Юридическая фирма VERBA LEGAL

All practices

International Arbitration and Cross-border Disputes

Our Practice

We safeguard the interests of major Russia-based and foreign businesses in international arbitration in the key jurisdictions.

Our team deals with disputes governed by the Rules of all principal arbitration centers, including SIAC, HKIAC, LCIA, ICC, SCC, etc.

We take part in litigation proceedings across the globe, i.e. In Europe, Africa, Asia, and Americas and, on a regular basis, act for our clients in courts of Austria, Belgium, British Virgin Islands, the United Kingdom, Germany, India, Cyprus, the United States, France, Switzerland, Sweden, etc.

With many years of expertise and deep immersion into the business context of each particular case, coupled with a broad network of partner law firms across the globe, we are positioned to protect our clients' interests in the most intricate cross-border disputes.

SERVICES

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Representation of Russian and foreign clients in arbitration proceedings under the Rules of the ICC, LCIA, SCC, SIAC, DIAC, HKIAC, UNCITRAL, and ICAC at the Russian Federation Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Russian Arbitration Centre, and the Arbitration Centre of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs

Recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards in Russia and abroad

Advising clients on contract structuring, including drafting of arbitration and governing law clauses, taking account of the factual background and applicable sanction restrictions

Advice on litigation proceedings before
the courts of Austria, Belgium, British Virgin Islands, the United Kingdom, Germany, India, Cyprus, the United States, France, Switzerland, Sweden, etc.

Preparation of Russian- and foreign-law legal opinions for foreign litigation and arbitration proceedings

Tracing of assets of foreign debtors for obtaining injunctive relief and enforcement of court judgments and arbitral awards.

Selected Experience

International Commercial Arbitration

We advised:

a chemical market leader in the arbitration proceedings under the SCC Rules in a dispute with a foreign supplier;

Rosatom Overseas in the arbitration proceedings under the ICC Rules in a dispute arising under the Nuclear Power Plant EPC Contract;

heavy machinery group in connection with the enforcement of the award of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, Geneva, in connection with the refusal of a British engineering company to perform the award because of the sanctions imposed upon the client;

a major Russian customer in the arbitration proceedings under the SCC Rules in a dispute with a Kazakhstan-based guarantor in connection with the refusal of the latter to make payments under the guarantee because of the inclusion of the supplier's bank into the SDN list;

a major Russian contractor in the arbitration proceedings under the ICC Rules in a dispute with a foreign contracting party in connection with the construction of a segment of the North Stream pipeline;

a supplier in the arbitration proceedings under the SCC Rules in a dispute with a foreign bank in connection with a failure of the latter to make payments to a foreign purchaser under the bank guarantee annexed to the Complex Industrial Equipment Supply Contract;

a Russian oil company in the arbitration proceedings under the LCIA Rules in a dispute relating to performance of the facility agreement made for implementation of an oilfield exploration and development project in Russia;

a Russian operator of the integrated natural gas production, liquefaction and shipping project in the arbitration proceedings under the ICC Rules in a dispute with a foreign group of companies that had "suspended" performance of the obligations to its Russian counterparties in order to procure compliance with the foreign sanctions;

a major international agrochemical company in a Russian court in connection with the recognition and enforcement of the SAC award passed against a Russian agricultural group;

a Russian chemical group in the arbitration proceedings under the HKIAC Rules in a corporate dispute with a Cyprus-based contracting party;

a Russian partially government-owned geological exploration firm in the LCIA arbitration proceedings in a dispute with an equipment supplier that involved attempts to name the Russian Federation as a party to a dispute;

a Russian customer in the SCC arbitration proceedings in a dispute relating to the provision of the drilling rig pre-commissioning and commissioning supervision services;

a Russian insurance company in the LCIA in a dispute arising under the English law-governed cooperation agreement with a major Russian banking group;

a Russian client in the SCC arbitration proceedings, and coordinating parallel proceedings in the BVI and Cyprus courts for interim relief in support of arbitration;

pharmaceutical company in the LCIA arbitration proceedings in a dispute arising under the Drug Production Technology Transfer Agreement.

Russian Arbitration Centers

We advised:

an international aviation IT infrastructure provider in a series of disputes with Russian clients brought before the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (the ICAC), settling some of them amicably;

a major hotel operator in an ICAC-governed arbitration on a dispute with a Russian company arising from the non-performance of the contracts for management of four hotels located at an Olympic resort;

an oil and gas service company in an ICAC-governed arbitration on a claim for damages allegedly caused through the fault of a Russian general contractor following an incident at a drilling site;

a Russian subsidiary of a global leader in multimodal transportation in an ICAC-governed arbitration and in the course of an amicable settlement of a dispute with a former shareholder arising from an MBO transaction entered into as part of the client’s exit from the Russian market;

a major retail network in an ICAC-governed arbitration on a dispute with a foreign foodstuff supplier;

a client in an ICAC-governed arbitration on a dispute with a German contractor tasked with building a logistics platform;

a global printing equipment manufacturer in a number of ICAC-governed arbitration proceedings on disputes with a Russian state-owned company relating to the sanctions restrictions applicable to certain types of supplies and works;

a major client in an ICAC-governed arbitration on a dispute for recovery of a loan debt;

acting as arbiters in a number of disputes governed by the Rules of the ICAC, the Russian Arbitration Center and the Arbitration Center at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

Cross-Border Disputes

We advised:

a Russian shipbuilding company in the proceedings carried out before the High Court of Singapore on enforcement of a Russian court decision to confiscate funds deposited into an account opened with a Singaporean bank;

an Indian manufacturer/developer of packaging materials and solutions challenging the actions taken by the State of Rajasthan for the purposes of freezing directors’ accounts in accordance with the ESI Rules;

a high-profile client in a case over damages amounting to EUR 14 million forming a part of criminal cases initiated in a number of European jurisdictions;

a Russian bank in a series of cross-border proceedings against its former owners related to the recovery of damages inflicted by the defendants on the banks under their control;

a Russian client in connection with the recognition and execution of a judgment of a Russian court in Singapore, India and on the British Virgin Islands;

a Russian federal state unitary enterprise in court proceedings carried out in Cyprus for the recovery of damages and the foreclosure on the Russian state-owned property;

a client challenging wrongful decisions of the Russian Federal Tax Service and in the course of litigation concurrently carried out in Luxembourg;

a Russian bank in complex cross-border proceedings against a European IT startup and its founders on a dispute over the establishment of the bank's intellectual property rights and the recovery of losses it had incurred;

a major Russian group in bankruptcy proceedings initiated in the courts of England and Wales against its subsidiaries by the local management to obtain control over IP assets;

a Russian client on the Russian civil and procedural law matters in connection with a USD 200 million claim brought against the client in the Court of the State of California.

Asset Tracing

We have been involved in:

tracing assets of former owners (and their spouses) of major Russian banks to support an application for injunctive relief as part of cross-border litigation proceedings related to the recovery of damage inflicted by the defendants on the banks under their control, with the relevant efforts spanning, among other countries, Cyprus, the USA and key European jurisdictions;

obtaining an order in the United States for disclosure of information on the flow of funds in the bank accounts of defendants in aid of court proceedings carried out abroad for recovery of multimillion damages;

tracing assets of former top managers of a Russian bank located in key European jurisdictions to obtain injunctive relief as part of a dispute over the establishment of the bank's intellectual property rights and the recovery of losses it had incurred;

tracing assets of former beneficiaries of one of the biggest Russian wholesale steel traders and identifying the structure of their affiliated group in certain Asian countries;

tracing assets of a respondent to substantiate an application for injunctive relief from the courts of the BVI and Cyprus in aid of an SCC-governed arbitration;

tracing assets of a foreign debtor to assess whether it would be expedient to enforce an arbitral award in the contracting states to the New York Convention;

tracing assets of a debtor for the purposes of recognition and enforcement of a foreign arbitral award in a number of the CIS countries;

tracing assets of the client’s foreign debtors in a number of friendly jurisdictions to assess the outlook for initiating arbitration proceedings;

tracing assets of a German IT company for the purposes of carrying out debt settlement negotiations and assessing the outlook for initiating arbitration proceedings in Germany;

profiling a foreign group of companies based in the UK and Malta including collecting information on the group’s IP assets and their value to substantiate the client’s position as part of the insolvency proceedings carried out before the courts of England and Whales.

Russian Litigation (Lease Disputes)

Representing:

a leading clothing retailer in a dispute arising from a long-term lease agreement. To induce the client to extend the lease, the lessor filed a claim for recovery of a penalty for suspension of commercial operations and on five other grounds for a total exceeding RUB 1.5 billion;

an official dealer of a German car manufacturer in a dispute over the recovery of the rent amount and late payment penalty, the refurbishment costs as well as the fees payable to an independent expert engaged to determine the costs of refurbishment of the premises. The client's claims were satisfied in full;

a Netherlands-based producer and distributor of musicals in a series of lease disputes with a Russian lessor regarding the lease of a concert hall and stage equipment, with the lawsuit going all the way up to the Russian Supreme Court;

a major Russian meat producer in a dispute with a government agency over the recovery of unjust enrichment in the form of savings. According to the government agency, a retail facility was being operated on a land plot allocated for construction and operation of the workshop, alleging that the land plot had not been used for its contractually designated purpose. The court dismissed the government agency's claims;

a Russian representative of a large foreign clothing and footwear retailer in a dispute over the recovery of rent arrears and penalties for failure to make timely rent payments, with lengthy negotiations ending up with the plaintiff dropping its claims against our client;

a national distributor of maternity and children’s products and newborn accessories in a dispute over the recovery of rent arrears and penalties and fines for late payment of the fixed portion of the rent, ending up with the client's claims being satisfied in full.

Who will be working with you

Our team