During a lengthy five-year bankruptcy of the pharmaceutical distributor Grama LLC, the bankruptcy manager challenged transactions with suppliers - large international pharmaceutical companies. Worst-hit was AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals obliged to return the bankrupt distributor 266 million rubles. Lidings represents the company since 2019.

Federal Law No. 407-FZ dated December 8, 2020 made material amendments to the section of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation which regulates distance work. The necessity for such amendments became evident as soon as employers started to switch their staff to work from home in large numbers at the beginning of 2020.

In its recent review of judicial practice on employment cases by Russian courts², the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (the Supreme Court) defined legal strategies that should be guided when considering disputes related to the termination of an employment contract at the employer’s initiative. Below we consider the main conclusions of the Supreme Court.

Senior associate of the dispute resolution practice at Lidings Elizaveta Fursova will speak at a conference on Employment Law organized by Russian Corporate Counsel Association (RCCA). The event devoted to employment regulation during and after the pandemic will take place in Moscow on September 24th, 2020.

Lawyers of the Lidings’ Criminal Defense Practice have successfully defended client charged with tax evasion (for 60 million rubles) and large-scale fraud (for 10 million rubles). The project lasted more than two and a half years led by the firm’s partner and attorney Stepan Guzey. Despite intense opposition from the Prosecutor’s Office of Novgorod Region and introduction of restrictions to combat the spread of COVID-19 the criminal case was terminated during pre-trial investigation.