Christopher Michael Giles Joins Asters as Counsel

Asters’ ever growing legal team got a strong addition. Effective 15 August 2008 Christopher Michael Giles joined the firm as its Counsel. Mr. Giles is the first US qualified attorney with Asters. His broad professional knowledge and experience correspond to the best international standards and the firm’s pursuit of completely meeting the legal needs of its Ukrainian and international clients.

Mr. Giles specialises in international finance and cross-border mergers and acquisitions having particular experience in working on syndicated loans, loans from the EBRD/IFC, legal opinions, due diligence reports, project finance and real estate transactions. He also possesses good practice in international arbitration attained together with a team of Ukrainian lawyers in matters before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes and the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

Christopher’s jurisdictions of admission include the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, State of New York, United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, United State Court of International Trade, and United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. He has obtained a Certificate of Eligibility from the Law Society of England and Wales to take the Qualified Lawyers’ Transfer Test at Oxford for purposes of qualifying as a Solicitor of England and Wales. Christopher is also scheduled to be sworn in to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in January 2009.

Mr. Giles is a Co-Founder and President of the Georgetown Club of Ukraine, as well as member of the International Bar Association, American Bar Association, American Ukrainian Bar Association, Massachusetts Bar Association, and Boston Bar Associations.

The new Asters’ counsel is an LL.M. candidate at the University of Notre Dame Law School, having earned his Juris Doctor degree at Michigan State University College of Law, as well as a Master of Arts at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and Bachelor of Science (Russian) at Georgetown University.

Armen Khachaturyan, Asters’ Senior Partner, commented, "Asters has always focused on the needs of its clients, providing the best possible legal services. Taking into account the increasing demand from our clients for English and American law capabilities in Ukraine and our constant intention to develop and implement Western standards of legal profession we made an offer to Christopher to join Asters. We are confident that Christopher’s profile, education and great wish to practice law in Ukraine will deepen our commitment to supporting the growth of our clients’ business both in Ukraine and internationally. We are happy to have Christopher as a part of our legal team and hope that our cooperation is to become a real progression for Christopher as well".

Christopher commented, "I was drawn to Asters due to its intensive growth on the Ukrainian market and its international expansion. With several large global law firms poised to enter the Ukrainian legal market, Asters is a full service Ukrainian law firm which, I am confident, will capably compete with the "Magic Circle" and "White Shoes" firms of the West – not only here in Ukraine, but in the world arena as well. I am excited to be a part of this movement, and I look forward to working with Asters for many years to come. Furthermore, Asters has a well established professional focus on the issue of corporate social responsibility, which is something I consider to be of the utmost importance in an independent democratic Ukraine".