Squire Sanders Bolsters Practice in Ukraine

10/23/13

Squire Sanders Bolsters Practice in Ukraine


Squire Sanders LLP has formed an international collaboration with Ukrainian law firm Salkom LLC to foray with greater strength into Ukraine and other international markets. The law firms will conduct business development jointly and promote their services together in their target markets. With this setup, Salkom becomes the first Ukrainian law firm to tie up with an international firm.

The new collaboration will operate under the title “Squire Sanders – Salkom International Association.” The two firms, which have already been collaborating with each other for the past 15 years will be sharing office space and will work together to serve both international and domestic clients.

In regard to the formation of the formal collaboration platform, James J. Maiwurm, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Squire Sanders said, “Law firms that wish to grow as global businesses can never lose sight of the importance of local knowledge and local reputation.” Asserting that the collaboration has placed Squire Sanders in the market at a better position and greater strength, he further added, “In Ukraine we have a great team and, with our new association there, we now have what will prove to be a market leading local resource with a thoroughly international outlook.”

The firm said that the new venture will have 30 lawyers experienced in all areas of Ukrainian law and cross-border advice, including regulatory compliance, dispute resolution and corporate matters. The step taken by Squire Sanders is quite significant in the context of tapping into post-Soviet-era nations and eastern European nations. It should be noted that these areas still retain commercial and political liaisons with Moscow at different levels of collaboration.

Commenting on the launch of the new venture, Ivan A. Trifonov, Managing Partner of the Moscow office of Squire Sanders said that the demands and expectations of both local and international clients keep changing. He also said that Ukraine is becoming increasingly important as a market for foreign investment. Admitting that Ukrainian businesses were actively seeking overseas legal expertise, he informed that their key goal was to open up those foreign markets and multiple jurisdictions for Ukrainian companies so that they could implement their projects.

Present day Kyiv (Kiev) is the commercial center of Ukraine and Salkom has its main office there. The Managing Partner of Salkom, Evgen Kubko, said that Squire Sanders was already a trusted collaborator of Salkom and with a formal association, the opportunities for clients doing business in Ukraine will be extensive.

Similarly, presenting his views on the new venture Peter Z. Teluk, Managing Partner of the Square Sanders office in Kyiv said, “in essence, we have now formalized our 15-year long relationship to move to a qualitatively new level of service for our respective clients.”