Lawyers: Bankruptcy in Russia

Our bankruptcy lawyers provide effective legal support to clients while advising on some certain issues, as well as during the complex support of all bankruptcy proceedings.

We deal with different cases and situations connected with bankruptcy of companies and individuals, representing interests of:

• the debtor;

• creditors;

• owners and managers of the debtor company (controlling persons);

• persons whose transactions are disputed in the course of bankruptcy;

• persons acquiring assets during the sale of bankruptcy property.

If we are assigned to maintain full legal support for the bankruptcy procedures, we independently build a team of specialists using our close connections with different specialists: bankruptcy trustees, auditors, appraisers, attorneys, etc.

Legal advice on bankruptcy is often necessary during the ordinary course of ongoing business activities of the company for eliminating the risks associated with the requirements of bankruptcy(insolvency) laws. For instance, when dealing with some “problematic” counterparties, or conducting business restructuring, incl. considering the liability of controlling persons. In these cases, we are also ready to provide legal assistance.

One shall be acknowledged that bankruptcy is the only legal and safe way of liquidating a company which is unable to pay its debts. All other “alternative ways” such as changing of a director or founders, joining to another company and any similar “fast and cheap” options are now hopelessly outdated. This is primarily due to the fact that relatively recently in the Russian legislation on bankruptcy was amended with a really functioning mechanism - subsidiary liability of persons controlling the debtor; and such persons include not only the founders and the head of the company, but also other persons who have real control over the debtor company (thus, the use of nominal founders and directors would not also be a solution). Therefore, creditors can recover the debts from controlling persons of the bankrupt and any actions on changing of the management or the owners of the bankrupt-company will only aggravate the whole situation.  

Therefore, when the first signs of problems with timely payment of the company’s debts arise, it is necessary to consider the compliance with bankruptcy regulations, to analyze the situation (hiring experienced bankruptcy lawyers) and take the necessary measures to manage bankruptcy risks.

• representation of the client’s interests in negotiations with creditors;
• analysis of the financial position of the debtor aimed at determining of the liquidation strategy;
• protection of controlling persons and beneficiaries of the debtor in the framework of subsidiary liability;
• prosecution of persons who previously controlled the debtor (former managers and founders, etc.), responsible for losses and bankruptcy.

• representation of creditors’ interests during bankruptcy proceedings;
• support of the procedure for inclusion in the register of creditors;
• identification of the debtor’s transactions, which can be challenged;
• return of illegally withdrawn assets;
• attraction of the debtor’s controlling persons to subsidiary liability for the debts;
• foreclosure on mortgaged property;
• prosecution of the debtor’s controlling persons, inter alia intentional or fraudulent bankruptcy.

• advising on debt restructuring, liquidation and bankruptcy;
• selection of the nominee of the bankruptcy trustee;
• commencement of bankruptcy proceedings;
• challenging of actions and omissions of bankruptcy trustees;
• representation of the client’s interests in court hearings in the bankruptcy cases;
• challenging or protecting of the debtor’s transactions with different assets, including ones regulated by the foreign laws;
• representation of the client at the creditors’ meetings;
• representation of the client’s interests in course of bidding for the sale of the debtor’s property;
• challenging of the results of the appraisal of the debtor’s property as well as the results of bidding for the sale of the debtor’s property;
• legal support of receivership, financial rehabilitation, external administration;
• services for the preparation and signing of an amicable settlement agreement.

• identification and elimination of bankruptcy risks in course of ordinary activity of the company;
• analysis of the company’s activities aimed at determining of presence or absence of signs of intentional and fraudulent bankruptcy;
• evaluation and elimination of risks of liability of managers, founders and other controlling persons from perspective of bankruptcy law;
• supporting of transactions for acquisition of assets during the bankruptcy procedures or from companies that seem to have “signs of bankruptcy”;
• supporting of restructuring of business by use of liquidation procedures.

• a comprehensive approach - involving our specialists in related fields of the Russian law: taxes, corporate law, real estate, etc., allows us to provide comprehensive legal support on all issues arising in the process of bankruptcy;
• for supporting of bankruptcy procedures, we build the team of specialists, which includes bankruptcy trustees, appraisers, auditors, attorneys, etc., besides qualified bankruptcy lawyers;
• a flexible approach to determining the cost of bankruptcy services - depending on the project, we combine different forms of payment: hourly fee, fixed fee, monthly remuneration, “success fee”.