Interview with: Olga Chentsova, Chairman of the Board of Partners

What do you see as the main points that differentiate AEQUITAS law firm from your competitors?

AEQUITAS is a combination of profound expertise in the Kazakh law issues and strong international approach.  The firm has been active on the legal services market for more than 33 years and stood at the origins of present-day legal system of Kazakhstan, including civil and corporate law.  AEQUITAS partners took active part in the development and improvement of the most important acts of civil and economy legislation of Kazakhstan, including the Civil Code, Foreign Investment Law, Petroleum Law, Subsoil and Subsoil Use Law, Law on International Commercial Arbitration, Merchant Shipping Law, and other.  This gives a rare advantage – understanding of not only the “letter” of the law, but also the logics of legislation development.

At the same time, AEQUITAS has been historically focused on international clients and cross-border projects.  Among AEQUITAS clients are companies and investors from dozens of jurisdictions active in the spheres of energy, finances, industry, technologies, and infrastructure.  The firm is equally confident in complicated M&A transactions, resolution of disputes, advising the subsoil user companies, including the issues of regulation of the day-to-day business activities.

It is worth separately mentioning the culture of expertise and business relationships: AEQUITAS adheres to the standard of prompt communications with clients and individual work specifics for each client.  We avoid formal approaches and pay attention to details.  Moreover, AEQUITAS systematically shares its knowledge in analytical reviews, practical guides and publications, which actually serve as a waymark for business on new and complicated issues.

 

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

In the next year, we expect growth of demand in the following spheres.

Technologies, fintech, digital assets, and data protection.  Kazakhstan is active in developing its digital economy, and business is in need of clear understanding of new regulatory frameworks and risks.  Kazakhstan adopted the Digital Code, Artificial Intelligence Law, and other subordinate acts in this sphere.

Taxation. Starting 2026, a new Tax Code is applied in Kazakhstan.  The tax reform significantly changed the legal tax environment and made correct tax administration more important.

Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) is a special jurisdiction in the capital of Kazakhstan based on principles, rules and precedents of the laws of England and Wales, including the standards of the world leading financial centers.  Geopolitical and economic turbulence further stimulates companies to look for stable jurisdictions.  The AIFC remains to be one of the most attractive instruments for a structured international business in the region.  Over the recent years, there has been a burst of activity of foreign investors with respect to M&A transactions, corporate structuring, setting up of holdings, and acquisition of rights to subsoil use items.  We also expect greater investors’ interest to Alatau city located in close vicinity to Almaty, since it acquired a special status of advanced development city.

Resolution of disputes.  In our view, the number of judicial and arbitration proceedings will grow in Kazakhstan.  Investors give credit to the AIFC Court and International Arbitration Centre of the AIFC (IAC).  The fact that proceedings are held in English under the rules of the AIFC Court based on the rules and principles of the laws of England and Wales, as well as the possibility for foreign lawyers to participate in proceedings, makes the AIFC Court an attractive platform for dispute resolution with the participation of foreign companies.  Judgments of the AIFC Court are enforced in the territory of Kazakhstan under the same procedure as enforcement of judgments issued by the Kazakhstan courts of general jurisdiction, i.e. without the necessity to undergo the recognition procedure as stipulated for judgments of foreign courts.

Arbitral awards of the IAC are subject to enforcement in Kazakhstan in accordance with the procedure stipulated for the Kazakhstan arbitral awards.  Security measures adopted in the course of arbitration proceedings in the AIFC may be enforced in Kazakhstan without the necessity to apply to Kazakhstan courts (for this purpose, it is sufficient to have a resolution of the AIFC Court, which secures a claim).

Furthermore, over the recent years, we have noticed the growth of the number of queries from foreign companies relating to the necessity of recognition and enforcement of judgments of foreign courts in Kazakhstan.  We believe that this trend will remain relevant in the future.

Labor law and new forms of employment.  Platform employment, independent contractors, remote work, and cross-border teams require reconsideration of traditional HR models and compliance.  It is worth mentioning that the Parliament is currently considering another portion of massive amendments to the Labor Code, including with respect to resolution of labor disputes, procedure for representing the interests of employees in such disputes, scope of rights of trade unions, occupational health and safety issues, terms of employment contracts, and other important issues of labor activities.  These amendments will require update of labor documents and employers’ policies.

 

What is the main change you have made in the firm that will benefit clients?

As regards new directions, we are ready to offer support and advice of advocates in criminal matters, as well as broader support on the issues of protection of intellectual property items.

Our tax practice embraces a wide range of issues already; however, we believe that the next development stage shall be more profound expertise in international taxation issues, which will help our clients build and evaluate tax structures subject to predictable approaches to GAAR as a tax compliance element, meeting the BEPS standards, practice of developed tax systems, and local expectations of regulators.

 

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

Yes, certainly.  Today, technologies affect not only the form of communications, but also the form of providing legal services.  Online interaction, electronic document flow and digital communications channels became a standard, especially in international projects.

Technologies and databases allow lawyers conducting prompter analysis of legislative changes, structuring knowledge and offering clients more clear and practical solutions.  Eventually, clients are able to receive not just a legal opinion, but а meaningful picture of risks, terms and potential consequences for business.

Furthermore, clients themselves focus on the necessity to apply modern technologies, including AI when translating legal documents into different languages in order to expedite such work to the maximum extent possible.  The Kazakhstan market is of great interest for investors from China.  Online translation technologies allow for free communications and get on well with the clients’ representatives who speak only Chinese.

 

Can you give us practical examples of how you have helped clients to add value to their business?

We can mention the following among the recent examples.

In 2025, Holten Group finished acquisition of franchise business of Burger King in Kazakhstan, including a network of 55 restaurants in 14 cities of the country.  This transaction was a bright example of M&A and confirmed strong interest of foreign investors to the Kazakhstan market.  AEQUITAS acted as a legal counsel for the buyer, ensuring full transaction support from participation in negotiations with the sellers to drafting and coordination of transaction documents and legal support of the final closing.  Together with international advisors, we built a legally stable transaction structure, which met the requirements of local and foreign laws and allowed the buyer to get long-term (for 20 years) exclusive rights for the development of the Burger King brand in the country.  The firm’s work directly contributed to growth in business value for the investor on account of mitigation of legal and regulatory risks, allowing the client to be confident in assuming long-term obligations and benefit from favorable conditions of the transaction.

As regards other representative projects, we can distinguish advice to international development banks (EBRD, EDB and IDB) on the issues of financing the BAKAD project, which became the first concession project of special significance in Kazakhstan, providing for construction and operation of a toll high-speed ring road on account of borrowed funds in the amount of USD 585 million.  AEQUITAS lawyers rendered significant assistance to the clients in adapting international structure of project financing to the Kazakhstan legal environment.

With respect to judicial cases, we can mention a case involving representation of interests of a major distributor of medicines in connection with an appeal against a notice issued following the results of a tax inspection.  There occurred an issue of different interpretation of the rules of the Tax Code relating to VAT payment between our client and the tax authority.  Thanks to strong arguments and high-level qualification AEQUITAS lawyers successfully appealed against the notice of the inspection results.  This resulted in cancellation of additional assessments for the amount of more than KZT 45 million and a fine in the amount of KZT 21 million.  This underlines that we can effectively protect the clients’ interests in complicated financial and legal matters.

For many years, AEQUITAS has been working with one of world’s largest manufacturers of construction and mining machinery.  Previously, the company had only representative presence in Kazakhstan.  Expansion of the company’s activities required restructuring of its business model.  We helped building the legal structure of presence, selecting the optimum corporate model, executing corporate, labor and business issues, drafting all key documents required to start working as a full-fledged company.  As a result, the client reduced its legal and tax risks and scaled its business.

 

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

AEQUITAS has been working with many clients for many years and even decades.  It is not only business, but law firms from other jurisdictions that look for long-term strategic partnership with local law firms.

Many clients choose law firms that are reliable, have flawless reputation and provide high-quality business-focused advice.

We believe that, in three years, AEQUITAS will preserve its status as one of Kazakhstan’s leading law firms, concurrently strengthening its positions in such new directions as technologies, AIFC, and taxation, and expanding its dispute resolution practice and the range of other services provided by the firm.  AEQUITAS will become more experienced while preserving its key competitive advantage – profound legal expertise and trust of clients fostered for decades.