#45 The Legal Profession This Week - The Russia-Ukraine Conflict and Law Firms Part 2​

By Dheepa​

The Russia-Ukraine Conflict and Law Firms - Part 2

Last week, we covered BigLaw’s stance on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, noting that while some law firms chose to remain silent, others were aggressive in cutting off existing ties to Russian clients.

This week, several more law firms have begun dropping their Russian clientele. Linklaters, which has a long legacy of advising Russian state owned companies on London IPOs issued a strong statement earlier this week that it was cutting all ties with Russian clients. Ashurst is also doing the same while Norton Rose Fulbright, previously accused of attempting to silence employees on speaking out about the war, has now chosen to completely close its Moscow offices. Separately, Covington & Burling is also working on behalf of the Ukrainian government to pursue a claim against Russia in the International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The Lawyer reports that while UK firms seem to be leading this conversation on the ethical front, many US firms have remained silent about their Russia related work. Of many of the big name US firms in London with strong ties to Russia (Latham & Watkins, Skadden Arps, Debevoise & Plimpton and Akin Gump) only two (White & Case and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton) have chosen to review their Russian client list.

The legal industry is a risk averse one, so it’s no surprise that BigLaw has always stayed on the cautious side of ethical conversations. With this in mind, while condemning the silence of firms is warranted, the silence itself is rather unsurprising.

‘Business as usual’ – the notable deals and cases which went ahead this week:

Clifford Chance is advising Waterstones on its acquisition of Oxford based bookstore Blackwells. Shoosmiths is advising Waterstones on the property law aspects of the transaction while Blackwells is being advised by regional firm, Wilson Solicitors.


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