Goltsblat BLP announces further expansion of the firm’s Russian/ CIS Tax Practice and appointment of Evgeny Timofeev as its head

International law firm Goltsblat BLP is delighted to announce that Evgeny Timofeev has been appointed as a partner, to lead the growing Russian/CIS tax practice.

Evgeny Timofeev, highly-respected in the Russian legal field, joins the firm’s tax department in response to the growing demand from international clients for quality cross-border tax advice.
Over the last two years the Goltsblat BLP Tax Practice has expanded significantly and, being one of the most demanded by international clients in the Russian market, has demonstrated 60% growth in 2010/2011 financial year.

Before joining Goltsblat BLP, Evgeny was a partner at the Salans Moscow office and co-head of the firm’s Global Tax Practice. He is one of the country’s leading tax practitioners, ranked in the first tier for Tax in Chambers Europe 2011 for very high-level tax skills and also being mentioned as “a leading tax litigator” with significant experience in litigation against tax authorities, the services that are of great demand among Goltsblat BLP clients. Evgeny is also “praised for his diversified theory and practical knowledge, strong experience and outstanding logic”, according to Legal 500 2011.
Evgeny provides a broad range of contentious and non-contentious tax advice to global corporates, local companies and financial institutions. Evgeny’s clients include leading Russian and international companies such as Auchan, ABB, L’Oreal, Russian Alcohol and many more.

He is a member of the Board of the Russian Tax Law Association and of the Expert Council on Tax Legislation of the State Duma Budget Committee. He is also a member of the International Fiscal Association and serves on the Tax Committees of the Association of European Business in Russia, the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia and the Deutsch-Russische Auslandshandelskammer. In addition to his law degree, Evgeny has an MBA from London Business School (2001).

Evgeny’s appointment follows those of tax partner Andrey Shpak, who joined from PWC in 2010, Simon Allan, the former head of finance at BLP in London who relocated to the Moscow office in 2011 and Oleg Khokhlov, partner, highly regarded Russian-qualified banking & finance expert from Linklaters who joined the firm last month.

Andrey Goltsblat, Managing Partner of Goltsblat BLP, comments on the appointment of the new partner: “I am glad that a lawyer of Evgeny’s caliber is joining our team. I am sure that this appointment will let us develop further our international tax capabilities to better serve our clients for cross-border transactions.”

Evgeny Timofeev, Partner, Head of Russian/CIS Tax Practice, Goltsblat BLP: “I am delighted to join Goltsblat BLP at such an exciting period of its growth and to be a part of this strong and enthusiastic team. I am very impressed by the high level projects they are working on and their expanding list of blue chip clients. Furthermore, there is a great demand from both Russian and international clients for quality tax advice, so I am looking forward to developing these opportunities further.”

Michael Wistow, Partner, Head of tax, BLP: “The appointment of Evgeny Timofeev is an exciting development for the rapidly expanding Russian based tax practice.  He is top ranked for international advisory work and will provide even greater depth on the contentious tax side.”