Moscow firm Rybalkin Gortsunyan and Partners (RGP) has set up an arbitration practice after hiring a seven-lawyer team from regional leader Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners (EPAP).

The team is led by partner Dmitry Dyakin, former co-head of litigation at EPAP, who becomes head of arbitration at his new firm.

Moving across with him are former EPAP associate Vladimir Pestrikov, who joins as a partner, counsel Dmitry Kaysin, and a team of four associates.

Their arrival boosts the partner count at RGP, which was founded in 2018, to six, while the disputes team now boasts 26 lawyers, making it one of the stronger offerings among independent Russian law firms.

Meanwhile, EPAP has underlined its commitment to international arbitration, and disputes generally, pointing out it has a team of 76 lawyers, of whom 18 specialise in arbitration.

Dyakin was Moscow managing partner of CIS firm Magisters ahead of its merger with EPAP in 2011 and advises on complex disputes including representing the Russian government, major state corporations, Russian and foreign companies operating in various industries, including oil and gas, banking and construction.

Among his wider professional roles is that of deputy chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Russia International Arbitration Commission, which aims to promote the use of commercial arbitration in Russia.

Pestrikov is a long-standing member of Dyakin’s team, having joined Magisters in 2008 from the London office of US firm Bryan Cave; while Kaysin joined EPAP in 2013 having formerly been deputy director, legal affairs at Russian Standard Vodka.

In a statement, EPAP said it had hired Andrew Lomas, of UK barristers’ chambers One Essex Court, in February to be co-head of international disputes and arbitration alongside partner Evgeny Raschevsky.  

‘The quality of our international disputes practice is achieved by the unique combination of the top English lawyers and Russian litigators with special situations experience,’ the firm added.

Last week saw the opening of a new firm, Seven Pillars Law, in Kazakhstan.

In February, leading Nordic firm Castrén & Snellman agreed to transfer its Moscow and St Petersburg offices to Capital Legal Services (CLS) in a ground-breaking deal.