The Lawyer reports on their Ukraine blog…
Greenberg Traurig has teamed up with Ukrainian firm Avellum in a new secondment scheme that could see associates placed in the US outfit’s offices in London, Amsterdam and Berlin. Avellum associates would work on a variety of matters for Greenberg, such as M&A, real estate and competition. At present, only female associates have expressed an interest in the scheme given the military burden placed on the nation’s men. They are working remotely for now as visa arrangements are sorted out.
Greenberg’s executive chair Richard Rosenbaum has just returned from two weeks in Warsaw, where the firm has an office. Staff within the firm’s Polish base have taken in a total of 150 Ukrainian refugees so far, with $2m being raised in charitable donations.
Speaking to The Lawyer on the Avellum scheme, Rosenbaum said multiple Greenberg partners had already been working with Avellum. “We’re not trying to be political experts, but we certainly believe that there will be a positive future for Ukraine and those people showing their strength and determination.
“While we’ve never been involved in an office in Ukraine, we have practices across Continental Europe such as real estate, finance and infrastructure; the kind of things they’re going to need as they rebuild over decades. This looked like something we’d want to be involved in. We also saw there were many people at Avellum who were in need of short-term career opportunities, while trying to remain together as a firm under difficult conditions.”
Read other news from their great blog detailing what the legal community around the world are doing to help Ukrainian lawyers, scholars and govt.
