Practices

Landmark cases:

• acting for a Russian company in a litigation against Pareks Bank and Citadele Bank seeking to establish whether a Russian arbitration (commercial) court had jurisdiction over a dispute with these banks actually present in Russia. In a landmark resolution on the case, the Supreme Commercial Court of Russia introduced the concept of “piercing the corporate veil” into Russian practice
• acting for a Skolkovo resident (Double Data) in a high-profile, precedent-setting dispute against the VKontakte social network over the use of Big Data and the functioning of search engines. The case has evolved into one of the most prominent disputes in recent years over use of Big Data and the functioning of search engines. In 2022, the parties reached a settlement agreement (Evgeny was one of the Double Data's representatives before he joined BIRCH LEGAL)
• representing an international bank in a dispute over a claim for the recovery of USD 22m under a banking service agreement involving issues of the exclusive jurisdiction of Russian courts (ongoing project)

Real estate disputes:

• representing the interests of Shavara Limited in seven related legal proceedings arising from the termination of an investment project for the construction of a residential complex in the Moscow Region
• representing an investment company in court in challenging Rosreestr's refusal to reconfigure the land plots to exclude the shoreline from their land plot’s boundaries
• successfully acting for a multinational architectural company in a dispute with a customer claiming back an advance payment from our client for design works for a cinema and concert hall in Moscow
• representing Sportmaster on an appellate court claim seeking to reduce the amount recovered from the client as the tenant under a lease. After the lease was signed, the landlord’s title to the property was impugned. The first instance court ruled that the landlord and our client must compensate the claimant for lost revenues. The appeal court slashed the penalty down from RUB 300m to RUB 60m

International arbitration:

• representing an Austrian company in a multimillion-dollar SCC arbitration against a Russian machine-building company with respect to a delivery of turbine blades to a nuclear power plant
• representing a Russian diamond mining company in an SCC arbitration against an Austrian non-trading partnership arising out of a contract related to shipments of lumber
• representing a Swedish company in an SCC arbitration regarding a delivery of goods to Russia
• successfully representing a leading player on the Russian operating lease market for freight wagons in a dispute worth over RUB 270m over a series of cases for debt collection under a purchase agreement for railway wagons and foreclosure over the wagons as pledged assets (cases examined by commercial courts and the ICAC)

Commercial litigation:

• representing several international airlines in disputes initiated by a ticketing agency seeking compensation for its expenses under agency agreements
• representing a major pharmaceutical company in a case for the recovery of RUB 1,8bn from the client under the contract in connection with the phrase “not including tax (if applicable)”
• defending an international construction equipment manufacturer in connection with debt collection under a distribution agreement and the foreclosure of pledged property. All 7 lawsuits were won, a writ of execution was obtained and the pledged property was foreclosed on
• successfully representing a major Finnish commercial and residential rental company in several rent arrears cases
• representing a client in a case for the recovery RUB 650m from the opponent under a suretyship agreement resulting in the amount being recovered despite a handwriting expert's probabilistic conclusion
• successfully representing the Russian FORBES magazine founder (Axel Springer Russia) in a dispute in which a bad-faith counterparty attempted an act of provocation by placing an advertisement in FORBES seeking to make FORBES’ actions appear to be media corruption
• representing a Russian subsidiary of a Chinese manufacturer of medical equipment in a dispute on the recovery of damages

Corporate disputes:

• representing an international company in a case on the unlawful change of CEO and attempted fraudulent acquisition of a 90% stake in its share capital
• representing Europe's largest car dealer in a corporate dispute with its investor over the investor's exit from the company and an attempt to recover its investment

Restructuring and insolvency:

• representing the Cherkizovo Group in bankruptcy cases of the Belaya Ptitsa Group in which our client was the majority bankruptcy creditor with pledge rights to the debtor's property complex. We successfully defended the client as a pledge creditor in isolated disputes, including a dispute with the tax authorities over the procedure for paying VAT recovered upon sale of the debtor's property from an auction, as well as in a dispute over invalidation of the auction
• representing Czech Export Bank as a majority creditor in bankruptcy cases involving a Russian energy company and several Russian manufacturers
• assisting a large-scale Finnish manufacturer of lifting equipment with corporate restructuring and representing the client in court on recovering a high-value debt from a customer

Product liability:

• representing an international pharmaceutical company in a dispute over the recovery of moral damages in the amount of RUB 200m for injury to a consumer's life and health
• managing to recover all damages in representing a major international pharmaceutical company in a dispute with a hotel to recover damages from the hotel due to the mass poisoning at and the premature termination of this event (RUB 60m)
• defending a subsidiary of a Finnish elevator manufacturer in a dispute with a public consumer protection organization over a product recall
• advising a major food company over an emergency at the client’s factory in Russia that could have affected product quality and jeopardized consumer health. The client’s factory could have been closed and all its operations in Russia terminated. This situation was prevented
• representing a hygiene product manufacturer and protecting the client in several aspects with respect to substandard product quality: preventing termination of state contracts for the supply of products, negotiating an out-of-court settlement agreement with a virtually implacable consumer, and representing the client in administrative offence cases
• representing a major manufacturer of construction materials in two lawsuits over its products not meeting fire safety standards. The cases were complicated in that the materials had been used in repairs to many shopping centers. One case was won and the other was settled amicably

Disputes with public authorities and public interest companies:

• representing a client in a dispute with the Bank of Russia over administrative liability in which the court decision on bringing the client to administrative liability was successfully overturned
• representing an international confectionery manufacturer in a dispute over a lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor's Office concerning the possible demolition of a factory for the breach of water protection legislation
• representing an international confectionery manufacturer in a dispute over a lawsuit filed by the Prosecutor's Office to suspend the company's operations in connection with air pollutant emissions
• representing a client, an owner of shopping centers in several Russian regions, in a number of disputes over the price of solid waste disposal resulting in an amicable settlement being reached
• representing an agricultural company in a dispute with a water services company (Vodokanal) in connection with the discharge of blood into wastewater. Losing the dispute could have obliged the client to pay RUB 10-15m a month to the water services company or to terminate the activity. Ultimately, it was possible to conclude an amicable agreement with the water services company
• representing an international pharmaceutical company in a case on administrative liability for non-compliance with regulations on the storage of medicines in a warehouse
• representing several major Russian and international companies in litigation and non-judicial disputes with consumers whose claims had significant business implications

Technology disputes:

• representing the owner of a major classified website in a case involving the illegal duplication of car ads from its website by the owner of another major classified website
• acting for the International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) on behalf of three music majors: Sony Music Russia, Universal Music Russia and Warner Music UK on suits against the VKontakte social network to defend their neighboring rights to phonograms. The first instance court ordered VKontakte to use digital fingerprint technology to filter uploads of illegal content which is unique in Russian practice. Amicable settlements followed

Advertising disputes:

• successfully representing clients in preparing for and attending three FAS Expert Council meetings which delivered major / practice-shaping decisions on advertising cases
• participating in an expert council meeting on medication advertisements using the word “quickly” (representing six international pharmaceutical companies)
• participating in an expert council meeting on Pedigree’s “Boys” commercial (representing an international confectionery company)
• participating in an expert council meeting on surrogate advertising of “Reduxin” and “Orsoten” prescription medications through advertising of BAS and a non-prescription drug (representing a major pharmaceutical company)

The abovementioned includes the experience of our lawyers both prior to and after joining BIRCH LEGAL