Established in 1991 by Senior Partners Maxim Alekseyev and Vassily Rudomino, ALRUD is widely recognized as one of the leading and most reputable Russian law firms.
We provide full scope of legal services to local and international clients in the areas of corporate/M&A, competition/antitrust, banking & finance, intellectual property, commercial law, data protection/cybersecurity, dispute resolution, white collar crime, compliance and investigation, inward investment, employment, restructuring/insolvency, real estate and tax.
Our clients include blue-chip multinationals, Russian and international enterprises.
Outside of our domestic market, our clients are spread across Europe, Asia, North and South America.
ALRUD serves clients across a range of industries including energy and natural resources, mining, banking and finance, consumer goods and retail, investment management, government and public services, healthcare, life sciences and chemicals, industrials, technology, media and telecoms, transport and logistics.
Since ALRUD was established 30 years ago, we have been at the forefront of some of the most significant corporate transactions across a wide variety of sectors and industries spanning energy & power, metals & mining, TMT, real estate and construction, financial and insurance services, retail and healthcare.
Our clients look to us not only for technical excellence in the law, but also for our capacity for innovative thinking, our broad business focus and our multi-specialist skills. We are especially recognised for our ability to represent the complex requirements of overseas clients investing in Russia, and for our track record in advising Russian clients on international strategic partnerships.
Our full-service offering is a key factor in attracting blue-chip domestic and international clients. Our Corporate and M&A team routinely works with ALRUD’s top-ranking teams in other practice areas including Competition / Antitrust, Banking & Finance, Tax, Employment, Intellectual Property and Real Estate. This approach enables us to advise on the full spectrum of a client’s complex requirements, giving us the scale of resources needed to service the most demanding transactions, which often require rapid deployment of sizeable and multi-disciplined teams.
Much of our corporate work has an international element and we are proud to be the Russian law firm of choice for many of the world’s top tier law firms in Europe, Asia and the US. Our success in establishing collaborative relationships with our overseas law firm partners enables us to deliver the highest quality service on international transactions. Our clients greatly value our ability to assemble teams that are in tune with their specific needs, both commercially and culturally.
Our practice is supported by some 30 specialist lawyers, securing our position as one of Russia’s leading corporate and M&A advisory firms. The Practice head is Alexander Zharskiy, ALRUD Partner since 2007 with more than 20 years of experience. His practice is focused on in-bound and cross-border public and private M&A transactions across a variety of sectors including agribusiness, retail, financial sector, telecommunications media and technology, pharmaceuticals. Alexander is an officer of IBA (International Bar Association) Corporate and M&A Committee. Alexander is recommended in Corporate practice and Life Sciences by Who`s Who Legal and in Corporate / M&A and Real estate by Best Lawyers. Legal 500 includes Alexander in the Hall of Fame for Commercial, corporate and M&A and Banking & Finance practice. Chambers Global and Europe rank Alexander in Top Bands for Corporate / M&A practice. IFLR 1000 highly regards Alexander in Mergers & Acquisitions, Restructuring and Insolvency, Banking. Two more Partners strengthen the Practice team – Anton Dzhuplin and Andrey Zharskiy.
Our core philosophy, which sets us apart from our competitors, is that providing excellent advice on corporate matters is not only about the technical interpretation of the law; it is equally about the economic, political, business and social considerations. This philosophy guides our approach to recruiting and developing the best lawyers in the field. We are unique in the focus we place on educational and development programmes for our lawyers, supporting them through post-graduate programmes at top business schools and secondments to some of the world’s leading international law firms. This enables our team to bring a broader perspective to our advice.
The mainstream of our Corporate practice is buying and selling companies and supporting M&A and JV transactions. We provide a full-service offering, supporting our clients through all stages of their domestic or international M&A projects, including:
High profile and complex litigation and arbitration matters are a primary focus of our firm. We have one of the largest and most experienced teams in Russia acting on a broad range of disputes including corporate, competition, financial, insolvency-related, real estate and general commercial litigation and arbitration. We have notable expertise in the banking and financial services, automotive, energy, TMT, retail and transportation sectors.
One of our major strengths is our expertise in multijurisdictional disputes, advising Russian and international corporations and representing the individual interests of senior executives seeking to resolve contentious matters arising in the Russian market. We advise them throughout the course of litigious activity in the Russian state courts and international arbitration centres and we represent them through complex insolvency proceedings and cross-border asset tracing exercises. In the last year alone, we have acted on disputes involving the USA, Canada, UK, Netherlands and Korea as well as many of the major offshore jurisdictions.
ALRUD’s full-service offering is a key factor in attracting bluechip domestic and international clients. Our Dispute Resolution team routinely works with ALRUD’s top-ranking teams in other practice areas including corporate and M&A, competition & antitrust, restructuring and insolvency, intellectual property and real estate. This approach enables us to advise on the full spectrum of clients’ complex requirements, giving us the scale of resources needed to service the most demanding situations. At the same time, our Dispute Resolution team is regularly instructed by clients on a standalone basis as their trusted adviser on contentious matters.
Close interaction between the criminal and civil regulatory authorities in Russia has blurred the lines separating criminal, civil and administrative offences. Clients may therefore face a range of different liabilities arising from the same allegations. ALRUD’s rare combination of corporate litigation and white collar crime expertise enables us to help domestic and international clients in navigating these challenges. It is notable that ALRUD brings unrivalled expertise in defending international business in white collar crime matters in Russia and supporting corporate clients in international investigations. This is not common in Russia, where litigation advisers predominantly focus on advising Russian high-net-worth individuals.
The ALRUD team also includes qualified advocates (attorneys) which is not common in Russia where we have a dualism of the legal profession. This brings us a number of opportunities and advantages over competitors, including attorney-client privilege, right of audience in criminal matters, and the ability to conduct advocate’s investigative research.
Litigation
We advise clients on the choice of applicable law and jurisdiction, evaluate the strengths of their legal position, develop a detailed case strategy and represent clients in litigation proceedings.
Arbitration and Cross-Border Disputes
We represent clients in proceedings in the international arbitration centres, including ICAC, ICC, LCIA and SCC, as well as assist in enforcement of arbitral awards.
Restructuring and insolvency
We advise clients on possible options and schemes of restructuring and represent them in insolvency proceedings including projects relating to protection against dissipation of assets, clawback and recovery of damages from management and shareholders/beneficiaries of insolvent companies.
White collar crime
We support our clients through criminal proceedings and compliance investigations, bringing together our global expertise in regulatory enforcement, private and government investigations, fraud and anti-corruption.
Our Intellectual Property team has extensive experience in Intellectual property matters, combined with in-depth knowledge in corporate law, tax and dispute resolution issues. When the projects require, we involve counsel patent attorneys and external experts. That allows us to provide accurate, practical and cost-effective advice. ALRUD Intellectual Property team consists of Associates, Patent Attorneys and Attorneys-at-law which allow us to represent the clients before the State Authorities (Patent Office, Customs, Federal Anti-Monopoly Bodies and Courts).
ALRUD’s Labour & Employment team is widely recognised as one of Russia’s premier practices. Our team has unrivalled expertise in working on multi-jurisdictional matters, advising domestic and multinational corporations with workforces and investments spread across the world. One of our major strengths is our expertise in advising on contentious matters and our reputation means that we are the go-to firm for many clients seeking to resolve labour disputes arising in the Russian market. We defend their interests in complex, often cross-border disputes, conduct major workplace investigations and advise on a wide range of employee non-compliance issues. We also have a leading non-contentious practice, advising on incentive plans and remuneration structures, Russian migration law and expat employment contracts, tax planning and data protection. Another major element of our practice is supporting the labour and employment aspects of our clients’ M&A activity.
ALRUD’s full-service offering is a key factor in attracting blue-chip domestic and international clients. Our Labour & Employment team routinely works with ALRUD’s top-ranking teams in other practice areas including corporate and M&A, competition & antitrust, financing, taxation, intellectual property and real estate. This approach enables us to advise on the full spectrum of a client’s complex requirements, giving us the scale of resources needed to service the most demanding situations. At the same time, our Labour & Employment team is regularly instructed by clients on a standalone basis as their trusted adviser on HR-related matters.
Our core philosophy, which sets us apart from our competitors, is that providing excellent advice on labour and employment matters is not only about the technical interpretation of the law; it is equally about the economic, political, business and social considerations. This philosophy guides our approach to recruiting and developing the best lawyers in the field. We are unique in the focus we place on educational and development programmes for our lawyers, supporting them through post-graduate programmes at top business schools and secondments to some of the world’s leading international law firms. This enables our team to bring a broader perspective to our advice.
Audits of Supervising Authorities. We help our clients to get prepared and successfully undergo audits of supervising authorities.
Complex Restructurings. Advising on the employment law consequences of all forms of complex business restructurings resulting from corporate transactions as well as the need to optimize the organizational structure.
Employee Compensation and Benefits. Advice on implementing all types of employee compensation and benefits programs including Incentive Plans and Pension Plans.
Global Mobility and Migration Support. We provide migration support services for senior executives and their family members.
HR Audits. Involves an objective look at the client’s HR policies, practices and procedures to reveal any incompliances and mitigate them to avoid claims of supervising authorities and employees.
Immigration. Provide immigration advice at all stages of relocations for senior executives (or entire teams) to high net worth individuals, high-profile celebrities or athletes, and their families. Immigration compliance audit. We also provide immigration compliance audits and ongoing assistance in managing a global workforce.
Labour Disputes and Out-of-Court Settlement. We represent clients at all stages of the litigation process as well as assist on settling the employer-employee conflicts in an out-of-court manner.
M&A employment support. Advice on the labour and employment aspects of our clients’ international and domestic transactions.
Personal Data. Advice on requirements of Data Protection Laws, including pre-employment screening, monitoring of employees.
Taxes. Advice on all types of taxes imposed on employers or employees including expat employees.
Trade Unions and Collective Bargaining Agreements. Consulting employers on managing their relationships with trade unions including dealing with trade union requests and claims, and obtaining approvals for trade union members’ dismissals. Strategic advice on balancing rights and obligations of employers and trade unions members and negotiating collective bargaining agreements including industry-specific agreements.
Workplace Compliance. Involves full legal support of Workplace Investigations of all types of employees’ misconduct.
ALRUD experts in Real Estate give their advisory opinion to Russian and international clients on all aspects of real estate and provide legal support with regard to complex construction projects. Our team is experienced in working with different real estate assets, including land plots for construction, timberlands and agricultural land plots, office, commercial and industrial real estate, state and municipal property, infrastructure objects.
Our team has significant experience in due diligence of real estate and provide advice on real estate acquisition and disposal, including land rights and development projects, rental of commercial, office and warehouse real estate in both Moscow and Russia regions.
We are proud to say that we are professionals in real estate lease and retail sphere with unique profound expertise in all areas of this industry. We supported lease negotiations with respect to most prestigious locations of street retail in Moscow and with the top commercial shopping centers (malls) of Russia.
Among our clients are Auchan, X5 Retail Group, HUGO BOSS, Burberry, Philipp Plein, Bogner, Camper and many others.
Our Real estate team routinely works with ALRUD’s top-ranking teams in other practice areas including Corporate and M&A, Banking & Finance, Tax, Dispute Resolution and Employment. Much of our work has an international element and we partner with world’s top tier law firms in Europe, Asia and the US to deliver the highest quality service on international projects. Our clients greatly value our ability to assemble teams that are in tune with their specific needs, both commercially and culturally.
Andrey Zharskiy, ALRUD Partner heads the Practice.
”Andrey Zharskiy has definitely impressed us; he is very results-driven, extremely professional with a great attention to detail and has substantial experience on projects in Real Estate” – says one of the Client to Chambers Europe.
ALRUD Restructuring and Insolvency practice is one of the largest and widely recognized teams on the Russian market. Our long-standing experience and unique knowledge allow us to carry out complex out-of-court restructuring projects and bankruptcy cases in Russian courts. We successfully provide comprehensive management of bankruptcy procedures and consult on specific bankruptcy-related issues.
Appreciating the difficulties that the international corporations and their Russian-based subsidiaries may experience, ALRUD is well placed to offer services specifically-tailored to the issues of restructuring and cross-border insolvency proceedings designed to minimize the possible risks and ensure a successful recovery from crisis. This requires a deep expertise in bankruptcy law, which remains one of the most complex industries with many litigation issues.
Our clients include leading Russian and international corporations – banks and financial institutions, investment funds, vehicle manufacturers, retail, energy, IT and logistic companies. We have gained substantial experience of working on the side of creditors and debtors both in general support of the cases, and on the side of other interested parties in the disputes on challenging transactions, bringing to subsidiary liability, etc. This gives us an opportunity to have a bird's-eye view on the whole situation and offer the most effective and suitable solution for each particular case.
All members of our team have versatile expertise, as well as narrow focus on one or another type of disputes. The size of the team allows us to provide a wide scope of services, and also makes it possible to take into account individual requests of our clients and form a team of lawyers with the necessary knowledge and experience for each particular case.
All associates of the Practice speak English and can adivse foreign clients on the professional level.
Having excellent reputation and one of the largest teams in the Russian legal market, - ALRUD is one of the leading Russian advisors in criminal law matters and investigations. ALRUD Criminal Law, Compliance, and Investigations Practice, comprises graduates of leading Russian universities, such as the Moscow State University and National Research University – Higher School of Economics. Most of the practice members have been admitted to the state bar and have legal degrees in both Russian and foreign law.
Practice members specialize in supporting complex criminal-law projects and representing the clients in all stages of criminal proceedings, including pre-investigation stage. Our specialists have extensive experience in supporting our clients in administrative inspections and corporate investigations, and advising on anti-money laundering and anti-bribery compliance.
Practice members have vast experience in working on the cases with international element, which require not only excellent legal qualification, but also a perfect knowledge of foreign languages.
