Baker & McKenzie Announces New Kiev Office Co-Managing Partners and Welcomes New M&A Partner to Ukraine

Baker & McKenzie today announced that Serhiy Chorny and Serhiy Piontkovsky have been appointed as the Co-Managing Partners of the Kiev office. They will assume their new management roles in January 2011, succeeding James T. Hitch, who has served as the Kiev office's Managing Partner since 2002, and who is retiring as a Partner of the Firm effective 31December 2010.

Baker & McKenzie is the largest international law firm in the world and has had an office in Kiev since 1992. During Mr. Hitch's 9-year term, the total number of fee earners in the Kiev office increased from 23 in 2002 to 62 in 2010. The Kiev office has been ranked by Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, PLC Which Lawyer?, IFLR, and Legal 500 as "first tier" in the areas of Banking & Finance, Corporate/M&A, Restructuring/Insolvency, Tax, IP, Real Estate and Construction, and Employment, and was named "Law Firm of the Year in Ukraine in 2010" by Chambers Europe.

Additionally, the Firm announced that English law qualified Corporate/M&A Partner, James Richards, will join the Kiev office. Mr. Richards joined Baker & McKenzie in London in 1994 and became a Partner in 1998. Mr. Richards specializes in corporate finance transactions, acquisitions, and disposals.

James Richards said: "I am delighted to be joining our Kiev office at this important moment. Baker & McKenzie has long been the pre-eminent international law firm in Ukraine and I look forward to working with my colleagues to build on that success."

Serhiy Chorny heads the Kiev Office's Banking & Finance and Capital Markets Practice Groups, and is a member of the Firm's European Banking and Finance Steering Committee and European Securities Steering Committee. Serhiy joined the Firm in 1993 and became a Partner in 1998. He focuses on advising both foreign and domestic financial institutions and corporate clients on various aspects of international finance transactions, including syndicated loans, Eurobonds, securitizations, IPOs and debt restructurings.

Serhiy Piontkovsky heads the Kiev office's Energy, Chemicals, Mining and Infrastructure and Real Estate and Construction Practice Groups. He joined the Firm in 1995 and became a Partner in 2001. Mr. Piontkovsky represents major production, mining and steel companies, international hotel chains, developers, construction companies, investment funds, embassies, and private investors on various Ukrainian law issues related to property pre-lease and long-term leasing, the acquisition of land lease rights, construction, design, and letting. He is also involved in major privatization projects held in Ukraine within the steel, mining, energy, and industrial sectors.

Commenting on the news, CIS Managing Partner, Carol Patterson, said: "It has been a great pleasure for me to work with James Hitch both in the global and in the CIS offices of Baker & McKenzie for 20 years. The promotion to co-manage the Kiev office of Serhiy Chorny and Serhiy Piontkovsky, Ukranian citizens who were among our first lawyers there, is a key development of our practice in Ukraine, as well as the addition of our English law qualified Mergers & Acquisitions Partner, James Richards".