News date: 9 December 2022
The twentieth anniversary edition of the national research Ukrainian Law Firms. A Handbook for Foreign Clients, published December 2, 2022 acknowledged Ilyashev & Partners in all firm’s key practice areas and industries in the Ukrainian legal market.
For ethical and moral reasons ULF’s editorial team has taken the decision not to publish ranking tables this year, and provided English language analytics outlining the expertise of legal teams in Ukraine, which may become a powerful source of market intelligence for speeding up the rebooting of economic activity in Ukraine.
Agribusiness
Ilyashev & Partners is primarily known as a dispute resolution powerhouse, being sought after by agricultural companies in debt recovery under supply contracts, property rights, asset protection, insolvency, tax, as well as international arbitration and trade. The firm has a strong international arbitration practice involving commodities arbitration. Additional strong credentials belong to the international trade practice, as led by Partner Olena Omelchenko. The team is highly active in trade investigations involving agrarian companies. The firm’s Managing Partner, Mikhail Ilyashev, is the main point of contact.
Antitrust and Competition
Ilyashev & Partners has a well-established Antitrust and Competition Practice Team advising clients obtaining merger and concerted clearances, unfair competition, abuse of dominance cases, and traditionally handles regulatory disputes. Its clients include big domestic industry leaders and business groups, especially in the area of transport, real estate, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, agrarian, energy sectors. The practice lead partner is Oleksandr Fefelov, who is an old-timer on the Ukrainian market.
Banking & Finance, Debt Restructuring
Ilyashev & Partners is a primary dispute resolution firm with leading positions in insolvency and debt recovery practice, advising on substantial debt under loan agreements and restructuring proceedings, representing creditors and domestic borrowers. The firm further confirms its presence in the insurance and online payment fields. Clients include Arctic Securities, Munich Reinsurance Company, Development Bank of Kazakhstan, Ukreximbank, PZU Ukraine, ProCredit Bank. Mikhail Ilyashev, Managing Partner, oversees the practice. The practice team was extended with the arrival of Oleksandr Rudenko.
Bankruptcy
Ilyashev & Partners has a strong standalone bankruptcy practice, ensuring representation of debtors, creditors and insolvency practitioners. The firm is a primary point of choice for large-scale complex bankruptcies with a significant number of foreign creditors, and traditionally has an extensive presence in cross-border insolvency projects. The practice team has an established track record of representing distressed industrial debtors and state enterprises in the course of their bankruptcies. The client roster that consists of major commercial banks ensures instructions for representing the interests of creditors. The practice is led by renown litigator and Senior Partner Roman Marchenko. Vadym Kizlenko and Andrii Konoplia demonstrate their long-term commitment to the practice.
Corporate and M&A
In 2021 Ilyashev & Partners expanded its transactional practice catching up M&A, establishment of JVs, corporate restructuring, privatization; shareholder’s agreements and confirmed its front-running dispute resolution handling corporate conflicts and shareholder disputes. The firm added a series of significant M&A in the industrial sector, notably advising Latvian company Lu Invest on the sale of its 49.99% participatory interest in the Ukrainian agro holding Golden Sunrise Agro; represented shareholders of Zavalyevsky Graphite Plant on the sale of 70% of participation interest to the Australian public mining company Volt Resources Limited. The firm advised a consortium of investors UDP and A Development in the process of acquiring a 100% stake in the First Kyiv Machine-Building Plant JSC (formerly the Bolshevik Plant) at a privatization auction. The practice head is Partner Yevgen Solovyov.
Energy & Natural Resources
Ilyashev & Partners fields a portfolio of significant multi-stage energy disputes, including sensitive litigation against decisions of state authorities, contractual disputes, loan recovery, tax litigation, enforcement of international arbitration awards. Energy clients include the Ukrainian Association for Renewable Energy, Ukrinterenergo State Enterprise, Ukrgaz Concern, JKX Oil & Gas, JV Poltava Petroleum Company, Karpatygaz, Kryvyi Rih Cement, Elme Messer Gaas AS, and other names. The practice team is led by the firm’s Counsel Oleh Trokhymchuk. Mikhail Ilyashev is lead partner.
Information Technologies, Telecommunications & Media
Ilyashev & Partners is a dispute resolution heavyweight, representing a wide range of foreign companies being hired for property rights and copyright protection. The firm had a recent presence in movie production, representing A Company (Hungary) in a claim to recover indebtedness according to an agent agreement of distribution of a movie on the territory of CIS states. The team advised Freelancehunt on taxation issues, storage and personal data protection; acted for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine in the course of redelegation of the domain name Ukraine.ua. Dmytro Nikulesko acts on IP matters. The head of the Estonian office, Vitali Galitskihh, focuses on fintech and crypto regulation.
Intellectual Property
Ilyashev & Partners benefits from its well-established demonstrable track record, being a renowned litigation firm with IP expertise, supporting clients from aviation, heavy industry, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, software development, show business and TV production. The firm defended the interests of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society in matters on termination of violations related to the use of the Emblem of the Red Cross in the activities of the Medical Center Asklepiy Plus LLC. In addition, the IP team is enlisted to advise on sponsorship and advertising, licensing, handling IP due diligence. Dmytro Nikulesko is highly active on the IP disputes scene.
International Arbitration
Recognized for its strong domestic and cross-border litigation performance, Ukrainian law firm Ilyashev & Partners retains its involvement in international arbitration disputes, also acting on recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards in Ukraine. The team represented the interests of J.S. Corrugating Machinery Co., Ltd for the enforcement in Ukraine of two arbitration awards of China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission. The team, as led by partners Roman Marchenko and Mikhail Ilyashev, includes Roman Protsyshyn, Sergey Nedelko and Marina Riashchenko.
International Trade: Trade Remedies/WTO, Commodities, Commercial Contracts
Ilyashev & Partners possesses a robust international trade practice spanning extensive trade remedies practice, export control, customs, sanctions, trade preference agreements, rules of origin, dispute settlement procedures, GR. The firm is widely acclaimed for representing national producers in trade investigations, having initiated the majority of subsequent proceedings this past year. The firm also stands out for carrying out the introduction of preliminary anti-dumping and safeguard duties, and has unique experience in early completion of investigations. The practice is led by Olena Omelchenko, a pro-active partner with a very well-established reputation in trade remedies and international trade policy.
Labor & Employment
Ilyashev & Partners is particularly known for its extensive track record of employment disputes, acting on dismissal litigation, regulatory claims, and has standout expertise in negotiation and conflict resolution with trade unions. Other areas of recent focus were advisory, structuring corporate employment policies, employment compliance, employment aspects in the course of multijurisdictional transactions involving the transfer of employees, data protection and IP rights. The client list includes Coca-Cola Beverages Ukraine, Unilever Ukraine, Ukrainian Red Cross Society, Messer Ukraine and many others. The core executive figures of the practice are Leonid Gilevich and Valeriia Gudiy.
Litigation
Ilyashev & Partners, a recognized dispute resolution heavyweight with a well-resourced formidable practice, acting across domestic and cross-border litigation, international arbitration and white-collar crime practices. The firm has one of the largest capacities on the market, and advantages from its network of offices in the regions, namely in Kharkiv, Dnipro and Odesa. The firm is constantly chosen as a primary litigation counsel for international and local businesses, high-net-worth individuals and high-ranking state officials. The versatile practice team is proficient in handling large-scale shareholder disputes, sophisticated debt recovery and property litigation, insolvency proceedings, regulatory disputes, tax, employment, IP, specific maritime and aviation disputes. The firm has a notable track record in the energy sector. Having a prominent international trade practice in Ukraine, the firm is also enlisted for subsequent litigation. The firm’s partners are both active litigators. Mikhail Ilyashev guides the team on a variety of domestic disputes. Roman Marchenko guides the high-stake cross-border litigation. The senior members of the team include Oleh Trokhymchuk, Valeriia Gudiy, Yevgen Solovyov, Oleksandr Denysenko and Galyna Lefor.
Pharmaceuticals & Healthcare
Ilyashev & Partners has a broad profile of representations of both patients and healthcare institutions, and also stands out for advising insurance companies and medical assistances involved in cases occurring abroad. One recent highlight included ongoing representation of the interests of a private client in a precedent case at the stage of pre-trial investigation on the confirmation of a medical error. The dedicated team acts on the number of representations in cases involving clinical negligence. The firm also advises on a spectrum of pharma regulations. Competition law and IP rights protection are another vivid commitment of the firm. Alla Tsymanovska leads the high-profile medical cases. Olga Samoilenko advises on competition in the pharmaceutical industry.
Private Clients: Wealth Management, Family Law
Ilyashev & Partners consistently acts as a legal counsel of HNWIs, business owners and shareholders, in a variety of asset acquisition deals, structuring family business, tax structuring of revenues, tax residence. The firm is known for its dispute resolution work, particularly asset disputes and shareholders conflicts. In 2021 the firm rendered legal support in the acquisition of private jets, including deal structuring in the EU. The firm’s family law practice team regularly acts in cases of divorce, separation of property, inheritance matters, alimony recovery, children arrangement orders and custody. Mikhail Ilyashev and Roman Marchenko act as lead partners.
Real Estate, Construction, Land
Ilyashev & Partners has rapidly developed its real estate and construction practice, performing regulatory assignments and transactional work. The practice team advises on real estate acquisitions and privatization matters, also supporting the commissioning real estate objects. The firm advised a consortium of investors on the process of acquiring a 100% stake in the First Kyiv Machine-Building Plant JSC (formerly the Bolshevik Plant) at a privatization auction. Property rights litigation and regulatory disputes are another strong side of this team. Dmytro Hrybov took on the position of practice head. Artem Mikhailov is another key practitioner.
Tax and Transfer Pricing
The firm is sought after for representation in large stake tax and customs disputes, corporate tax advisory and international taxation. The team represented Poltava Petroleum Company in a series of disputes; in particular, recovery of tax debt from rent payment, and cancelation of tax assessment notices; acted for Feodosiya Shipbuilding Company More on restoration of the right to VAT credit and VAT refund. The tax practice team is led by Roman Marchenko and includes Ivan Maryniuk and Dmytro Lazebnyi. Vitali Galitskih, the head of the Tallinn office in Estonia, who is responsible for international tax planning.
Transport: Aviation, Maritime & Shipping
Ilyashev & Partners has very well-established positions in the aviation and aerospace areas, acting on sophisticated disputes, as well as advising on expansion plans. Having established relations with clients in the defense sector, the aviation team is retained for high-profile disputes, both domestic and cross-border. Roman Marchenko, the firm’s partner, heads the aviation practice. The firm successfully expands its presence in the maritime sector, and its office in Odesa headed by Sergey Nedelko has rapidly raised its client roster of shipowners and P&I Clubs on various shipping disputes related to cargo, crew and port claims.