KIAP, DS Law and Balashova Legal Consultants (BLC) have officially started the consolidation of the three companies under one single brand, KIAP Digital & Smart. The completion of the integration process will take at least six months and is expected to end by summer 2020.
The new Russian legal firm will employ over 80 professionals, including 15 partners.
Andrey Korelskiy, Managing Partner at KIAP, Attorneys at Law, will be in charge of the new consolidated legal firm.
As a result of the consolidation process, the three companies will become one of the largest national legal firms in the Russian market both in terms of the number of employees and the level and quality of legal services rendered. In addition to their traditional services, the consolidated company will offer its clients a number of new services in M&A and venture transactions, tax and intellectual property law, labour and migration law as well as support of international businesses entering the Russian market.
“In April 2020, KIAP, Attorneys at Law, will celebrate its 10th anniversary. Over these years, we have gone a long way to become a traditional legal firm as we are today: we have built relationships of trust with our clients, developed our brand and built a reliable and close-knit team. Now, it is time to move on, and we are proud that our first anniversary will also see us taking such a big step forward. I believe that by joining our resources and efforts, we will become even stronger as a professional team of attorneys and lawyers and set а new trend of consolidation and cooperation for the local legal market,” comments Andrey Korelskiy, Managing Partner at KIAP, Attorneys at Law.
“We see this consolidation as an important milestone for our team and we are absolutely sure that this step will shape the Russian legal services market. Together, we will be able to aim at even bigger and more complex projects in different economy sectors and compete with the largest national and international legal firms in our legal services market. We will put all efforts into bringing the best practices and expertise from each of the parties of this consolidation process to our new team,” says Oleg Ponamarev, Managing Partner at DS Law.
“Employees are the key to success in any business. We are happy to become a part of one of the largest players in the Russian legal services market and to bring our unique competences and experience in labour and migration law to the table and provide comprehensive support to international companies entering the Russian market,” says Elena Balashova, Managing Partner at BLC.
The consolidated legal firm will comply with the generally accepted international standards and codes of conduct regulating attorney and legal consulting services, with the emphasis on professionalism and high quality of the services. Many years of successful operation of the three companies in the legal services market and deep understanding of the specifics of the industry of each client as well as an honest and responsible approach to performing our duties will serve as a solid foundation for building KIAP Digital & Smart’s strong business reputation.
About KIAP
KIAP is one of the leading Russian law firms, founded in 2010. Our professional team of 40 lawyers and counsels is comprised of highly professional specialists and experts, acknowledged in different sectors of Russian business, which is confirmed by recommendations in such international and Russian legal reference publications as Chambers Europe, Chambers Global, Legal 500 EMEA, IFLR 1000, IP Stars, World Tax, Pravo.Ru-300 and Kommersant. KIAP’s client list includes major Russian and foreign companies, top companies of the world largest companies rankings Fortune Global 500, Forbes Global 2000, RBK 500, etc. KIAP was twice shortlisted in Chambers Europe Awards for Excellence as the Best Law Firm of the Year in Russia, is a leading firm of Pravo-300’s Sympathy Rating in 2017 and Law Firm of the year in Russia in the field of litigation according to Best Lawyers 2020. Second year in a row our Litigation practice is represented in Band 1 of Chambers Europe international rating.
About DS Law
The law firm DS Law is the first law firm to provide a legal support to businesses in the high-tech segment. The firm specializes in corporate and tax law, venture transaction support, Private Equity and M&A transactions, intellectual property and dispute resolution. The team of the DS Law consists of 6 partners and 25 associates, offices are represented in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Over the past three years, DS Law has been recognized as one of the best Russian law firms in the field of private equity and venture financing by the leading information source in this field - PREQVECA (the part of the CBonds information group). DS Law is also regularly ranked by the leading Russian Internet portal in the field of M&A transactions - Mergers.ru (the 3rd place on the number and amount of transactions in 2018). The company is recommended by leading Russian and international ratings, including IFLR1000, Chambers Europe, Best Lawyers, World Trademark Review, Pravo.ru-300, Kommersant and others.
About Balashova Legal Consultants (BLC)
Balashova Legal Consultants - one of the leaders in the Moscow legal market in the field of Russian and international labor and migration law, as well as in German-Austrian business community. The company has been present on the market for 10 years already and is a member of the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce in Russia, the Finnish-Russian Chamber of Commerce (SVKK), the German-Russian Bar Association, a member of the Austrian Economic Forum, as well as a partner of the German-speaking lawyers association worldwide Advoselect. The clients of BLC are international and Russian companies operating in the field of trade, services, manufacturing, automobile and machine building, construction, consulting, in the banking and investment sectors. The team of BLC includes recognized experts in the field of labor and migration law, comprehensively approaching the solution of problems of any complexity.. Managing Partner of BLC, Elena Balashova, leads the Human Resources Committee and is a member of the Board of the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce, a trusted lawyer at the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Trade department of the Austrian Embassy in Moscow, as well as a certified expert in the field of German and European labor law.