Sofiya Zhylkaidarova

Managing Partner, Head of Tax 

Managing Partner specialising Subsoil Use, Finance and Tax, Contracts and Business Law and Mergers and Acquisitions. Sofiya has advised numerous international oil and gas and mining companies on various subsoil use issues for more than 20 years including on strategic acquisitions, whether by assignment, takeover or otherwise. Sofiya has a versatile client base, including a number of publicly listed companies. She participated in drafting a number of regulations related to the subsurface use, M&A and tax matters. Sofiya particularly focuses on the subsoil use taxation, including transfer pricing and international taxation. Clients highly value her for being not only technically strong but also for her commercial experience, and business adviser approach, as well as dealing with officials. Corporate issues, including optimization business, are also among her key and basic practices. Recently, Sofiya had several tax litigations including successful representation of two international E&P companies in their court claims against tax authorities on PSA stability matters. She has a number of publications on issues related to the oil and gas topical issues and is a frequent speaker in oil and gas and related conferences. Sofiya participated in several governmental law-making working groups for drafting laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Sofiya Zhylkaidarova graduted with honors Kazakhstan State National University named after Al-Farabi (Bachelor of Laws, Hons, 1997); with further L.L.M degree at Kazakhstan State National University named after Al-Farabi (LLM, Hons, 1999). Sofiya participated in number of trainings and workshops on legal and business skills including specific oil and gas and mining trainings.