Any chance of biglaw cutting Russia ties? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Several firms have Moscow offices or represent Russian clients, especially state-run O&G companies. Given BP's move, it seems like the time is coming when firms will need to reassess the connections.

[becodalapa]

I would assume law firms would do what they have to in order to comply with the law and nothing more.

[Anonymous User]

Which firms are heavily dependent on Russian money?

[Anonymous User]

Which firms are heavily dependent on Russian money?

If I had to guess I'd say simultaneously all and none? That is, any firm that deals with financial institutions, hedge funds, real estate, etc. will have some exposure and will need to get rid of some clients and advise others how to comply with sanctions. But I doubt that any big firm is so tied up with Russian money that compliance will be overly painful.

[Anonymous User]

Latham literally has an office in Moscow with 25 attorneys Lol

[Anonymous User]

Latham literally has an office in Moscow with 25 attorneys Lol

Yeah but that's less than 1% of their workforce. And most of these overseas offices are loss leaders.

[Anonymous User]

Baker Botts also has heavy ties, including a not-insignificant Moscow office, with (Houston-based, Moscow-listed) Jason Bennett in particular relying on very close relationships to those in Putin's orbit.

[Anonymous User]

Skadden too

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/24/us/p ... ation.html

[Anonymous User]

Baker McKenzie, Venable, Sidley are all cutting ties with Russian clients:

https://www.law.com/international-editi ... -invasion/

[cfcm]

Harvard Law 2L Walks Away From Summer Associate Position to Protest Law Firm's Work in Russia

https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blo ... ussia.html

[Anonymous User]

Winston & Strawn. Shut down their Moscow office.

[Anonymous User]

Norton Rose Fulbright is closing their Moscow office

[Anonymous User]

Latham just announced we will be winding down our presence in Russia

[nealric]

I'm guessing most (if not all) international biglaw offices will shut down in the wake of the war and resulting sanctions. None are likely huge profit centers for their firms (certainly not to the point that it would seriously hurt their overall bottom line if they walked away), and the reputational issues for U.S. clients probably outweigh any of that benefit. U.S. oil and gas investment in Russia and Russian oil and gas business relationships with Russia are basically dead for the foreseeable future, so offices intended to service that base have no use. It would be nearly impossible to find U.S. or Western European lawyers willing to work in (or even travel to) a Moscow office right now, which means integration between offices would be extremely difficult. Banking sanctions will make things like integrated client billing difficult if not impossible. On top of that, the Russian economic implosion right now will seriously tank local client base as well as non-Russian clients doing business in Russia.

A likely scenario is many of the Moscow offices simply get spun off as local firms that the U.S. firm has some sort of business referral relationship. The last holdouts would be firms working with companies trying to divest their interests there.

[Anonymous User]

I'm guessing most (if not all) international biglaw offices will shut down in the wake of the war and resulting sanctions. None are likely huge profit centers for their firms (certainly not to the point that it would seriously hurt their overall bottom line if they walked away), and the reputational issues for U.S. clients probably outweigh any of that benefit. U.S. oil and gas investment in Russia and Russian oil and gas business relationships with Russia are basically dead for the foreseeable future, so offices intended to service that base have no use. It would be nearly impossible to find U.S. or Western European lawyers willing to work in (or even travel to) a Moscow office right now, which means integration between offices would be extremely difficult. Banking sanctions will make things like integrated client billing difficult if not impossible. On top of that, the Russian economic implosion right now will seriously tank local client base as well as non-Russian clients doing business in Russia.

A likely scenario is many of the Moscow offices simply get spun off as local firms that the U.S. firm has some sort of business referral relationship. The last holdouts would be firms working with companies trying to divest their interests there.

Agree that the moscow offices probably arent a big deal -- I'd be more concerned about London offices/specific London-based partners that have deep connections with Russian oligarchs. Akin Gump and Skadden come to mind (obviously skadden as a whole will be fine, but I could see some specific london partners struggling without russian oligarch clients, if they were actually to cut them loose). "Londongrad" was (is?) a very real thing.

[wegwgre]

White & Case to close its Moscow Office.

https://www.whitecase.com/news/press-re ... cow-office


I wonder what is going to happen to the attorneys and if we can see some transfers from Moscow office to European or US offices.

[Anonymous User]

DLA Piper cutting ties with its Moscow and St. Petersburg offices.

[Anonymous User]

White & Case to close its Moscow Office.

https://www.whitecase.com/news/press-re ... cow-office


I wonder what is going to happen to the attorneys and if we can see some transfers from Moscow office to European or US offices.

Anecdotally, I've heard of firms transferring some people to other offices.

[cfcm]

How are some of the practices that are adjacent to the current situation faring these days?

For instance, if you are a big shot in aircraft leasing, how have your past few weeks been?

[Anonymous User]

I'm guessing most (if not all) international biglaw offices will shut down in the wake of the war and resulting sanctions. None are likely huge profit centers for their firms (certainly not to the point that it would seriously hurt their overall bottom line if they walked away), and the reputational issues for U.S. clients probably outweigh any of that benefit. U.S. oil and gas investment in Russia and Russian oil and gas business relationships with Russia are basically dead for the foreseeable future, so offices intended to service that base have no use. It would be nearly impossible to find U.S. or Western European lawyers willing to work in (or even travel to) a Moscow office right now, which means integration between offices would be extremely difficult. Banking sanctions will make things like integrated client billing difficult if not impossible. On top of that, the Russian economic implosion right now will seriously tank local client base as well as non-Russian clients doing business in Russia.

A likely scenario is many of the Moscow offices simply get spun off as local firms that the U.S. firm has some sort of business referral relationship. The last holdouts would be firms working with companies trying to divest their interests there.

Agree that the moscow offices probably arent a big deal -- I'd be more concerned about London offices/specific London-based partners that have deep connections with Russian oligarchs. Akin Gump and Skadden come to mind (obviously skadden as a whole will be fine, but I could see some specific london partners struggling without russian oligarch clients, if they were actually to cut them loose). "Londongrad" was (is?) a very real thing.

This is likely to be true of London offices and their links/reliance on Russian clients. They're just very profitable, so one lurking consideration is that the Russian money is still going to be there, even if sanctions make it more difficult to service those clients, so maintaining some sort of ongoing relationship with those clients will probably be a priority. Oligarch corporate clients from the 90s/oughts became oligarch regulatory compliance clients became ABC/WCC clients, always serviced out of London. Will these sanctions be relaxed in the medium-term? These guys are still billionaires with lots of lucrative international legal needs, so firms will want to "pause" rather than "cut" representations wherever possible and will restart in a hot minute.