Eversheds Sutherland has insisted it has ‘ceased operating in Russia’ after its former lawyers in the country launched a new practice which it said would become its ‘preferred relationship firm in Russia’.
The international firm issued a statement to ‘clarify an apparent misunderstanding’ of its announcement earlier this week about the creation of Birch Legal, which launched on Monday ‘with all the former Eversheds Sutherland lawyers and support staff transferring’ to the new firm that would ‘[service] the needs of our international clients’.
Birch Legal says on its website: ‘We will keep all of our international connections and continue to interact with our foreign colleagues on all current projects. Our entire team is continuing its work in our Moscow and St Petersburg offices without any interruption.’
In a statement, Eversheds said: ‘Our international clients with legal needs in Russia will be able to instruct Birch Legal, the new firm launched by our former Russian partners, should they wish to do so. Birch Legal joins our group of 200+ relationship firms around the world which provide support to our clients which have legal needs in jurisdictions where we do not have offices.
‘For clarity, Birch Legal is not part of Eversheds Sutherland (International) LLP and nor do we have any financial interest in Birch Legal. Should clients choose to instruct any of our relationship firms, including Birch Legal, we do not benefit financially.’
The firm said in March that it ‘will not continue to operate in Russia given its government’s invasion of Ukraine’ and that its priority was ‘to support our 50 colleagues in Russia and to work together to ensure an orderly transition’.
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