Violation of antitrust laws can lead businesses to drastic financial and credibility losses. Gutsu, Zhukovsky & Partners are always there to help you strike a balance between private and public interests. We boast many years of extensive experience in handling cases in the field of competition law.

Services

Key people

Real estate is a major asset in today's precarious economy. Therefore, its legal protection is one of business priority tasks.

Our Firm has extensive experience in this area. We are ready to provide comprehensive legal assistance with any real estate transactions, as well as to support the implementation of long-term investment projects. It is of our main interest to focus on complex and unconventional issues that may seem insoluble at first glance.

The Firm’s Real Estate and Construction practice area ranks among the best in various national and international rankings. 

Services

• Litigation involving large developers

• Resolution of complex legal issues in real estate

• Harmonising construction project documentation

• Legal assistance in cultural heritage renovation

• Providing legal advice on obtaining construction permits

• Legal assistance in creating easements

• Providing legal advice on locating production facilities

• Legal due diligence in real estate

• Legal assistance with transactions involving the acquisition of commercial real estate

Key people

Since taxes account for some of the largest expenses incurred by most businesses, it is essential to adopt the best fitting taxation system and develop tax models aimed at boosting the company’s performance. Tax issues are particularly delicate because a wrongly chosen system may end up extremely unprofitable and various tax schemes that seemed so appealing in the beginning – illegal, giving cause for all sorts of liability and leading to dramatic losses instead of profits.

Our experts constantly explore and analyse issues concerning the application or alteration of tax laws. This allows us to protect our clients from various negative consequences that may arise in the course of their business activities.

Interaction with tax authorities during tax audits is another matter of great relevance. We employ a wide range of legal methods to effectively challenge tax authorities and achieve good results at the pre-trial stage and in court alike.

The Firm’s Tax Law practice area ranks among the best in various national and international rankings.

Services

• Tax litigation and arbitration

• Legal assistance with tax audits

• Tax compliance

• Tax risks identification

• Providing legal advice on tax planning

• Representing our clients’ interests before tax authorities

• General tax consultancy

Key people

The work routine of major corporations is fraught with a multitude of complex legal issues associated with corporate practices. A correct and competent approach to drawing up a company’s constitutional documents guarantees a successful business start-up and helps to avoid many problems further down the road. Alongside this, qualified legal assistance saves you time and resources during business restructuring, reduces risks and financial expenditures when buying a business, and prevents losses when selling it.

Services

• Structuring business sale-and-purchase transactions

• General corporate proceedings

• Mergers and Acquisitions: international and Russian practices

• Due diligence and compliance

• International tax planning

• CFC support and reporting

• Structuring shareholders agreements, corporate agreements, internal corporate relations, and investor relations

• Providing legal assistance throughout all stages of the securities emission procedure

• Corporate structuring of the future company

• Elaborating bylaws to enhance corporate governance

• Representing our clients’ interests in litigation on shareholder reinstatement, including with a foreign element

• Assessing prospects and commitments under the contemplated transaction, evaluating all past, present and future aspects of the acquired business, identifying potential risks

• Structuring corporate groups in terms of governance processes, access to raising finance, and mitigation of civil and legal risks

• Providing legal assistance in resolving corporate deadlocks

Key people

Technology, Media & Telecommunications

Being an integral part of our daily lives, technology has a significant impact on business processes. Russian legislation is transforming constantly, which poses a challenge to lawyers advising on TMT issues. Our team is committed to providing reliable consultancy services not only in the most demanded industries but also in niche areas, such as esports. Our lawyers continuously refine their expertise, take advanced training courses in such new fields of law as digital investment platforms, utilitarian digital rights, smart contracts and ICOs, and successfully manage projects amid evolving legislative regulation, changing business climate, and shifting market trends.

Services

• Delivering legal assistance to communication service providers

• Registering ownership rights to telecommunications facilities and radio masts & towers

• Providing legal assistance to IT companies

• Software and database registration

• Corporate structuring of IT business in Russia and abroad

• Structuring relations with software developers

• Crypto industry, ICO

• Utilitarian digital rights

• Investment activities in IT

• Digital investment platforms: creation from scratch and maintenance

• Esports in Russia, CIS and worldwide

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is a legal institute that has assumed critical importance amid globalisation and the technology boom. As this institute gains wider significance, we witness greater illegal use of protected intellectual activity results, as well as a rise in other violations of intellectual property, which poses an urgent problem for today’s business.

Intellectual property includes brand names, trademarks and service marks, works of art and science, inventions, utility models and industrial designs, know-how, etc. Effective legal protection of intellectual property is a crucial prerequisite for the dynamic development of any company.

Services

• Recovery of damages resulting from unlawful use of intellectual activity results

• Protecting exclusive rights to intellectual property in administrative and judicial proceedings

• Addressing intellectual property rights infringement

• Providing assistance in registration of trademarks (service marks)

• Providing assistance in registration of inventions and utility models 

• Formalising and registering licence agreements

Key people

Society has been affecting and transforming the natural environment since time immemorial, which has had adverse implications for nature and humans alike. Addressing these issues required better insight into environmental restoration and preservation, sustainable use of resources, and nature protection.  

The environmental crisis and nature protection have been identified internationally as the global issues of our time. They are primarily linked to the depletion of minerals, climate change and overall environmental degradation. In order to solve these problems, both the state and wider community have to step up their efforts. The recent years have seen the adoption of new environmental bills obliging companies that have a direct impact on the natural environment to comply with the law, often to the detriment of their economic interests. It has resulted in a plethora of legal problems that require expert intervention. 

Violations of environmental legislation can have dire consequences for a company, up to administrative winding-up and bringing the management to legal responsibility.

Services

• Conducting a comprehensive environmental and legal analysis of the company’s activities

• Litigation on subsurface management, construction, industrial production, waste disposal, etc.

• Providing judicial and extrajudicial protection to companies held legally accountable for environmental violations

• Advising on the location of food production facilities, harmonising sanitary protection zone drafts

• Providing legal assistance to food producers and restaurants in compliance with the requirements of Rospotrebnadzor

Key people

Sanctions Law and Compliance

Economic sanctions applied in the spring of 2022 have seriously affected and will continue to affect businesses of the Russian Federation. Our task is to help clients navigate the changing business environment, minimize the legal risks of their actions, make the best legal decisions and continue to conduct business in the legal field, taking into an account all of the economic changes.

Services:

• consulting regarding the choice of the optimal jurisdiction for business operations and legal support during business relocation
• consulting regarding assets management issues in other countries
• consulting regarding sanctions consequences of the introduced restrictions
• verification of compliance of the company's practice with the sanctions legislation of the countries where the company operates
• assessment of legal business risks under the sanctions
• structuring business deals under sanctions