The exiting year: legal market trends
The exiting year was rich in various legal, political and economic events, most of which affected the Russian legal market in some way.
For example, the most significant event of the year for the lawyers – the merger of the Higher Court of Arbitration into the Supreme Court. The merger was done in a rather aggressive manner. Everything was done in strict adherence to the law, but the staff potential of the Higher Court of Arbitration has been largely lost for the Judiciary. This is perhaps not that unfortunate for the legal market, because former employees of the Higher Court of Arbitration, many of whom are outstanding specialists, joined the ranks of the consultants.
Another most important legal event – adoption of the “de-offshorization law”, which introduces taxation of the so-called controlled foreign companies. Its development was like Hercules’s battle against the Lernaean Hydra: the more criticism of the law was given by the business community, the more gaps were plugged, and the less understandable the final variant became This resulted in that law business received a material which was difficult to work with. Hardly anyone may give any advice other than “come back to Russia and put everything under an individual name” as yet. However, if this causes a return of the funds to the economy, this will be beneficial for it. A recovery of the M&A market, which has shrunk somewhat this year, may be expected. Even more so since rouble is falling, and assets have never been cheaper. That not everyone is prepared to sell them at such prices is another matter.
Rankings and Partners
