The law firm Stepanovski, Papakul & Partners and the law firm Vashkevich Sapego & Khrapoutsky, which are in the five largest firms in the field, announced their merger, and from January 2010 they will be conducting a joint business.

Merged team of 22 lawyers, including 8 of which are recommended as leading lawyers by the Belarusian and international legal reference guides, will continue to work under the brand of the Stepanovski, Papakul & Partners (SPP) in a new office in the downtown of Minsk. The decision to merge was unanimously made by all existing partners of both companies on November 11, 2009.

«Consolidation will ensure the provision of legal services to clients on a qualitatively new level. Customers’ requirements dictate the need to include 10-12 lawyers at the same time to work on the project, which is possible to perform only by a great team of professionals»,— said the SPP managing partner Alexander Stepanovski.

«We are confident that the association of similar by spirit and attitude to clients teams of lawyers will be successful and will lead to strengthening of our positions at the legal services market in the Republic of Belarus»,— said the partner of the law firm Vashkevich Sapego & Khrapoutsky Andrei Vashkevich.

This alliance will develop new practices in real estate and construction, court dispute resolutions, tax, M&A transactions, particularly in banking and insurance. Consolidation and further development of the most popular on the market practices will enable SPP to consolidate its leadership positions in these areas, and strengthen corporate and arbitration directions of the SPP activities.

«At the market today, most in-demand are legal services in the areas of transactions support and real estate disputes, land and construction, FMCG (food products). The scale of firms is constantly growing, which requires law firms for more resources and professionalism", - said the SPP managing partner Valery Papakul.