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#The Legal 500: Europe, Middle East & Africa > Ukraine - The Clients Guide to the best Law firms, top Lawyers, Attorneys, Advocates, Solicitors and Barristers in Ukraine

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Legal market overview

Ukraine, ‘the breadbasket of Europe’, has economic bright spots in agriculture, pharmaceuticals and IT, as well as potential in renewable energy and retail, but all of this has been heavily impacted by fighting and political upheaval.

The economic, security and political situation has been unstable since the ‘Euromaidan’ revolution, which prompted Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014, and the emergence of self-proclaimed people’s republics in Donetsk and Lugansk in the eastern region of Donbass.

Petro Poroshenko won the presidential election in May 2014 and continued the EU association process, although implementation has been postponed.

The dispute with Russia has dampened the legal market and reduced transactional work. Few M&Amp;A and real estate deals have been completed and, needless to say, foreign investors are cautious. A number of leading lawyers have accepted government positions as the country moves forward.

Some international law firms remain prominent in the market, including Baker McKenzie – CIS, Limited. Clifford Chance LLC. DLA Piper Ukraine LLC and Dentons. but Chadbourne Parke and German firms Beiten Burkhardt and Noerr exited, the latter’s team forming Nobles. Conversely, Scandinavian firm Magnusson opened an office in Kiev.