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01.11.2022

Personal Constitution of Dmitri Lubomudrov

Integrity plus a bit of luck is my one and only formula for success in life.

I’d say I went into the legal profession thanks to my grandfather.

In our childhood, we all looked to the adults around us. Since the wartime my grandfather worked as a diplomatic service officer. When being at high school, I started preparing myself for admission to the Moscow State Institute (University) for International Relations (MGIMO), and at the first attempt I lacked only one point for the submission. I joined the army and thereafter I made another attempt for the admission, now to the preparatory faculty. And again I lacked one notorious point. I was so attached to my own choice of the university that I didn’t even consider any alternative, as I was willing to continue my admission attempts to a victorious end. Suddenly the university management decided to admit me together with another eight lucky applicants. Lucky me, it was my first great piece of luck. It was back in the 1990s when private initiative began emerging. After I had entered the desired higher institution, I realized I’d rather practice private law than make a career in the diplomatic service. That promised a successful career growth in the emerging market conditions and seemed both challenging and exciting.

Came as intern and has remained for a lifetime.

My university groupmate whose elder brother was working for our firm proposed to me to come to AGP. It was my 4th year at the university and all our 4th year students took internship, whether with a bank, government agency or one of businesses which were at that time multiple and various by type. I was fortunate to land in a law firm. This was a real luck as I could have landed at a quite a different place. Could I only imagine that I would remain here forever?

I realized however very quickly that I liked it here very much. My superiors: my immediate superior Yuri Kondakov and the firm’s boss Andrey Gorodissky were high class professionals and very decent intellectuals. I used to meet with my university classmates and we had plenty of discussion about our jobs. So, I was aware of what they had to face and realized that I would not have found a better job than I had. Some of them were fired in a short run, some were very dissatisfied with the management attitude and others complained about their disinterest in their jobs. Meanwhile my job was always interesting to me. At that time it all was just beginning and people sought advice of external legal counsel on a great variety of matters. Early in my career I helped our client get a souvenir sword released from attachment. The Customs regarded the sword as an item of cultural value and we had to prove otherwise. I remember that my elder colleagues always gave me a helping hand and never left me one-on-one against client’s problem. The attitude is crucial. A clear message was sent to me that if I tried hard I would be able to achieve anything I wish. Such attitude to colleagues at AGP was in place 30 years ago and remains the same nowadays. We have been able to keep and carry on this value through decades.

At our firm, the collective management style is not just a bunch of words.

Over the time of the firm’s existence, we have tried probably any form of professional partner interaction, although the principle of collective discussion of essential managerial decisions had always been in place. At some point, we decided that the firm’s further development required collective management, which was formalized in 2014. Since that time, all critical decisions have been taken by all the members of our Partnership Board and all the associate partners who head our law sector teams. Another principle we adhere to is mandatory rotation of our managing partners. Just over a year ago I was appointed as the managing partner, and I am very grateful to my colleagues for their confidence in me.

In general, our firm has been adhering to several fundamental principles since its inception. And we are committed to follow them at all times, first and foremost the principle of social responsibility. This means that our obligations to our employees should always be met without fail. At a law firm, human capital is all important, so there can be no disagreement on this matter among us. All our contracts are made in a proper legal manner. Once a contract has been made, it can never be revised to worsen it terms. This has not been done before and hopefully will never occur.

Secondly, we follow the ethical principles both internally and in our attitude toward our clients, their needs and goals. The main of these principles is integrity. I deeply believe that all of us may have their deficiencies, lack some knowledge or be unable to sort out a problem straightaway. Still, we ought to do our best to solve the problem. I keep saying to all our lawyers: you may be unable to become another Plevako (an iconic figure for Russian attorneys at law), but if you do your work with due care you will surely be able to achieve success. Our reputation is our crucial asset. And we highly value it. No deviation from this principle would be acceptable.

The first matter I handled on my own was not worth a dime if looked at on a large scale.

I specialized in international matters. The International Commercial Arbitration Court (ICAC) at the RF CCI rendered an award in favor a Turkish company. The problem was that the company’s name had been transliterated wrongly in Russian. When we as the client’s representative submitted the award to a court for the purpose of its enforcement, the judge required that we prove that we were who we were, i.e. that the client was that very party in whose favor the award was rendered, because the party was differently named in different documents: in some of them its short name was used, in others its full name and the latter was differently transliterated in Russian. To pronounce either of them, one would have to pull out one’s tongue, nobody was even able to read them out. However we were struggling for a half year to prove that we were who we were.
My first experience with foreign arbitration was another important milestone. It was back in 2000s. A Russian company initiated arbitration proceedings against an US company with which it had made imprudently a contract for exclusive delivery of its products. Due to the complexity of translation it was not clear what range of products the contract covered. The US party was of the opinion that the term used covered all the products and the Russian company maintained that only part of the products was covered. Parallel arbitration proceedings were conducted in Moscow, as the US party did not pay for the deliveries already performed. So these were parallel proceedings in Moscow and in Stockholm in the English language, involving cross-examination of witnesses and a panel of foreign arbitrators, including the former head of the Supreme Court of Sweden. Ii was exciting, I must say.

On balance, the situation that existed in1990s and 2000s will never happen again. During that period I handled a great number of matters relating to foreign arbitral award enforcement which required at that time an execution order of a court of general jurisdiction. Some judges were not even aware of international arbitration and had no idea of what kind of thing was referred to. At one of local court the judge decided to invite lay judges to the proceedings, who had not ever heard the word ‘ICAC’. We had to explain them everything in plain Russian, with an academic course book at the ready.

Another time the judge yelled in anger at us, the party’s representatives, and ruled to deprive us of all rights, whatever this might mean. The ruling literary read: “to deprive the defendant of all rights.” Of course, the ruling was later cancelled, but such thing is hard to forget.

Now, after three decades since then, such cases – complicated and weird as they were – seem kind of funny. Probably, that is why I have always liked working with AGP.

I would say that joining our team is not as difficult as one might think.

Once the firm opens a vacancy, anyone is welcome to come to us for an initial interview. Usually a limited number of our lawyers attend the initial interview. We take a look at the applicant and the applicant takes a look at us. Applicants are expected to have certain English language skills, so they have to take an English language test. We follow the principle that all of our lawyers should be able to work without an interpreter/translator help. If this phase has passed successfully, the applicant is invited for the second interview which is attended by all members of the board of partners. It is important to us that the applicant should be able to fit into the team not only professionally, but also psychologically to avoid any potential incompatibility at work. If all are in accord after the two interviews, we invite the applicant for the third interview to make him/her an offer.

It is hard to say which things occupy our attention most of all. The employee’s responsible attitude toward a task set and the way how the employee is able to work are equally important. We warn applicants in advance that attentiveness, carefulness, eye for details and desire to improve are essential to us. Of course, this can hardly be discerned during the initial interview. Therefore errors happened on our side too. I remember we interviewed a young female lawyer who made a very good impression on all of us. She passed all the three interviews and the English language test successfully and left the firm after one day of her work with us. It would not be true to say that she was overburdened with work, just one of strange young people that we encounter sometimes. Probably, being not always able to articulate what she wants for herself.

Career growth at our firm is not only possible, but it is a must.

As per today, there are six members on the Partnership Board. Almost all of them have achieved their career growth within the firm. My colleague Marina Abramova joined the firm earlier than me. She came to work as a translator, having the education of a specialist in climatology and meteorology. After a while, she discovered in herself the remarkable skills of organizer and then she was appointed as the head of our Corporate Registration Department. In parallel with this, she obtained the higher education in law and now is one of our partners.

However, not all of our partners have grown internally. We have maintained an open door policy. Valentin Moiseev, one of the Partnership Board members, who joined us 12 years ago, was immediately appointed to this position. So, we do not only grow professionals internally, but we also welcome those coming from outside.

Crises have been overcome successfully.

Over the period of my work, I have already survived three or four crises. While the first crisis occurred when I was a young specialist, during the subsequent ones I had an important role. Certainly, each crisis brought about an increase in arrears in payment and numbers of litigation cases. In 2010, the securities market decreased and many private investment projects collapsed, which then brought about a significant increase in the amount of international commercial arbitration cases and requests for restructuring and preservation of projects. When we saw a change in the amount of work in some areas of our practice, we always compensated it by the growth in other areas, thus preserving the overall stability of the firm. There was no single case of our terminating employees or reducing their salaries during the crises. On balance, I am convinced that any crisis is something that does not only bring about problems, but it also provides a window of opportunities. While some things die off, the others become more relevant. It is only important to monitor and respond promptly to new demands of the market.

It seems that the start of the pandemic was the most unpredictable event. The year 2020 started very efficiently. During the 1st quarter all our key departments showed a stable growth. And then the end of March came. For a while, all business activities stopped. Nothing new in business development occurred as many businesses were just sitting tight. Nevertheless, our 2020 performance result was even higher than for the pre-COVID year.

The experience working during the crises has taught our partners to refrain from sharp movements. We take decisions when we are aware of how things will develop further.

These days we are facing again a tense situation, and it is hard to say for the moment how we will get through this. I prefer not getting ahead of ourselves. Still, we are working, handling plenty of requests connected with sanctions and counter sanctions. Certainly, some of foreign businesses are leaving Russia, although not a few of them are staying by preserving their participation interests in Russian companies and other assets. They need help to understand how they can further operate those assets under the new conditions.

I very much wish that this crisis be the last one. I want to work quietly and live my life without any turmoil.

When you retire, will you give up active practicing your profession?

It’s too early to think over this. Of course, I am not as vivacious as I was 30 years ago. However I am not and have never been ‘burnt out’, as the fashion is nowadays, over my period of work at AGP. To exist comfortably, I need no change of scenery. I see no sense in a different office room or other colleagues around me. Certainly, I have been offered, not once, to take on a job position in other companies, still I have not ever thought of myself outside of consultancy. Government service has not attracted me and working as an in-house lawyer is not my thing. As a plus, I have always been in a very comfortable team to work with. I have never been limited in practicing any area of law, so I have handled corporate law and international arbitration matters and now I do it parallel to my managerial functions. Hopefully, in another 20 years the firm will achieve a standing where I will be able to withdraw from active participation in business quietly and with a clear conscience and to become an of counsel. As a hobby, I would like something quite different from my professional sphere. Maybe I would plant strawberries. I have not decided yet.

My trip adventure has lasted for nearly 7 years.

Long ago I became engrossed in traveling by car. Although I traveled not all of Russia’s territories, I reached the Baikal lake. I am also proud of my travel to Africa. The trip lasted for about 7 years, from 2001 to 2007, with breaks. It was like this: we went to Baikal and wished to go further. My comrade, an embassy staff descendant, had kept contacts in some African countries. We identified the regions where at that time no little victorious war was carrying on, selected interim stops to leave our car and started preparing for the Cairo – Cape Town drive. We bought a Niva car, relying exclusively on its repairability, and made some improvements to it. My comrade drove out the car with all his family members to Europe. Then he drove the car to Cairo and invited me to join. A car drive is an excellent way to switch from legal tasks to something quite different. We took long breaks from our trips, returned to work and then flied to Africa again and again. Our road rally defeated the roadlessness and bureaucracy on an international scale, indeed. Once I missed the start of another stage of our trip due to closing of a financial deal and had to join my friends at an interim point, Nairobi. When I was on a connecting flight they contacted me via the satellite phone and told me that their car had a serious damage. While they were going to the capital city of Kenia, I was to find for them a rear axle for Niva which was literally broken in half. To find a rear axle for Niva in Nairobi was a real challenge. Interestingly, my search resulted in that I found a whole Niva of the USSR era which belonged to an abbess, if I remember correctly, and which one could get detailed. I even began thinking over how to sell the remaining details after taking out the rear axle. Such things help you a lot to ‘reboot’ your mind.

Now I have another amusing hobby. An acquaintance of mine hooked me on watching the English Premier League tournament. I even joined the Manchester United fan club. I am not a huge fan so far and cannot boast that I know every assistant in the locker room. Still, I sincerely love the thing: when a group of quite respectful and successful men being far from young are singing the football chants and songs in front of the TV set at a sports bar, it is very diverting. Try it, you will not be disappointed.

Dmitri Lubomudrov

AGP Managing Partner and head of Project Finance

Dmitri’s professional path has continued for 28 years. Over that period he has passed through all the steps of the career ladder, from intern to managing partner. His core specialty is cross-border and project finance, structuring and comprehensive support of M&As.

Another notable area of his practice is international private law and international commercial arbitration. Dmitri has a vast experience representing clients in both Russian and foreign proceedings. He has also experience handling matters at the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in Stockholm, Zurich, Vienna and other arbitration forums.