Squire Patton Boggs drops Gazprombank work as more law firms trim Russia ties - Reuters.com
Signage outside of the law firm Squire Patton Boggs in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 30, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
The company and law firm names shown above are generated automatically based on the text of the article. We are improving this feature as we continue to test and develop in beta. We welcome feedback, which you can provide using the feedback tab on the right of the page.
(Reuters) - Squire Patton Boggs has ended a long-running U.S. lobbying contract with Gazprombank, one of the Russian financial institutions targeted over the Ukraine invasion, joining other firms that have publicly ended ties with individual Russian clients.
The law and lobbying firm disclosed the termination in a federal filing on Wednesday. Squire Patton Boggs first registered to lobby for Gazprombank in 2014 on “banking laws and regulations including applicable sanctions.” It had not reported any lobbying income from the bank since 2017.
Squire Patton Boggs also said Wednesday that it will close its Moscow office, which “will effectively conclude our relationship with a number of clients in adherence with our professional obligations."
A firm spokesperson declined to comment on the termination, and a representative for Gazprombank could not be immediately reached. Gazprombank has not been hit with the same blocking sanctions as other Russian financial institutions, although the White House imposed banking restrictions on it after the Ukraine invasion.
While several global law firms have said they will reconsider or stop client work tied to the Russian government or sanctioned entities, few have publicly severed individual client ties so far.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer said this week that it will no longer represent VTB or sanctioned Russian development bank VEB.RF. Freshfields lawyers on Monday asked to pause proceedings in a case at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit while VEB seeks new counsel.
Venable and Sidley Austin each terminated U.S. lobbying contracts with sanctioned Russian financial entities Sberbank and VTB Bank, respectively, after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Lawyers at other global law firms have not yet dropped out of U.S. court cases in which they're representing sanctioned Russian entities, and spokespeople at those firms have declined to directly address those representations. Examples include White & Case and Debevoise & Plimpton's representation of Sberbank and Latham & Wakins' defense of VTB in litigation over the 2014 downing of Malaysian Airlines flight 17 in eastern Ukraine.
U.S. lawyers can represent sanctioned clients in court and under certain other circumstances and representing financial and energy clients with ties to the Kremlin has been a lucrative business for many. But even for those who wish to quickly cut ties, professional obligations to clients can be a hurdle.
Under ethics rules laid out by the American Bar Association, attorneys can exit relationships as long as the moves do not have a "material adverse effect" on their client. If a lawyer is representing a client in ongoing federal litigation, they typically must seek a judge's permission to withdraw.
Lawyers advising on corporate deals are also bound by professional client obligations. In transactions work, the burden falls on law firms to make sure their exit does not hurt pending deals and that their clients have proper representation moving forward, said Renee Knake Jefferson, a law professor at the University of Houston.
(CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect that Gazprombank was not fully sanctioned like some other Russian entities but rather targeted with Russia-related debt and equity restrictions.)
source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/squire-patton-boggs-drops-gazprombank-work-more-law-firms-trim-russia-ties-2022-03-11/
Your content is great. However, if any of the content contained herein violates any rights of yours, including those of copyright, please contact us immediately by e-mail at media[@]kissrpr.com.