Ukrainian Law Firms Entering the International Market: Challenges and Opportunities

Entering the international market is a significant challenge for law firms from Ukraine, but also a tremendous opportunity for growth. This is an interview with Dmytro Chuguiyenko, a lawyer and managing partner at the Disputes Law Firm, conducted by Vladyslava Rykova, founder of the MAVR marketing agency. They discuss how to effectively attract international clients, build trust, and compete on a global level.

About the Company and Specialization

Dmytro Chuguienko is an attorney and managing partner of Disputes Law Firm, which was founded in 2015. The company specializes in judicial and extrajudicial dispute resolution. Over time, key practices expanded to include services such as contract development and review, as well as due diligence for transactions and counterparties.

"Since 2021, we have been actively attracting foreign clients and successfully working with them. Our clients represent different countries from all continents"

— notes Dmytro Chuguienko.

How has the demand for legal services among foreign clients changed since the beginning of the war?

The history of Disputes Law Firm's international development reflects general trends in Ukraine's legal services market in recent years:

• Before 2020 the company worked exclusively with the Ukrainian market, mainly through recommendations and "word of mouth."

  "Our legal practice served exclusively Ukrainian citizens. The first clients came through recommendations – through the so-called 'word of mouth'"

  — recalls Dmytro.

• With the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, many clients postponed addressing legal issues.

  "After the pandemic began, it became obvious that many clients postponed resolving their legal issues, and our work practically stopped. This was the first moment when we thought about attracting clients through Google advertising. We didn't have a special budget or experience, so we did it ourselves with the help of friends"

  — says Dmytro.

• Mid-2021 became a turning point:

  "Clients started to appear, and in 2021 several foreigners approached us. Then I thought: 'Why not focus specifically on working with foreigners?' I had a decent level of English, and my only assistant at that time also had a sufficient level of language proficiency. We decided to create advertising campaigns targeting foreign clients"

• November 2021 - January 2022 Dmytro calls the "golden time":

  "Around September, we began actively working in this direction, and by November we already had our first interesting clients from Israel, the USA, Australia, Canada, as well as foreigners who were on the territory of Ukraine. You could say that our 'golden time' began, which lasted from November 2021 to January 2022 — when the whole world froze before the full-scale invasion, including our foreign clients"

• February 2022 —

  "With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, work in all directions actually stopped — both with Ukrainian and foreign clients. Until the end of May-early June 2022, there could be no talk of full-fledged work at all, since there was no one even in the office"

• May-June 2022 —

  "In June, I resumed the advertising campaign for working with foreigners, and July became a record month for the entire previous period of work — both in terms of income and the number of clients. We were approached by dozens of people to resolve, or rather — to complete their affairs in Ukraine. These were businessmen, crypto activists, Ukrainians abroad, foreign students who massively left the territory of Ukraine at the beginning of the full-scale invasion"

• During the next year work with foreign clients remained active, but gradually declined.

  "After about a year, interest in Ukraine began to gradually fade, and there were fewer and fewer people who had not resolved their issues. This trend continues to this day"

  — notes Dmytro.

"Many, including us, expect that after the active phase of hostilities on the territory of Ukraine ends, foreigners may return. In fact, we have heard from many foreigners how much they love Ukraine and how much they regret having to stop everything. This applies not only to citizens of countries such as India or African states (Nigeria, Yemen), who are real fans of Ukraine, but also Americans, Canadians, Australians, and Europeans"

— summarizes Dmytro.

Current Requests from Foreign Clients

Currently, the company is most often approached with the following issues:

• Investigation of fraud committed on the territory of Ukraine or under the cover of Ukrainian companies
• Real estate operations
• Legal disputes with Ukrainian citizens who have violated the rights of foreigners
• Issues related to Ukrainian higher education institutions

"Now we are most often approached with requests regarding cases of fraud from the territory of Ukraine or under the cover of Ukrainian companies, issues of real estate operations, as well as legal disputes with Ukrainian citizens who in one way or another have violated the rights of foreigners"

— explains Dmytro.

What are the main challenges facing Ukrainian law firms and how to convince foreign clients of reliability?

Dmytro suggests considering this question more as "requirements for law firms that want to work with international clients." According to him, the approach depends on the client segment:

Minimum requirements package for working with foreign clients:

1. Mandatory English language proficiency for all personnel, especially company management.

   "English language proficiency of employees and the head of the law firm at a sufficient conversational level. Legal English is not necessary for basic communication with foreigners"

2. Quality English-language website with fresh content.

   "Availability of an English version of the website with up-to-date content. Some companies create an English version of the site on which they post several outdated news items, and that's it. Of course, such a site will not attract the attention of a foreign client, as they will not understand whether you are working at all, and will hardly call to check it"

3. Presence in review services.

   "Registration in all services for reviews and placement on maps, in particular in Google My Business, as well as in review aggregators such as Trustpilot, Google, Facebook"

4. Sufficient number of real positive reviews.

   "Having a sufficient number of positive reviews that inspire confidence. Never buy reviews! Since 2015, we have about 80 reviews, and these are exactly the reviews left by our clients. Although the cases that we successfully completed during this time were 10 times more"

5. Demonstration of expertise.

   "Your website should have information that confirms your expertise and specialization — I mean successful cases and analytical materials with relevant dates in English"

For the lower and middle segment of clients:

"If we are talking about the lower and middle segment of foreign clients in pre-war Ukraine, then it is enough to have an attractive website, relevant content, relative publicity of key persons of the law firm and the presence of positive reviews.

In addition, it is very important how the person who first communicates with a foreign client recommends themselves and presents the company. Clients like it when they communicate with the head of the company, who clearly and understandably explains the procedures, cost of services, terms and expected result"

For the higher segment of clients:

"If we are talking about foreign clients of above average and high level, then they focus on international ratings such as Legal 500, Chambers, Best Lawyers. Often they choose from the top 50 law firms in Ukraine, and most often — from the top ten"

Features of conducting legal business with foreign clients

Dmytro notes that each country has its own rules for conducting legal business, and it is important to honestly convey this to the client:

Each country has its own rules for conducting legal business, and Ukraine is no exception. The task of the law firm and its management is to communicate the rules of work to the client, to set them out clearly and understandably in the contract so that there are no ambiguities.

There is no point in imitating the rules of the game of the United States, the Netherlands or Germany — you will not succeed anyway. The client either agrees to the conditions offered by the Ukrainian market, or in some cases turns to their local law firms, which then find us and other Ukrainian companies for cooperation through Google search. But at the same time, the client's local company bears responsibility for the project.

Regarding the language issue, according to Dmytro's observations:

• Foreign clients who seek cooperation with Ukrainian companies predominantly speak English
• In 10 years of practice, there were only about three cases when the client did not speak English
• Modern technologies (translators, ChatGPT, Claude) help in rare cases of language barriers

Effective marketing tools for attracting international clients

Dmytro emphasizes that for his company, the key sources of client attraction are:

1. Repeat inquiries and recommendations from existing clients
2. Google Ads contextual advertising

"For us, the key source of client attraction is repeat inquiries and recommendations from clients with whom we have already worked, as well as Google Ads contextual advertising. At this stage, we do not use other tools such as advertising on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn"

Comparing different marketing tools:

• "I personally believe that social networks are primarily tools for developing brand awareness, and not so much for attracting a client for a specific task. Of course, these are investments in the future, but at this stage, it is key for us to attract clients who are actively looking for an English-speaking lawyer and a law firm in Ukraine"

• "If the main goal is to attract foreign clients in the lower and middle range, then here I can only recommend contextual advertising and, of course, wait for better times when the economy and the trust of foreigners in our country will be restored in Ukraine"

Although the war has significantly changed the situation (the number of potential clients has decreased from thousands to dozens per day), Google advertising remains the most cost-effective tool.

Strategy for reaching a high level in the international market

Dmytro provides a comprehensive strategy for law firms that want to reach a higher level in the international market:

If there is a desire to reach a higher level, then first you need to:

1. Get a sufficient number of successful cases at the international level
2. Develop PR and publicity in the international arena
3. Apply to international ratings
4. Have a sufficient number of successful high-level cases in Ukraine and participation in Ukrainian ratings

And, of course, invest in the website, as it is the face of the law firm — the first thing the client will see. The site should appeal to them and convince them that you are indeed a worthy specialist and expert in your field.

Digital presence is also an important element of the strategy:

"A foreign client will definitely check the information that is in the public domain, and the more mentions about you they find there, the more chances that you will be able to conclude an agreement with them"

Legislative regulation for working with foreign clients

Dmytro considers the only significant legislative restriction to be the requirement of Ukrainian legislation regarding the conclusion of paper contracts with clients by law associations:

"Currently, we face only one problem — these are paper contracts for professional legal assistance, which our clients are forced to send to Ukraine, and the peculiarities of electronic digital signatures in Ukraine"

The problem is that:

• "In most countries, an electronic digital signature is simply an image of a signature in a graphic format. In Ukraine, on the other hand, an electronic signature is exclusively an encryption key, which is generated only for citizens of Ukraine who have the 'Diia' app or have opened a bank account"

• "This creates inconveniences, and clients often do not understand why they have to send paper contracts to Ukraine. However, the requirement remains, especially for obtaining certain original documents or representation before government authorities, where it is necessary to present the original paper contract for the provision of professional legal assistance"

Dmytro suggests making changes:

"I believe that in this direction it is necessary to carry out some liberalization so that clients could sign documents with a graphic image of their signature, and this would be sufficient confirmation of the fact of concluding a contract"

He also notes that other aspects of working with foreign clients are just a matter of work organization:

"Other aspects are just questions of working with clients: CRM, communication via email, messengers, etc., which is not related to legislation"

Three main tips for law firms working with foreign clients

Dmytro Chuguienko clarifies the wording of the question:

"Perhaps it is worth talking here not about the international market, but about foreign clients, because the market is actually Ukrainian, just the clients are foreign"

And provides the following advice:

1. Professionalism, responsibility and friendly communication

   "Clients from Europe, and especially from the United States of America, expect an extremely high level of quality of legal services and absolute responsibility of lawyers for what they do. The slightest mistakes and deviations are perceived by the client as grounds for immediate termination of the contract and claiming compensation"

2. Improving English language skills

   "Learn English! Listen to audiobooks, watch YouTube every day. Don't postpone this issue until the moment when the first client appears and you can't explain anything to them"

3. Professional online presence

   "Create a professional online presence. Order a proper website and contact specialists to set up and launch Google Ads. This is your business card in the digital world, the first contact with a potential client, and to a large extent it depends on whether the foreigner will want to work with you"

Conclusion

Attracting clients from abroad is not only a matter of marketing, but also building a strong reputation, professional communication and continuous improvement. Although the war has significantly changed the situation in the legal services market, many foreign clients continue to seek qualified legal assistance in Ukraine and express support for Ukrainian lawyers.

The experience of Dmytro Chuguienko and Disputes Law Firm demonstrates that even in difficult conditions, it is possible to establish effective work with foreign clients provided the right approach to marketing, communication and demonstration of expertise.

The main conclusion: it is necessary to be ready for high standards of quality and communication, invest in proper online presence and develop language skills to successfully work with international clients. And of course, look forward to the return of the "golden time" after the end of the war, when foreign interest in Ukraine will rise again.