Interview with…

Olga Prosyanyuk, Managing partner

Olga Prosyanyuk, managing partner of AVER LEX Attorneys at law, told about key updates in WCC in Ukraine   What do you see as the main points that differentiate AVER LEX from your competitors? AVER LEX is a leading law firm with the largest team of White-Collar Crime renowned for its defence in complex criminal and litigation cases. Our team consists of 4 partners, which are well-known Ukrainian lawyers, more than 30 attorneys and 10 administrative staff for communications and quality service. We focused on high-profile criminal cases, anti-corruption and sanctions proceedings, investigations against corporates and military defence. The main points that differentiate AVER LEX are: Uncompromising fight for client's interests: due to the non-standard approach and unique defence strategies, we do not fear being in criminal proceedings with unusual occurrences or no similar cases in Ukraine. Complex cases involving multiple jurisdictions: Our cases often involve numerous parties, parallel investigations, and simultaneous hearings, sometimes in different regions of Ukraine or different countries. Market-leading and precedent-setting cases: 90% of cases that the firm's attorneys are involved in are unique, often setting precedents for the Ukrainian judiciary and establishing benchmarks for future hearings. By using creative legal solutions and a strong in-house PR team, we are ready to face illegal pressure on our clients made by both the state and their opponents; we fight for our clients' interests all the way through. As a firm with a high corporate social response, we provide comprehensive support to Ukrainian military personnel and have the only full-fledged PRO BONO department (15 lawyers) to protect the interests of the military in Ukraine. We love what we do and accept our responsibility for it. We do not compromise our clients' interests and make sure that the entire process is handled under the law.   Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that? WCC is in high demand in Ukraine and is included among the top three most profitable legal practices. Today, criminal practice is not just growing as an independent direction of legal services. Moreover, the war, provoked by a full-scale Russian invasion,  influenced all practices and provoked a development of new directions, for which our team receives many client requests. It is possible to emphasize separate sub-specializations with specific narrow-focused players and teams of the market: White-Collar Crimes are committed by officials or specialists with access to financial or corporate resources (for example, business people, (top) managers, accountants, etc.). They usually include financial fraud, money laundering, corporate crime, tax fraud, financial regulatory violations, corporate corruption, etc. Also, politically motivated cases are typical for Ukraine. Anti-corruption practice is a complex practice that includes developing and implementing anti-corruption policies, the function of compliance, and representing the interests of the subjects of accusations – civil servants in cases connected to anti-corruption investigations or court proceedings. Unique anti-corruption bodies implement executive and judicial functions, such as The National Agency on Corruption Prevention, National Anti-Corruption Bureau, and The High Anti-Corruption Court in Ukraine. Over the five years of its work, the Supreme Court of Justice has already handed down 207 verdicts, of which 21 were acquittals. Military and War Crimes Military crimes: lawyers pay much attention to defending Ukrainian service members (cases are referred to the State Bureau of Investigation). They include violations of the statute of the Armed Forces, disciplinary actions, leaving the battlefield, etc. War crimes are crimes of aggression and genocide, violations of the rules of warfare, torture, violence against women and children, etc. War crimes violate international humanitarian law, such as the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Business Crime is a complex practice that involves protecting the interests and assets (crypto-assets) of businesses under criminal or regulatory prosecution. It combines criminal and corporate law and litigation. It also provides for the direction of corporate business security, developing security strategies and policies to protect businesses from internal and external threats. Appeals of sanctions and collecting state income are complex and include criminal, administrative processes, and judicial representation. A unique feature is the procedure for applying sanctions and their appeal, considering issues related to the collection of state income by the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine, but not by the administrative court when the Ministry of Justice represents the interests of the State. Criminal liability is also expected to be introduced for violating and circumventing sanctions restrictions.   What's the main change you've made in the firm that will benefit clients? Most situations in criminal proceedings require attorneys to be personally present and promptly react to duly defend the client's interests. Our whole team is in Kyiv, with security measures in place, and we continue to protect our clients' interests. Because the number of attempts to illegally take over businesses and corporate conflicts is not decreasing, we have developed a training program for clients and their employees regarding investigation proceedings and how to communicate with law enforcement representatives and regulatory bodies. As a result of our training, the employees are more confident in communicating with representatives of respective authorities, which forces law enforcement officers to work using only legal methods. Under martial law, the relocation of enterprises with all assets, office supplies, and employees with their families has become relevant for many companies. We coordinated and accompanied this process for our existing clients and made valuable recommendations in the public domain that are usable for everyone. Our clients can also get "Emergency Aid," i.e., service ensuring 24/7 legal aid.   Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them? As I said earlier, clients expect lawyers to be present in person. This is why using technologies in criminal practice will not have the same effect as in any other practice. Considering that criminal practice issues will be kept confidential and that we will relocate to different regions of Ukraine and the world, we implemented electronic document management when possible. This method limits the legal professional privilege, but in some cases, it is effective. In addition, under the current legislation, we contribute to court hearings and some investigative actions (interrogation) online, the development of the involvement of electronic evidence, etc.   Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business? White-collar crime has its own specifics; in particular, one of the main tasks for attorneys is to preserve the business as a whole and subsequently ensure its proper operation. Most common cases of business attacks may include hostile takeovers, fraudulent actions of partners or employees, or interests of state authorities, which may result in companies ceasing to exist or being owned by other persons. We have been working with Nova Post since 2021. The client group includes Ukrainian and foreign companies, and the company offers a full range of logistics and related services to private clients and businesses. We have successfully defended their rights in criminal proceedings, where the State Consumer Service imposed an unjustified fine of USD 5.1m. We also defended the client's interests during criminal proceedings regarding the explosions of post offices where our client was a victim. In addition, we provide legal support for several cases related to the company's expansion into foreign markets. These projects include dealing with regulatory aspects of international postal exchange facilities and making significant amendments to the existing legislation in Ukraine. Additionally, we arrange legal support for the client's humanitarian activities, including collecting, logistics, and delivering humanitarian cargo. Another of our clients, a key entity of an international banking group, was groundlessly included in one of Ukraine's sanctions registers. At the same time, the Ukrainian representative office received a warning from the National Bank of Ukraine about a possible disconnection from international payment systems. We prepared the necessary documents and submitted evidence to all relevant state bodies. As a result, all sanction restrictions on the foreign client were lifted, and the Ukrainian office continued to provide banking services to Ukrainians. Such situations occur every day, so timely legal aid and active response through preparation of numerous submissions to competent authorities, collection of evidence, and publicity are of great importance.   Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms - where do you see the firm in three years’ time? AVER LEX is and will be a leading Ukrainian law firm that provides legal services at the highest international standards. We intend to continue taking on the most complex cases and defending the client's interests through creative solutions. We also plan to continue establishing trust-based partnerships with foreign law and consulting firms by involving them in joint work on multi-jurisdiction cases.

Olha Prosyanyuk, Managing partner

What do you see as the main points that differentiate Aver Lex from your competitors? AVER LEX Attorneys At Law is the first WCC boutique in Ukraine focused at providing comprehensive legal defence in most complicated criminal and politically driven cases. Our team consists of more than 30 attorneys with focused specialization. We have sufficient professional capacity to defend clients’ interests in several concurrent proceedings that involve a group of defendants/suspects/witnesses in several regions simultaneously. For example, the case of Oleksandr Onyshchenko, former Deputy of the Ukrainian Parliament, involved almost 30 suspects, who were simultaneously interrogated and searched in attorneys presence. In addition, attorneys' team currently defends Viktor Yanukovych, the 4th President of Ukraine, and deals with 53 ongoing proceedings in various jurisdictions. We have a significant experience in defending clients in cases of diverse complexity, even in no-win circumstances when clients do not hope to succed in defending their rights. At the same time, we handle unconventional cases and establish precedents for the future. Case of Viktor Yanukovych, the 4th President of Ukraine, was considered simultaneously with the adoption of a number of new laws that establish new procedures in the Ukrainian judiciary e.g. introduce special type of court review in absence of a defendant, as well as special seizure instrument. By using creative legal solutions and our strong in-house PR team, we are ready to face illegal pressure on our clients made by both the state and their opponents; we fight for client's interests all the way through. For example, funds and valuables amounting to UAH 9.5 million were stolen from our client's personal safety deposit box. Bank's representative failed to respond properly to attorneys' and client's claims for funds recovery. Therefore, the defence and in-house PR team made this situation public to draw maximum attention of the public and national media. As a result of comprehensive defence approach, attorneys managed to recover client's funds in full. We really love what we do and accept our responsibiluty for it. We do not compromise interest of our clients and make sure that the entire process is handled within legal framework. Thus far, the court took into account arguments and evidence presented by attorneys in Serhii Bochkovskyi's case and recognised him as unlawfully dismissed as DSNS (State Emergency Service of Ukraine) Head, even though the case was politically influenced by Serhii Bochkovskyi's political opponents. Which practices do you see growing in the next 12 months? What are the drivers behind that? Active development of White Collar Crime practice in Ukraine has begun several years ago when leading law firms started to set up separate criminal defence practices in addition to general litigation. Although 7 years ago criminal cases were handled by sole practitioners. Moreover, today criminal practice is not simply formed as an independent direction of legal services. It is possible to emphasize separate sub specializations with specific narrow-focused players and teams of the market. We anticipate that the practice will be of high demand in the nearest future for several reasons. Governmental policy aimed at combating corruption, which includes several directions: introduction of anticorruption programs and establishment of new law enforcement agencies. At the same time, we may observe the tendency towards increase of the number insepead of improvement of the investigation quality. Many cases are far-fetched and commenced for certain reasons; therefore, after such case is referred to the court, the investigation cannot provide necessary evidence which result in "collapse" of the case. Furthermore, in most cases competences of such bodies overlap, hence they simultaneously or one after another investigate the same client; cooperation with international, foreign authorities, organizations and legal firms in respect of protection of human rights and interests. The number of multi-jurisdiction proceedings increased significantly in 2018, which resulted in greater demand for strong partnerships with law firms in other countries. In addition, many international human rights organizations inquired into review of cases in Ukraine and carried out special monitoring thereof; unfortunately, we should note significant number of fake criminal proceedings in terms of combating illegal gratification (bribery) by charging with unjust enrichment. Some ''targeted" persons are accused of accepting/offering bribes only on the basis of testimony of two or three strangers who allegedly handed over/accepted a “bribe”. Later on, after a detailed inspection, such persons turn out to be “agents” who are regulalrly involved in preparing respective applications and staging bribe transfers. We expect a "traditional" increase of the number of investigations due to presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine in 2019. These factors prove that business and civil servants need a comprehensive and consistent defence of their rights in criminal cases. Despite ongoing judicial reform in order to enhance trust in the judiciary, we can now observe escalated pressure on judges aimed at adopting "suitable" court decisions. In cases where judges start resisting such pressure, efforts are taken to dismiss them under fake reasons. What's the main change you've made in the firm that will benefit clients? We have developed several training programs based on our most common cases in order to prepare clients for communication with law enforcement agencies and opponents up until an attorney arrives. Besides, other law firms, not having criminal practices, underwent our trainings, since cases when investigative actions are conducted in attorneys' offices and places of residence have become more common. Our clients can also get an "Emergency Aid", i.e. service ensuring a 24/7 legal aid for clients. Is technology changing the way you interact with your clients, and the services you can provide them? Most situations in terms of criminal proceedings require attorneys be personally present and promptly react in order to duly defend client's interests. This is the reason why use of communication technologies or rendering services in criminal practice will not have the same effect as in any other practice. Thus far, we can assess efficient use of technologies in criminal practice aimed at securing limited access to information received from a client, as we ll as to elaborate defence algorithm both being an attorney-client privilege. Can you give us a practical example of how you have helped a client to add value to their business? Criminal practice has its own specifics. In particular, one of the main tasks for attorneys is to preserve the business as a whole and subsequently ensure its proper operation. Most common cases of business attacks may include hostile takeover, fraudulent actions of partners or employees, or interest of state authorities, which may result in companies ceasing to exist or being owned by other persons. One of our clients, a co-owner of a large pharmaceutical business, found himself in a conflict with his partner, which resulted in a risk of loosing his business. The unscrupulous partner enhanced commencement of a big number of fake criminal proceedings, which resulted in searches and property seizure. The proceedings were protracted, but attorneys managed to defend client's interests and ensured that seized property was returned. Moreover, attorneys took preventive measures to ensure that such situations would never happen again in the future. Another client of ours, engaged in a financial business, had a conflict with corrupted law enforcement officers interested in obtaining personal financial benefit. They repeatedly conducted searches; one of such searches ended up with destrustion of office walls. Due to timely interference of attorneys and prompt defense measures, attorneys succeed to defend and preserve client's business. In addition, an emergency legal aid agreement was executed by the client, and attorneys protected his interests even when searches were conducted during non-working hours, at night. Preventive measures were also taken for this client in order to avoid similar situations in the future. Unfortunately, such situations are quite common in Ukraine that is why timely legal aid and active response through preparation of numerous submissions to the competent authorities, collecting of evidence and publicity are of a great importance. Are clients looking for stability and strategic direction from their law firms - where do you see the firm in three years’ time? AVER LEX is and will be Ukrainian leading WCC boutique providing legal services at the highest international standards. We intend to continue taking the most complex projects, and fighting for client's interests all the way through by using creative solutions. We also plan to carry on establishing trust-based partnerships with foreign law and consulting firms by involving them into joint work on multi-jurisdiction projects.
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