Bloomberg reports
Ukraine-based attorneys for Dentons have relocated to Poland and nearby countries for the time being, according to the global law firm.
Dentons lawyers from Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, are working out of the firm’s Warsaw, Poland office as well as locations in other cities in Eastern and Central Europe, a firm spokeswoman said Tuesday.
Oleg V. Batyuk Ukraine Managing Partner
Dentons was one of at least three large international law firms, including Baker McKenzie and CMS, which closed their Kyiv offices in late February following Russia’s military invasion of the country. It is also among several major firms that have moved to cut ties with Russia.
Baker McKenzie said Monday that its Ukraine lawyers resumed their work as negotiators from the two countries prepared to discuss a possible cease fire. Many of the attorneys are working remotely from locations in Ukraine or from one of Baker McKenzie’s other European offices, a firm spokesperson said in a statement Monday
Dentons “will continue to support our colleagues and their families by providing transport, accommodation, and resettlement assistance, and financial aid both within Ukraine and in the neighboring countries,” the spokeswoman said in a statement provided by email.
Dentons’ Ukraine outpost is led by office managing partner Oleg Batyuk, a London-trained corporate transactions lawyer. Last year, according to the firm’s website, Dentons lawyers advised Dionis Biogas Energy LLC on the implementation of the first biomethane project in Ukraine—a milestone in the creation of a bio-energy ecosystem there.
The firm spokeswoman added that the firm has registered a charitable group called the Dentons Europe Foundation to raise funds to support Ukrainian families and children displaced by the war, which has so far raised more than €420,000.
