Compiling a directory of law firms doesn't sound very ominous.
But add a full-blown Russian invasion, missile attacks, air raid alarms and constant power outages, and you start to get the idea of the challenge of putting together the 21st edition of Ukrainian Law Firms for Foreign Clients.
But that's not all: many lawyers then pick up rifles and head off to the front, others leave the country, and the ones still practicing have to adapt to new areas such as military law, compensation for war damages, sanctions law and humanitarian law.
Such was the history of the newly launched 21st edition of Ukrainian Law Firms. A Handbook for Foreign Clients.
This version of the yearly directory took two years to finish due to the chaos sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said Olga Usenko, who has served as editor of the publication for 18 years.
"Over the past two years, our team, which continues to be based in Kyiv, has experienced firsthand the realities of working under air raid alerts, power outages, and the overarching threat," Usenko wrote in the preface to the latest edition. "This close proximity to the day-to-day challenges faced by Ukrainian society and the legal community has infused our research with a depth of understanding and relevance that is both unique and profound."
The product of the painstaking effort and patience of her team is a massive work that includes a Who is Who list, League Tables with notable contracts, analysis of the market by sector, company profiles and a new "Recovery Talks" section with discussion of the reconstruction and recovery of Ukraine.
The handbook is now published only online and it emphasizes a number of new practice areas. Perhaps the most noticeable difference, though, are the changes to the ranking of law firms and lawyers.
"We just don't have enough information for producing a hierarchical landscape to be confident and we don't want to be accused of market distortion, so we ordered the firms alphabetically in this edition," Usenko told Ukraine Rebuild Newswire in an interview. "The communications became longer. Tasks that took two days before can now take months."
The handbook still highlights "authorities" as well as "leading individuals" and "leading firms" broken down by practice area, but the companies and people who make the list are now ranked alphabetically.
As in years of relative peace, both foreign and domestic law firms in Ukraine trumpeted their positioning in the 21st edition of the handbook on social media.
Sayenko Kharenko, for example, highlights that the latest edition of the handbook "acknowledges 22 of Sayenko Kharenko's lawyers as leading experts across 19 practice areas" including in Corporate and M&A, Intellectual Property and others.
Aster's says the edition shows the firm "remains one of the leading players in the local legal market" and is "acknowledged for its sustained expertise and proven capabilities in 24 core practice areas."
Denton's notes it "has been ranked in nine practices and received seven individual rankings" while Redcliffe Partners highlights its recognition in Corporate and M&A, Antitrust and Competition, Tax and Transfer Pricing, International Arbitration, Agribusiness and Labour and Employment.
Stay tuned for Part II, but don't forget to Subscribe by hitting the blue Sign up button at the upper right of this page.
