Russian giant Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners is at the forefront of a new legal alliance spanning nine of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

The non-exclusive group, dubbed the CIS Leading Counsel Network (LCN), is aiming to provide a pan-CIS association to target the emerging local markets. Egorov is the central Russian member of LCN which also includes Ameria (Armenia), FINA (Azerbaijan), Vlasova Mikhel & Partners (Belarus), Aequitas (Kazakhstan), Kalikova & Associates (Kyrgyzstan), Turcan & Turcan (Moldova), ACT (Turkmenistan) and RULG - Ukrainian Legal Group (Ukraine).

LCN will be overseen by a chairperson from one of the participating firms. Irina Paliashvili (pictured), the managing partner at RULG, was elected as the first chair of the group. The inaugural meeting of the network was also attended by Oleg de Lousanoff (Hengeler Mueller) and Patrick Dziewolski (Bredin Prat).

Dimitry Afanasiev, chairman of Egorov, said: “The formation of the LCN is a significant milestone in the legal landscape of the CIS and offers clients a unique opportunity to access leading legal advice across the entire region. We are pleased to have hosted the inaugural meeting of the network and look forward to contributing to its future success and growth.”