The future of the Russian legal market lies with large multidisciplinary structures, this opinion was expressed by experts during a round table at the International Legal Congress (ILC) “Law and Modernization: Experience, Prospects, Trends,” organized by RAPSI/rappsinews together with RIA Novosti.

According to the vice-president of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers (FPA) of the Russian Federation, managing partner of the law firm “YUST” Yuri Pilipenko, “the Russian market of legal services has been narrowing recently, signs of monopolism have appeared, and the fashion for mergers and acquisitions, which is now observed in our legal market, only confirms these trends.”

“Of course, only the market itself will tell us how to develop, but today the most relevant form for providing legal services is a group of companies,” the expert noted. The chairman of the human rights commission of the Association of Lawyers of the Russian Federation, partner of the law firm Yukov, Khrenov and Partners, Alexander Khrenov, did not agree with his colleague. He believes that Russian jurisprudence “is facing serious changes, and now the organizational form in which the legal structure exists is not so relevant.”

The colleague was supported by the managing partner of the Yug law office (Krasnodar), Yuri Pustovit, drawing attention to the “significant difference between the Moscow and regional legal markets.” “It’s difficult for small law firms to operate in the regions, which find it difficult to compete with firms with large staff and well-established brands. It’s still impossible to talk about the culture of consumption of legal services, and we should remember that the regional legal services market is closed,” the expert said.

For his “small but growing company,” Pustovit sees the prospect of development in the form of becoming a “national law firm,” which will then “look for the opportunity to merge with a major player.” However, regional players in the domestic legal services market also need, according to the