Clifford Chance, among the world’s biggest law firms, will open a Kyiv affiliate this year, signaling the Ukrainian capital is becoming a top legal market
Clifford Chance, among the world’s biggest law firms, will open a Kyiv affiliate this year, signaling the Ukrainian capital is becoming one of the world’s top legal markets, promising vast growth potential.
The law firm selected current Warsaw chief Nick Fletcher to lead the Kyiv office, who will bring with him Tomasz Stasiak and four Ukrainian real estate lawyers from Warsaw to focus on property, corporate and finance work.
“Ukraine is the next big market to develop,” Fletcher said. “Capital markets, banking and real estate work has significantly increased since the Orange Revolution.”
Clifford Chance’s entry is the latest in a deluge of multinational law giants entering the market, with British firm CMS Cameron McKenna launching operations in September.
The sudden entry of such big firms has rattled the local legal service market, causing large defections of lawyers and initiating wage wars.
Clifford Chance’s entry means lawyer salaries will undergo another wave of increases, said Tetiana Kuzmenko, a lawyer for the Astapov Lawyers International Law Group.
The rapidly changing market will also force certain small- and medium-sized firms to pursue mergers and acquisitions, observers said.
“If Clifford Chance engages high-quality specialists and offers a high level of service, we can say that our market is divided between legal giants, which leaves little room for small Ukrainian companies,” she said.
Clifford Chance has 27 offices in 20 countries, employing 3,900 lawyers. It opened its Moscow office in 1991, expanding to 34 partners and more than 170 lawyers throughout Central and Eastern Europe, including Moscow, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest and Bucharest.
“Our new office in Kyiv will enable us to handle the increasingly large volumes of work in the region, strengthen existing regional client relationships and extend our ability to serve global clients as they expand into growing markets,” said Michael Cuthbert, who leads Clifford Chance’s Moscow office.
Clifford Chance is one of London’s elite Magic Circle law firms, but not the only one considering Kyiv.
Sources told the Post that Linklaters, another Magic Circle firm, is considering opening a Kyiv affiliate.
A spokeswoman in the Linklaters Warsaw office, who declined to give her name, said she couldn’t confirm such plans.
Rapid growth doesn’t necessarily improve the Ukrainian market, warned Yulia Kuriol, director of the YUST Ukraine law firm.
“The constant growth in the number of law firms, and intensified competition among many market players, doesn’t necessarily mean an improvement in the quality of legal services and ensuring maximum satisfaction of client needs,” she said.
