Andrew Smith writes for The Law Society Gazette on acting for Russian clients during the Ukraine war

Partner Andrew Smith has written a considered article for The Law Society Gazette on the SRA decisions in relation to Ukraine and whether they align with their own Principles and Code of Conduct.

Andrew writes: “As the VTB Bank case demonstrates, it is all very well to talk about a conflict of values between a solicitor and the client, but if those clients suddenly become pariahs, they do not thereby lose their rights. And when law firms suddenly talk about values, it is right to question whether “values” is an attractive wrapper for what is, at heart, an entirely legitimate but rather less attractive concern about the reputational damage they might suffer from being associated with Russian clients, and the associated financial impact if their non-Russian clients decided to take their business elsewhere.”

Read the full article here