Denis Almakaev, Partner, Head of International Litigation Practice at LEVEL Legal Services, has been admitted to practice in Singapore as a registered foreign lawyer. This entitles the firm to represent clients in the Singapore International Commercial Court, as well as in the Court of Appeal when appealing against its decisions.

The Singapore International Commercial Court is part of the Supreme Court of Singapore and is designed to hear cross-border commercial disputes.

There are less than 100 lawyers from around the world, mostly from "common law" countries, on Singapore's foreign lawyers' register. This is because a condition for inclusion in the lawyers' register is the ability to conduct foreign law proceedings in English.

Denis Almakaev is currently the only lawyer with this qualification based in Russia. In addition to being registered in Singapore, Denis is a lawyer in three jurisdictions: Russia, England and Wales, and the United States (New York).

Alexey Dudko, Senior Partner at LEVEL Legal Services:

"Russian parties have been considering Singapore as an alternative to "Western" jurisdictions for dispute resolution for a number of years. Traditionally, clients are interested in the Singapore International Arbitration Center (SIAC), where I am an accredited arbitrator. At the same time, we are also noticing a growing interest in Singapore state courts, including in connection with the possibility to enforce their decisions in a number of countries in the region on an expedited basis"

Denis Almakaev, Partner, Head of International Litigation Practice at LEVEL Legal Services:

"In the context of significant sanctions pressure, our main task is to ensure effective defense of Russian clients in critical foreign jurisdictions. Registration as a foreign lawyer in Singapore is one of the elements of this strategy"