You're reading: When in trouble, Ukrainians turn to top foreign law firms

In Ukraine’s extremely tough and non-transparent legal environment, more high-profile clients in the nation are hiring foreign lawyers with star power.

The hope is that these high-priced advocates will be able to generate favorable international publicity that somehow helps to win the case in Ukraine.

At least this is how most experts explain the recent decision of former President Leonid Kuchma to hire celebrity U.S. lawyer Alan Dershowitz to work on his defense team.

Kuchma, the authoritarian ruler from 1994 to 2005, is facing charges of abuse of office related to the Sept. 16, 2000 kidnapping and murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

According to informed sources, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is taking the same route.

She is said to have hired Covington & Burling, a Washington-based law firm, to represent her in the upcoming court trial on charges of abuse of power during her second term as prime minister from 2007 to 2010.

Covington & Burling is considered to be one of the most respectable and high-powered U.S. legal firms.

Eric Holder

One former partner is U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. Dozens of the company’s employees held various jobs in the U.S. Government.

The firm itself has recently been named one of the Top 30 international arbitration practices in the world by London-based Global Arbitration Review) publication. The value of pending counsel work at Covington & Burling is valued at $17.5 billion.

And some of these U.S. lawyers are, ironically enough, defending against allegations dug up by other American companies.

For instance, Tymoshenko allegedly misused nearly $300 million, which Ukraine received from selling emission quotas under the Kyoto protocol.

The charges are based on an investigation by a U.S. legal team, including Washington-based Trout Cacheris and Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. They partnered with investigative agency Kroll for the probe that cost Ukraine’s taxpayers an estimated $3 million.

While it’s not clear how much Kuchma is paying Dershowitz, the former president has high expectations. As Ihor Fomin, also working on Kuchma’s defense team said, Dershowitz’s job is “to prove that Ukraine’s ex-president is innocent not only for Ukraine, but for the entire world community.”

And before he even arrived in Ukraine, the Harvard Law School professor has shown that Kuchma is likely to be getting a bang for his buck.

Dershowitz called on Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka to drop the case against his client. Otherwise, he said, the impression that the case is “politically motivated” will only be reinforced.

Dershowitz, who won 13 out of 15 murder or attempted murder cases that he worked on, also categorically said the authenticity of the Melnychenko tapes being used as evidence can never be established.

He was referring to alleged recordings by former Kuchma bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko, in which Kuchma and top officials are heard discussing ways to silence Gongadze.

Such heightened activity of foreign legal gurus in Ukraine has drawn a divided response in Ukraine’s legal industry.


Sometimes, you might get solutions that are new to the local law.”


– Julian Ries, head of Beiten Burkhardt law firm.

Some experts and market players note that the growing popularity of hiring foreign attorneys is a natural response to the rampant corruption and unprofessionalism that plague Ukraine’s judiciary, recently named by Transparency International as the most corrupt in the world.

For some, the foreigners’ presence in the courtroom make the case an international one and reminds judges and prosecutors that appeals of unfavorable verdicts may get lodged in European legal bodies.

“Having a foreign lawyer means having someone who has new clues and ideas about the case,” said Julian Ries, head of Beiten Burkhardt law firm in Kyiv.

“Sometimes, you might get solutions that are new to the local law.”

Extra publicity can also help to ensure that judges and prosecutors rule with reason.

“We would bring along Ukrainian lawyers and also would invite foreign embassy representatives. From our experience, the judge would be more careful in reasoning his decisions in the end,” Ries explained. “This does help to prevent any biased decisions.”

However, others say the hiring of expensive foreign lawyers is nothing but a PR stunt of questionable value, as Ukraine’s judges are unlikely to treat foreigners with reverence or respect.


Unlike foreign courts, there is no respect towards lawyers in Ukrainian courts. You really have to have processes in the same court for decades to earn some respect from the judges.”


– Oleksandra Pavlenko, partner at Pavlenko & Poberezhnyuk Law Group.

“Unlike foreign courts, there is no respect towards lawyers in Ukrainian courts. You really have to have processes in the same court for decades to earn some respect from the judges,” said Oleksandra Pavlenko, partner at Pavlenko & Poberezhnyuk Law Group.

Pavlenko recalled one of the first instances when foreign lawyers were hired by Ukrainian clients.

Early in 2005 a group of Swiss lawyers was hired as part of Viktor Yanukovych’s legal team to appeal the results of final round of presidential elections won by his opponent. In the wake of the Orange Revolution, the court overturned a rigged election in favor of Yanukovych and ordered a new vote, won by Viktor Yushchenko on Dec. 26, 2004.

“As a person who was present in the Supreme Court back then, I can say that they weren’t of much use. At some point, it became really sad to watch. The judges almost looked at foreign lawyers with pity, as his arguments were really far from Ukraine’s reality,” Pavlenko said.

The benefit of a foreign lawyer with an impressive CV, Pavlenko said, may be only psychological.

But the foreign lawyers might also be more honest than some Ukrainian ones.

“There are less chances that the lawyer will be paid by counterparts to leak information to them,” Pavlenko said.


Kyiv Post staff writer Vlad Lavrov can be reached at
[email protected].