond to them.