Effective January 1, 2020, the following Senior Lawyers of the Firm shall be promoted as Counsels: Oleg Bouiko and Denis Golubev (Litigation), Daria Ilyina (M&A and Corporate), Ildar Mustafin (WCC), Pavel Sukholinsky (Administrative Law), Sergey Ustalov (Energy) and Alexey Karchiomov (Maritime Shipping / Transport Law and International Trade & Customs in St Petersburg).
On September 22, 2019, following the Qingdao Arbitration Commission (QDAC) meeting, Evgeny Raschevsky, Partner and Head of International Arbitration Practice at EPAM, was appointed as vice president of the International Arbitral Tribunal of the Qingdao Arbitration Commission in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) demonstration area.
A group of bus operators filed a class action lawsuit seeking to ban BlaBlaCar operations in the Russian Federation and to prohibit the information posted on BlaBlaCar’s platfrom. The claimant and the joining operators argued that BlaBlaCar was in breach of passenger and consumer protection laws, and that the advertisements being posted on BlaBlaCar’s official website and on its mobile application were breaking Russian tax law.
Attorneys of the Litigation Practice at EPAM in St. Petersburg have successfully defended the interests of the founders of air carrier Transaero in a dispute over a major loan that formed part of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.
Attorneys of EPAM have provided pro bono legal consulting to Big Brothers Big Sisters in Russia, a community organisation, that is helping to raise the younger generation. The Firm’s lawyers have developed a set of guidelines addressing legal issues and the types of government assistance available to orphaned children and children whose parents are unable to care for them. The guidelines help both volunteer mentors and children supported by the programme in St. Petersburg to navigate the state benefits system and address legal issues as they arise.
Until recently, Aqua Investments Group, a client of the Firm, in cooperation with Kavminkurortresursy JSC, had successfully protected their exclusive geographical indication (GI) rights to the products Yessentuki N4 and Yessentuki N17 (GI Yessentuki). In most cases, the holder of the GI rights had managed to prevent competitors from launching counterfeit products attempting to use the well-known healing diets and mineralized healing water brands.
In one of the biggest bankruptcy cases in modern Russian history, a team from the Litigation Practice at EPAM in St. Petersburg has successfully deflected the latest claim submitted by the bankruptcy trustee in the Transaero bankruptcy case.
Attorneys of EPAM’ M&A and Corporate Practice advised Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions Holdings Corporation on the prolongation of CEO powers in order to maintain their Russian subsidiary company
The national pharmaceutical chain VITA / VITA Express, which has been operating in Russia since 1995 and numbers 1,730 pharmacies, engaged the Firm’s services after it became known that a competitor was also using a logo containing the word “ВИТА” (the Russian word for VITA) and a similar colour combination on its signs. Moreover, VITA’s opponent managed to register its logo as a trademark with Rospatent. Protecting the client’s interests proved to be challenging as the logo used by the client was different from the one protected by their trademark.
The Firm’s attorneys continue to successfully defend the patent rights of major international pharmaceutical companies. This is the fourth pharmaceutical manufacturer (along with Novartis, Bayer, and BMS) that successfully sought legal redress in the Intellectual Property Court thanks to the Firm’s team
On June 18, 2019 a meeting of the Commission on International Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC Russia) was held in Moscow to elect the Chairman of the ICC Russia Commission on Arbitration. Dmitry Dyakin, Partner and Co-Head of the Litigation and Arbitration Practice at EPAM, was elected to this position by a majority vote.
On May 20, 2019 an annual meeting of the Swedish Arbitration Association (SAA) was held in Stockholm. Ilya Nikiforov, Managing Partner at EPAM, was elected as a new member of SAA executive committee and is now the only representative from Russia.
A team of lawyers from the Minsk office of EPAM took on the role of legal counsel at Citigroup Global Markets Limited and Raiffeisen Bank International AG (being the joint lead managers) on issuance and placement of debut corporate Eurobonds of JSC “Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus” totaling $500 million. The transaction was completed on May 2, 2019.
On April 18, 2019 an international conference titled “Saint Petersburg Maritime Forum: Pressing Problems of Marine Navigation” organized by the Admiral Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping and River Fleet, and the Maritime Arbitration Commission at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry took place in collaboration with EPAM. The Firm’s Senior Associates Alexey Karchiomov and Andrey Tuzov spoke at the event.
A team from the Litigation Practice at EPAM in St. Petersburg, representing the interests of a client in the Commercial Court of the North-Western Federal District, secured a new hearing in a case involving a RUB 2.5 billion subsidiary liability claim against a former shareholder in Energocapital, the largest brokerage firm in north-western Russia.