A Blessing and a Curse: Sanctions a Mixed Bag for Foreign and Domestic Law Firms in Russia
Russia has been going through a volatile period the past few years, as the country continues to suffer from depressed oil prices and the effect of Western sanctions imposed following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea that prohibit European and American companies from doing business with numerous wealthy Russian individuals (or companies owned by them), and prohibit specified Russian companies in the financial, energy, and defense sectors from accessing US and EU markets.
While the international law firms are struggling to stay afloat, domestic Russian law firms have been doing just fine. Pepeliaev Group Managing Partner Sergey Pepeliaev says his firm is doing “brisk” business as well and increased in size in both 2017 and in 2018. According to him, “based on the increased number of staff, there is relevant scope of work – there is growth.” Sergey Pepeliaev insists that the majority of both local and foreign firms are doing well, describing reports of struggle as fiction. “Both economic issues and crisis exist only in people’s minds, and everyone is tired of the crisis game,” he claims. “Therefore, now everyone thinks of changes.”
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