The Moscow office will be King & Spalding’s 17th worldwide and will work closely with the firm’s extensive transactions practices in London, the historic legal centre for transactions originating in Russia, as well as its highly regarded international arbitration practice in Paris, an important venue for Russian disputes.
The office will open in Moscow following receipt of government registration. The move has been much anticipated in the expansion of King & Spalding’s top-ranked international energy practice. The office will have close ties to the firm’s existing operations in the global energy centres of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Riyadh, Singapore, Houston, London and New York.
King & Spalding chairman Robert D. Hays, Jr. was quoted as saying in a press release at the firm’s website: “We see this as an opportunity to turn heads and achieve instant critical mass in Russia by bringing together five well-established Moscow-based lawyers from two respected firms. Moscow is another example of our focus on expanding our global footprint by investing in high-value practices where we are already strong and in markets where our clients are seeking our expertise.”
Garry Pegg, King & Spalding’s co-managing partner in London and a former partner at Hogan Lovells who has worked extensively in Russia was quoted as saying: “A strong presence in Moscow has long been considered a key element of our international growth strategy, particularly for transactions-related assignments. The team we have created is of the highest quality and a great fit personally and professionally. It also enhances our ability to serve clients in and from London and across all legal disciplines and market sectors, including energy and life sciences.”
King & Spalding has a long history of representing clients across the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Olga Kozyr, Alla Naglis and Sergey Komolov join the firm as partners, and Iliya Zotkin as counsel, all from Hogan Lovell. Jennifer Josefson joins as partner from White & Case.
Komolov will be the resident office managing partner in Moscow. Komolov practices in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, private equity, finance, restructuring and general corporate law and has represented some of Russia’s largest corporations and banks in connection with groundbreaking transactions and major cross-border disputes.
Kozyr practices in the areas of corporate and real estate law, international and Russian litigation and life sciences, and represents U.S. and European companies engaged in investments in Russian.
Naglis focuses on cross-border transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and telecommunications, media and entertainment law, and has extensive experience in antitrust and intellectual property matters.
Josefson has been based in Moscow since 2002 and is consistently ranked as one of the leading energy and natural resource lawyers in Russia.
King & Spalding is an international law firm with more than 800 lawyers, and represents half of the Fortune 100.