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CMS announces new Managing Partner in Kyiv

24 May 2022

International law firm CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang has appointed Vitaliy Radchenko as the new Managing Partner of its Kyiv office.

Vitaliy joined the firm in 2007 and focuses his practice on M&A, financing, commercial law and regulatory advice across oil and gas, mineral resources, conventional & renewable power generation and carbon emissions reduction projects. Since 2013, he has led CMS’s Energy & Projects Practice in Kyiv. Vitaliy is recognised by clients and the wider market as “a standout figure for energy law in Ukraine”, supported by band 1 rankings in Chambers & Partners. 

Vitaliy succeeds Graham Conlon, who is moving to a revised CMS role after five years as Kyiv Managing Partner. Graham, who has a multijurisdictional M&A practice advising on transactions throughout CEE, Europe and beyond, remains Head of International Private Equity for CEE/CIS and will continue to advise clients in relation to big-ticket transactions, with a particular focus on the Middle East region which continues to offer significant opportunities for M&A and inbound investment into CEE.  

Stephen Millar, Managing Partner for CMS, comments: “We are very committed to our Ukraine business and have great confidence in its future success. Our people remain our utmost priority, and we continue to invest in our offering and talent, a recent example being the promotion of Olga Shenk to partner in our latest promotions round. Vitaliy is an accomplished and devoted lawyer and brings tremendous skills to his new leadership role. I look forward to working alongside Vitaliy who will be instrumental in building on the strengths of our Ukraine offering and supporting colleagues and clients through this difficult period and thereafter.”

Dóra Petrányi, CEE Managing Director for CMS, adds: “Vitaliy is a proven leader, with a strong track record across the region. We have no doubt that Vitaliy will do a standout job leading our superb Kyiv team, increasing our excellent standing on the market, and capitalising further on the future growth opportunities that we expect to come in Ukraine as soon as the current hostilities have come to an end.

“I’d also like to thank Graham for his leadership of the Kyiv office over the past five years, during which period the office has grown significantly, and is now one of the leading law firms in the market.”

Commenting on his appointment, Vitaliy says: “I look forward to leading the talented Kyiv team, who over the last months in particular, have shown incredible resilience, strength and commitment to Ukraine and Ukrainian people, our firm and clients during ongoing war with Russia and these extremely challenging and unprecedented times. We have every confidence that Ukraine will win this war, and we alongside Ukrainian people will contribute to supporting Ukraine and our clients as we look to the future and begin the country’s reconstruction.”

Although the CMS Kyiv office remains closed for the foreseeable future, the Kyiv team is fully operational, delivering service to clients through the firm’s operational hubs in Budapest and Ukraine. CMS is operating a 24/7 business support team to monitor the wellbeing of colleagues and support them and their families through the crisis. The firm is also continuing to provide financial and pro bono support to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.