Sayenko Kharenko (SK), one of Ukraine's largest law firm, is reporting that it is in negotiations with Ukrainian lawyer Yevgeniy Solodko about potentially joining SK and merging his team with SK’s criminal law practice.

“Soaring demand”

SK issued a statement that ”The most critical point in the negotiation process is verifying the absence of any conflicts of interest and [conducting] thorough KYC checks of each client.” SK Partner, Nazar Chernyavsky, explained, “Over the last few years, we have managed to build a fully-fledged white collar crime practice out of our existing anti-corruption compliance practice. The arrival of Mr. Solodko, who is deemed one of the top experts in this area in Ukraine, at this point would add significant value to SK’s offering, both to local and foreign clients through providing more complex and practical solutions.” Partner Sergiy Smirnov, added “We expect soaring demand for sophisticated legal support in the field of white collar crime defense, including from local clients, due to the emergence of new law enforcement agencies in Ukraine and reform of the judicial system. This is why it seems to be the perfect moment for the leading team of criminal defense attorneys led by Mr. Solodko to join SK.”

“Particular expertise.”

Mr Solodko said, “being a part of a large law firm definitely provides more opportunities and support for our team, which will raise the level of services even higher and make it possible to provide clients with the international standards offered by SK. We all very much look forward to the next stage of our professional growth.” In a roundtable discussion last year, Mr Sayenko told delegates that mergers are “a sign that the current market place is becoming more mature,” though he said SK would not consider a merger accept if it was the only way to “acquire a particular expertise.”