Hogan Lovells has finalised the closure of its Moscow office and the creation of a new independent firm under the leadership of three senior lawyers in the Russian capital.

The international firm announced its plans to ‘wind down’ its Moscow outpost in March, after the invasion of Ukraine led it to decide that ‘we can no longer continue to operate in Russia’.

Hogan Lovells has since said it ‘will be ceasing our Moscow operations with effect as of 1 June’ and that a new firm called LEVEL Legal Services has been set up, led by Alexei Dudko, Leonid Ervits and Denis Almakaev.

‘We are reaching out to relevant clients of the Moscow office to confirm whether they would like to transition some of their current work to the new firm, in line with our legal, regulatory and professional obligations,’ the firm said in a statement.

Natalia Gulyaeva, formerly managing partner of Hogan Lovells’ Moscow office, will move to Düsseldorf with a small team and will continue advising clients on intellectual property, media and technology matters.

Other Moscow-based lawyers will relocate to other Hogan Lovells offices in the coming weeks, the firm said, adding: ‘Some of our colleagues will not be relocating or joining the new firm so we also anticipate some redundancies as a result of the changes.’

Hogan Lovells follows Eversheds Sutherland and Clifford Chance in confirming the spin-off of their Moscow offices into independent law firms in recent months.

In April, Eversheds insisted it had ‘ceased operating in Russia’ after the launch of a new practice called Birch Legal which would become its ‘preferred relationship firm in Russia’, saying: ‘Birch Legal is not part of Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP and nor do we have any financial interest in Birch Legal. Should clients choose to instruct any of our relationship firms, including Birch Legal, we do not benefit financially.’

Clifford Chance also announced that most of its Moscow team would also move to an independent firm established by then-Moscow managing partner Vika Bortkevicha, called Bortkevicha & Partners, with a ‘small number’ likely to be made redundant.

 

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