Can you please give us an idea of the sort of work your team has done recently (cases, transactions, projects, anything like that)?

Since the beginning of pandemic, our focus was to catch up with the changes of legislation and to provide solutions to navigate our company in the scope of the ‘new normal.’ The areas of work we covered ranges from remote work regulations, government subventions, and relieves, to the effects of the pandemic on liquidity of our business partners. Apart from the commercial and corporate legal work, our legal team also managed the company’s legal issues in the process of liquidation. As a technology company, we are developing our expertise in digital business and modern technologies. Assuring compliance with economic sanctions imposed against Russia has also been the focus of our work recently.

Working in multiple jurisdictions provides the opportunity for our team to learn different perspectives. Undertaking cases and transactions under different courts and administrative bodies fostered our creativity in finding innovative solutions.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners? 

It is essential for in-house counsel to understand the overall strategic goals of the company. To do this, legal team needs to show interest participating in business by volunteering to do tasks that are not strictly in the legal scope. It is overwhelming to cover enormous workload, especially when it is not strictly legal; but it will pay off in a long run by helping you build strong relationship with your business partners. Focusing on expert legal knowledge is one thing but developing the ability to give legal advice in a plan and understandable language is another, and overall, this will benefit the company to achieve the goal.