Asters

The firm: Asters is the largest Ukrainian law firm (120 lawyers including 24  partners) with presence in Kyiv, London, Washington DC and Brussels. The firm combines strong transactional and regulatory expertise, as well as significant experience in dispute resolution, which helps to advice on all business aspects in Ukraine.

Asters has consistently remained at the top of the Ukrainian legal market throughout its history:

• Law Firm of the Year: Ukraine, The Lawyer European Awards 2021, 2020, 2015, 2014
• Law Firm of the Year in Ukraine, Who’s Who Legal 2023-2018, 2014
• Law Firm of the Year in Ukraine, Chambers Europe Awards 2020
• Law Firm of the Year, Legal Awards 2020, 2018, 2014, 2012 by Legal Practice weekly
• 1 Law Firm in Ukraine 2023, 2022, 2020-2018, 2016-2011, National Ranking Top 50 Law Firms

Areas of practice
Banking, finance and capital markets: bank acquisitions; equity investment; bank mergers; syndications; debt restructuring; eurobonds/local bonds; IPOs; secondary offerings and private placements; CLNs.

Corporate and M&A: structuring and implementation of M&A transactions; title transfer advice; tax, currency regulation, securitisation advice; antitrust clearance; arranging and holding of shareholders meetings, protecting and enforcing shareholder rights, representing in shareholder litigation; corporate-related registrations, filings, disclosures, listings, securities, and other compliance matters.

Compliance and anti-corruption: development of anti-bribery policies and programmes; anti-corruption audit; providing local support to global compliance due diligence; handling internal investigations regarding alleged misconduct; compliance risk assessment; development of defense strategies; representing clients before courts and government agencies in connection with anti-corruption and other compliance matters; compliance trainings for clients’ staff.

Competition and antitrust: merger control; concerted practices; abuse of dominance; competition compliance; restrictive and discriminatory practices; antitrust investigations; unfair competition; public procurement review.

Cybersecurity: cyberlaw consulting, including compliance of critical information infrastructure operators with cybersecurity law; cyber-advocacy and investigation of high-tech incidents, including cyber-forensics that facilitates collection of digital evidence admissible in courts and law-enforcement agencies; information security audits of networks, systems, applications and other assets; implementation of information security management system; cybersecurity trainings and awareness programs.

Dispute resolution: development of the dispute resolution strategy; assistance at the pre-trial stage; drafting of procedural documents; representing in courts; enforcement of Ukrainian court judgments; recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments; drafting of arbitration clauses and agreements; developing global dispute resolution strategies; acting as counsel in arbitration proceedings, as an expert witness on Ukrainian law issues, as an arbitrator, as a mediator or as counsel in mediation; assisting in collection of evidence in Ukraine; recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards.

Energy, resources and construction: production sharing agreements, joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions; EPC (FIDIC) and Supply Agreements; advising on regulatory matters in oil and gas, electricity, renewable energy and emission reduction projects; obtaining all relevant permits and licensing documentation; project structuring and development; construction, real estate, land and health safety environment matters; tax, currency control, customs clearance, and employment matters; government relations; financing and refinancing; securities; mediation; litigation and arbitration.

Intellectual property: trade marks; patents; copyrights; trade secrets and confidential information; due diligence; parallel import, franchising, licensing, distribution agreements; litigation, unfair competition matters.

International trade:  import and export of goods under Ukrainian legislation; customs clearance procedures; anti-dumping and safeguards investigations; WTO rules and legislation.

Labour and employment: employment planning: employment contracts and agreements, personnel policies, benefit packages and incentive programs; executive compensation; employment of foreign employees and immigration law; collective bargaining and agreements, cooperation with trade unions; workforce reorganization and redundancies; corporate governance and the coordination of corporate elections; payroll tax planning and structuring of compensation plans; advice on compliance with mandatory preferential treatment requirements for employees with benefits, the structuring of work time and vacation time; termination and severance payments; occupational health and safety; mediation and litigation; data protection, privacy and access to information; general support in other labour issues, including the audit of internal policies and documents, as well as support in the course of labour inspections.

Private clients: establishing an effective system of control over business and management by owners, their family members and trustees; international tax and corporate structuring of asset investments and holdings in various jurisdictions; legal registration of the rights of clients’ family members and other people specified by clients in relation to the clients’ assets; structuring and establishing of trusts and family funds; drafting of business inheritance programs; ensuring clients’ property interests upon entering into the marriage, during divorce procedure and in other personal life aspects; ensuring the impossibility of abuse by management and partners if the owner is absent and during the inheritance transfer; protecting the clients’ assets, their family members and trustees from hostile actions of third parties; providing legal assistance in obtaining investment visas and residence permits; establishing a system of control over the business after an owner leaves the business.

Restructuring and insolvency: negotiating out-of-court or in-court settlement; representing in extrajudicial settlements; overseeing settlement implementation; restructuring of secured and unsecured debts; developing debt recovery procedures; terminating voluntary and collusive insolvency proceedings initiated by debtors to avoid fulfilment of obligations and debt payment; initiation of special procedures aimed at renewal of debtors’ ability to service indebtedness; out-of-the-box enforcement of court rulings.

Taxation: tax consultancy; tax rulings support; tax accounting support; tax risk management; transfer pricing compliance; M&A support; joint ventures; tax-wise cash-flow forecasting; taxes budgeting; negotiations and correspondence with tax authorities; administrative appeals of additional tax charges; full-scope tax litigation; enforcement of court decisions.

White-collar crime:  full legal support for business activities, evaluating their legal compliance, and conducting internal investigations; representing the client’s interests before regulators and law enforcement agencies, providing legal assistance in the course of audits and in connection with inquiries made by such agencies; conducting attorney investigations; ensuring the comprehensive protection of the client’s interests regardless of their procedural status at the pre-trial stage; protecting the client’s interests in the course of a trial, as well as at appellate reviews by second and third instance courts.

Clients: Asters’ lawyers regularly handle a variety of complex matters and the largest transactions for foreign and local blue chips, governments, state-run companies, investors, banks, international financial institutions, HNWI, pro athletes and sports clubs, for instance: Bayer, Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, EBRD, ED&F Man, Facebook, Ferrero S.p.A., General Electric, IFC, L’Oreal, Millennium & Copthorne, Microsoft, Molson Coors, Nielsen, Philip Morris, Prada S.p.A., Sanofi, Societe Generale, Visa, Webuild S.p.A, and many others.