Alexander Korkin — Melling, Voitishkin & Partners

Practice Focus

Practices

Industries

Biography

Alexander Korkin heads the Dispute Resolution and Employment Practices at the St. Petersburg office.

Alexander represents clients in courts in commercial, administrative, antitrust, labor and migration disputes.

Alexander has extensive experience in various labor law matters, including dismissals, dealing with trade unions, supporting in restructuring and M&A transactions and in the course of labor inspection audits, as well as representing companies in labor disputes.

Rankings

Leading individual, Labor & Migration (including disputes)

Best Lawyer in Russia, Litigation, Administrative and Corporate Law, Labor Law and Legal Regulation of Employee Benefits

Recommended, Labor Law

Stand-out lawyer

Representative Legal Matters

Dispute Resolution — Commercial and Regulatory

Represented a major construction company in two disputes with a contractor related to a major building project in Russia. In the first case the courts of 4 levels including the Supreme Court confirmed our client’s position that arbitration agreements providing for ICC arbitration seated in London were valid and enforceable, and that the English law applied to the arbitration agreements. Therefore, the claim against our client was left without consideration. The second proceedings were within a bankruptcy case of the subcontractor and the subcontractor’s bankruptcy administrator filed for invalidation of arbitration agreements based on grounds in the bankruptcy laws. The court dismissed these claims in full, having established that the arbitration agreements had been entered into without any violations.
Represented a manufacturer of spring water and soft drinks in a number of court proceedings initiated to deprive the client of trademarks. Our lawyers were able to convince the courts of first instance and appeal of the groundlessness of the claim, where the claimant asked to invalidate the auction based on which the client received the key trademarks for its business. The work involved collecting additional evidence to strengthen the client’s position in the case. In two other cases, the legal team was able to prove in the court of first instance the groundlessness of the claims to invalidate transactions for the transfer of rights under applications to register trademarks to a joint venture between the client and its partner. Due to this decision, the joint venture retained the rights to the key assets — five trademarks. The court also confirmed the abusive behavior of the client’s opponent, which is important for the further resolution of the corporate conflict.
Represented a Chinese manufacturing company in a number of disputes concerning the invalidation of a construction permit and the positive opinion of a state ecological expert study. The environmental protection prosecutor’s office and other complainants contested these documents permitting the construction of a factory in a special ecologic zone.

Prepared statements of claim to invalidate the decisions of the State Commission on Radio Frequencies and represented an international supplier of marine equipment in the courts of first instance and appeal. In addition, we advised the client on issues regarding contacting various state bodies to cancel the adopted restrictive measures and we prepared the relevant applications.
Represented a major international food manufacturer in an arbitrazh court in a dispute for the recovery of debts from a business partner, who did not perform its obligations to our client during a long period of time. Scope of work included the search of assets and getting the interim measures from the court.

Dispute Resolution — Employment and Migration

Legal support of Semrush on complex employment issues. Work involved advice on dismissal procedures for employees (including elaborating on the grounds for dismissal and drafting of dismissal-related documents), drafting internal policies and advice on remote work and electronic HR paperwork. We also represented the client in a first instance court in an employment litigation against the employee dismissed for violation of job duties; work involved collection of a large amount of evidence to confirm violation, including in the USA under the Section 1782, legal support on a criminal case against the employee.
Represented a major multinational FMCG company in eight employment disputes involving members of trade unions. Advised the client on various issues connected with the dismissal of the trade union leader and trade union members, as well as other employment law matters.

Successfully represented a major oil and gas company in a dispute initiated by an employee dismissed due to his refusal to accept amendments to the employment contract Court practice in similar situations was quite controversial, but the courts of three instances ruled in favor of the client.

Employment and Migration — Trade Unions, Advisory, etc.

Comprehensive legal support to Nissan Manufacturing RUS during a complex downsizing project, including drafting the redundancy documentation, advising on and drafting documents related to trade union relations and dismissal of trade union leaders, advising on the assessment of preemptive rights and reduction procedure, participating in meetings of commissions on the assessment of preemptive rights and meetings with employees to resolve claims during the downsizing project.

Provided legal support to Smiths Heimann Rus during a State Labor Inspectorate audit, which covered both legal and job safety issues. The work included preparing a legal position for the inspectorate and numerous visits to the inspectorate. As a result of these efforts, the inspectorate applied the minimum fines possible and accepted all of the documents submitted as confirmation of full and final clearance of all of issues raised during the audit.

Professional membership

St. Petersburg International Business Association (SPIBA) — Co-chair, HR Committee

Education

St. Petersburg State University, PhD in Law, 2012

Irkutsk State University, Law Degree with Honors, 2007