City law firms and British government officials will travel to Ukraine next month to try to boost the presence of English firms in Europe’s largest country.

The mission, scheduled for the end of April, will include delegates from 10 City firms and officials from UK Trade & Investment. It has been arranged by the Law Society’s international division.

Alison Hook, the Society’s head of international, said: ‘It’s somewhere that’s been on our radar screen for a while, and there’s always been a lot of interest in Ukraine from the point of view of its natural resources.’

National firm DLA Piper, which has the biggest Ukraine operation of any English firm, runs an office of 30 lawyers in Kiev. US firm Baker & McKenzie has the largest foreign legal presence in the country.

Minister for Trade and Investment Lord Davies of Abersoch and Paul Myners, financial secretary to the Treasury, are due to address the legal profession on overseas expansion at a conference today. The conference, hosted by UK Trade & Investment and HM Treasury, aims to encourage law firms to expand overseas as the downturn continues.