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20 Barrister 27 (1993-1994)
To Kiev, with Law

handle is hein.journals/barraba20 and id is 79 raw text is: TO KIEV, WITH LAW Alex Frishberg helps companies invest in the Ukraine E stablishing a private law prac- tice is always challenging. But imagine setting up shop where of- fice space, phones, and furniture are scarce and laws change almost daily. Those are just some of the obsta- cles 30-year-old Alex Frishberg faced when he left a promising career at Hogan & Hartson in Washington, D.C., to found Grishenko, Frishberg & Paliashvili in the Ukranian capital of Kiev in 199 1. I met my partners [Dimitri Grish- enko and Irina Paliashvili] in Wash- ington just after the [Soviet] coup in August, and we agreed to the plan in September, Frishberg recalls. I had been doing business in Kiev [as an associate for Hogan & Hartson] and knew there were no law firms. I saw an opportunity. It was as easy as calling my partners and asking, 'Will you quit your job if I quit mine?' It vas on that oral promise alone that I came to Kiev. Though he arrived in Ukraine in October, it took until January to find an office, and until September to move into the Lenin Street space in downtown Kiev that now houses Grishenko, Frishberg & Paliashvili. It is a completely different situ- ation from that in the West where everything is available, explains Frishberg, a native of Kiev who im- migrated to St. Louis, Missouri, with his parents and grandmother when he was 12. It's impossible to get of- fice space.., and it's difficult to get furniture, telephones, telephone lines, and reliable help. You have to have contacts. Thanks to prior experience with clients interested in establishing business relationships with coun- tries in the former U.S.S.R., Frish- berg-a 1988 graduate of Washing- ton University Law School in St. Louis-possessed the contacts and the knowledge needed to start the fledgling law firm. When his partners, and his wife, Ashleigh Loufer (who had stayed be- hind in Washington to complete law school at George Washington Uni- versity), arrived in the fall of 1992, the managing partner had every- thing in place. And just one year after the coup that had been Frishberg's catalyst, business at Grishenko, Frishberg & Paliashvili-a corporate boutique specializing in privatization, real es- tate, taxes, currency regulations, and the formation of joint ventures-be- gan. Today, eight lawyers (including Loufer) work in the firm's three- room office, imparting advice to for- eign investors on how to structure business and real estate transactions in ways that will minimize risks and place them ahead of their Western competitors. Things are going fantastically well! exclaims the multilingual at- torney who counts KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Electricity de France, and Alcatel (a French telecommunica- tions firm for which Frishberg is ne- gotiating a joint venture transaction with a large state-owned factory) among his firm's clients. But it is very hectic, because obtaining in- formation about new laws and de- termining how to interpret those lavs is very difficult. Everything changes so rapidly. According to Frishberg, laws in Kiev mean little without the sup- porting instructions that emanate from the Cabinet of Ministries in the form of decrees. Laws often are en- forced before supporting instruc- tions are released. Ironically, while practicing law in Ukraine is tough, getting a license to do so is easy. Frishberg did nothing more than go before the Ministry of Justice and prove he was a lawyer in good standing in Washington to obtain the necessary certificate. He did, however, have to take the Ukranian State Property Fund exam to become certified to advise clients on privatization. In addition to the 80 to 100 hours a week he dedicates to Grishenko, Frishberg & Paliashvili, Frishberg devotes time to the American Cham- ber of Commerce in Kiev. He is legal counsel chair of the organization's Legal Government Relations and Economic Commit- tee and works on the monthly Ukranian Legal Bulletin-a 50-page newsletter that's distributed to chamber members and the U.S. De- partment of Commerce for free. Of his experience, Frishberg says: Practice is about 80 percent of the law here. There are usually two or three ways of interpreting a law, which leaves a lot of questions. What the [written] law says doesn't matter ... it's the bureaucrats' interpreta- tions. What counts is what they will accept. - Kathleen Furore YOUNG LAWYERS DIVISION 27

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