LT Lawyers

History

2022: Entering the Russian market

As it became known in mid-July 2022, Chinese legal companies began to occupy the places of departed American and European competitors in Russia. Igor Mazilin, partner of the law firm INGVARR, which is part of an association with three Asian law firms: Zhong Yin (China), LT Lawyers (Hong Kong) and CFN Lawyers (Hong Kong), told Kommersant about the details.

Our company is a representative of these three companies in Russia, but each operates under its own brand, - said Mazilin.

According to him, given the arrival of an increasing number of Chinese investors in Russia, the demand for Asian lawyers, as well as Chinese and Hong Kong law, will grow.

Chinese firms enter the Russian market

Earlier in 2022, many large Western legal companies announced the termination of work in Russia and cooperation with Russian clients due to the start of a special operation in Ukraine and in pursuance of anti-Russian sanctions. Most of their Russian offices have been transformed or are being transformed into independent, already completely Russian law firms by July 2022.

As a result, "the Russian legal services market, which from the very beginning was formed with the most active participation of international law firms, for the first time becomes the market of national firms," emphasizes Nikolay Voznesensky, managing partner of ALUMNI Partners, in a conversation with Kommersant.

According to experts interviewed by the publication, some international law firms that claim to have left the Russian Federation simply re-registered Russian offices as partners.

Some changed the name of the companies to a similar one, others generally left the previous one, but as soon as the sanctions are lifted, everything will return to normal, - said one of the experts.

According to most lawyers, the departure of Western law firms can exacerbate competition in the legal sphere and affect pricing.^[1]

Notes