The law firm ART DE LEX announces that Irina Akimova is joining its antimonopoly practice as a counsel and that Dmitry Gavrilenko is entering the firm as a senior lawyer

Irina Akimova and Dmitry Gavrilenko were attorneys of the leading Russian law firm Capital Legal Services.

Under the guidance of partner Yaroslav Kulik, Irina will serve as a counsel in the antimonopoly practice at ART DE LEX.

Dmitry Magonya, the managing partner of ART DE LEX, said that “strengthening the team of antitrust practice at ART DE LEX is essential for the development of the firm. We are restructuring our team and augmenting its human resources to offer our clients an enhanced range of effective, modern, and expedient solutions in the field of antimonopoly regulation. Our business development strategy is to strengthen our market position, develop the market, and increase our services.”

Vladislav Zabrodin, the managing partner of Capital Legal Services, said, “we wish Irina Akimova and Dmitry Gavrilenko the best in their further professional development. I am confident that the cooperation between Capital Legal Services and ART DE LEX will be mutually beneficial in key areas for each of the companies, such as antimonopoly law, public-private partnerships, and project financing. The two firms will offer customers a wider range of services of the highest quality.”

Prior to joining Capital Legal Services in 2012, Irina Akimova worked for eight years at the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, where she headed the Insurance Market Division of the Department for Control over Financial Markets. While working at FAS Russia, Irina participated in drafting proposals for the development of competition in financial markets. She examined the application of state control over economic concentrations, initiated actions against firms that had violated antimonopoly legislation, and reviewed open antimonopoly cases. Furthermore, she represented the interests of FAS Russia in arbitration courts that heard appeals against nonnormative legal acts of FAS Russia.

Irina Akimova has extensive experience in advising clients about various issues related to the application of antimonopoly legislation, especially vertical agreements (dealer and distributor relations), anticompetitive agreements, economic concentration, compliance, trade legislation, advertising, and unfair competition. She successfully represented clients’ interests in cases pertaining to violations of antimonopoly legislation, instances of administrative violations of antimonopoly bodies, and proceedings that challenged the acts of antimonopoly authorities.

Irina has extensive knowledge of the automotive industry, including the sales and service of cars, the insurance, banking, and financial services sector, the retail trade markets, and other areas of business. She has experience with projects related to the application of insurance legislation and compliance with Russian insurance regulations.

Irina is an author of numerous scientific and practical articles on the application of antimonopoly legislation in Russia. She also is active in the Association of Antimonopoly Experts.
In March 2017, Federal Antimonopoly Service presented Irina with an award for her efforts to ensure the protection of competition and the effective protection of business. Chambers Europe, which rates law firms and individual lawyers, recommends Irina in the competition/antitrust category.

Prior to joining Capital Legal Services, Dmitry Gavrilenko worked in antimonopoly bodies, in the Federal Service for Financial Markets, and the Central Bank of Russia. Dmitry advises clients on various issues related to antimonopoly legislation, consumer protection legislation, advertising, financial legislation, and anti-money laundering activities. Dmitry has a deep knowledge of the fuel and energy markets, especially energy and heat supply, as well as expertise in automobile sales and service, retail trade, and the insurance, banking, and financial services sector. He has extensive experience in interacting with state bodies during inspections.

ART DE LEX specializes in the legal support of business activities and provides consulting services to Russian and foreign clients in Russia and abroad.

The antimonopoly practice of ART DE LEX is among the best in the market, according to Pravo.ru-300 (Group I), which is a national rating of law firms. Additionally, Chambers Europe, which ranks international law firms, recommends ART DE LEX. Chambers Europe repeatedly has mentioned Yaroslav Kulik, a partner, lawyer, and the head of antimonopoly practice at ART DE LEX, as one of the best specialists in the competition/antitrust category.

Capital Legal Services is a leading Russian law firm that has provided support to the largest foreign and Russian companies since 1999. Its offices are located in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Helsinki.

The lawyers at Capital Legal Services are market leaders in such areas as public-private partnerships, project finance, corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and construction, pretrial procedures and litigation, labor law, and intellectual property.

Capital Legal Services has been on the list of the best companies of the Russian legal market for many years, based on the results of a study of the international ratings of Chambers Europe and Legal 500. The international rating firms and Pravo.ru have recognized the firm’s public-private partnership (PPP) practice. According to Chambers Europe 2017, Pavel Karpunin, a partner at Capital Legal Services, was one of the best lawyers in the PPP sphere.