London-based partner duo quit job

London-based partner duo quit job

Former Clifford Chance and Jones Day lawyers tell Ivanyan and Partners that they will no longer be working for their clients

As a result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, two London-based partners have resigned from their positions at Russian firm Ivanyan and Partners.

James Dingley and Baiju Vasani, both arbitration specialists in the firm, revealed their decision to leave in LinkedIn posts in which they mentioned that their clients would no longer be served by the firm.

The Russian office will also close, he wrote in a blog post published earlier today, in light of last week's shocking developments in Ukraine. Dingley joined the firm from Clifford Chance in October 2020 to help establish the London office.

He also added that he will leave the company after all office-related activities have been completed.

'Like all of us who care about justice, including the overwhelming majority of Russian citizens, I pray for peace,' Vasani wrote in his post that he joined the firm from Jones Day in November 2019. You have all my support, my dear friends in Ukraine. To see what I can do to help, I will be reaching out to you personally.

Those two, as well as Ivanyan and Partners' Moscow-based co-head of international arbitration Andrey Gorlenko, were assigned to open the company's first overseas office.

It operated under the Ivanyan and Partners name and was registered as a UK LLP. Today, even though the website was no longer available, the office was still accepting calls.

As a mediator for complex international disputes, Ivanyan and Partners LLP pitches itself as a London-based law firm with no conflicts of interest. Providing clients a 'unique global reach' and a perspective, the firm's team combines 'Russian roots' with 'English law capabilities' giving the firm a competitive edge.

It is encouraging to see Dingley and Vasani lauding their colleagues at Ivanyan and Partners in their respective posts. Over the last two and a half years, I have had the pleasure of working with many truly exceptional lawyers at the firm, said Vasani. I've been honoured by their deep professionalism and legal excellence, which has been a real pleasure.

Currently, a team of about 100 lawyers works at Ivanyan and Partners' offices in Moscow and St Petersburg. A comment from the firm was not immediately available.

In the meantime, several international firms, including Sidley Austin and Venable, have revealed that they no longer advise Russian clients affected by sanctions. The company confirmed to Bloomberg Law that it would no longer represent Sberbank in US government lobbying and Sidley Austin would no longer advise VTB Group.

According to Baker McKenzie, Law.com was reviewing the work related to Russian clients and was considering ending relationships completely in some cases.