It has been almost three and a half years since Dmytro Fedoruk and Oleksiy Soshenko started running their own firm – Redcliffe Partners – but they saw it coming some time before. Global legal giant Clifford Chance, Fedoruk’s previous employer, left Ukraine right after the EuroMaidan Revolution four years ago that ousted disgraced President Viktor Yanukovych.
Following Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its war in the Donbas, Clifford Chance understood that Ukraine was “too risky for them as a country,” according to Fedoruk. So, he and his then-Clifford Chance partner Soshenko bought the international firm’s Ukrainian branch. It was a win-win deal for both parties, according to Fedoruk.
Prior to 2014, the Ukrainian team of Clifford Chance “was not feeling absolutely comfortable in the office.” They wanted to open new practices, take risks on the market “but could not do anything due to the long-term planning structure” existing in Clifford Chance at the time.
The name Redcliffe evokes associations with Clifford, and Fedoruk admits that this can be helpful for promoting his company in Ukraine, but nobody at Clifford Chance’s London headquarters finds it to be a problem. The story about naming the firm was not so much about marketing it, but about Fedoruk’s personal experience. He came up with the name because of “once living in London’s Redcliffe Square, and my child visiting Redcliffe School” in the vicinity.
Besides, the Clifford association is indicative of the firm’s internationality and diversity. “We have English, U.S., and German” lawyers on the team, which proves the “substantial international element” of Redcliffe. His firm is based in Ukraine, but acts “upon international standards and is more agile” than global law firms.
Redcliffe will soon have its first woman partner, Zoryana Sozanska-Matviychuk, a Ukrainian lawyer with a master’s degree from Australia, as well as experience at law firm Baker McKenzie’s Sydney office. She will become Recliffe’s partner in January.
First three years
Looking back at the development of the firm in its first three years of existence, Fedoruk says that in the first year the team “continued working the usual way.” They had moderate success while learning to manage finances, and be independent.
Redcliffe devoted their second year to growing in terms of people and practices. They started off with 11 lawyers and four additional staff members, while now the firm boasts having 36 lawyers and 57 people in general. And all of its partners are keeping their associates busy.
The second year turned out to be a success, Fedoruk says, whereas “the third year shall be even better.”
In terms of future growth, Redcliffe does not plan to open new offices or practices. Instead, Fedoruk sees Redcliffe Partners growing through winning new clients and strengthening the existing practices. The next several years his partners and himself will focus on growing the practices of dispute resolution, tax, compliance, antitrust, and intellectual property.
Only one downside
Fedoruk is aware that his attorneys and associates are working hard, and sometimes even too hard. And he also knows that people can be motivated for work the way he got motivated as a young lawyer “by participating in client-facing negotiations early on in a career, meritocratic culture, and appreciation of hard work.”
Practicing law has mostly been an enjoyable endeavor for Fedoruk. He can only remember one downside of it, which was the somewhat tedious experience of constantly moving between the Clifford Chance offices in London and Kyiv back in 2013-2014.
He decided to be a lawyer when he was working on his first legal assignments. Still a student at Taras Shevchenko University, Fedoruk was working as a junior lawyer. During that time he gained trust from colleagues and clients. This “gave me the thrill” and desire to practice law and grow professionally. Now Fedoruk aims to provide the same experience to his young colleagues in legal work.
Fedoruk calls himself “a democratic person without attributes” of power or luxurious life.
