Allen & Overy has laid off four lawyers in its Moscow office citing a declining workload due to Western sanctions on the country.
The four associates — two senior — were part of the firm’s capital markets team.
A spokesperson for A&O said: ”Following a review of our Russian business, we have decided to scale back our Russian law ICM (international capital markets) practice, consolidating it within our wider finance team. Regrettably, this is resulting in a small number of redundancies. This adjustment reflects anticipated demand for local capital markets advice in the foreseeable future. We remain committed to our business in Russia and to meeting the changing needs of our clients in this market.”
According to Legal Business the decision to scale back its Moscow-based capital markets offering comes as U.S.-led sanctions continue to affect the debt financing capabilities of some of Russia’s largest banks, leading to a stark halt in Moscow-based capital markets work.
According to the firm’s website, A&O Moscow office currently houses six partners, two counsel and 20 associates. Of the six partners, five have experience of offering capital markets advice as well as U.S. capital markets counsel Cameron Half.
