A Painful Divorce

After spending a decade successfully establishing Pepeliaev Golts-blat & Partners as one of Russia’s leading firms, Andrey Goltsblat and Sergey Pepeliaev rarely talk anymore. In the two years since Goltsblat dropped the bombshell of his departure, which saw the firm effectively split in two, the pair have been embroiled in a bitter and protracted divorce.

When Goltsblat and his team left for the United Kingdom’s Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP), Pepeliaev and the departing partners signed an agreement to “refrain from any actions intended uniquely or mainly to cause harm, inconvenience, or discomfort.” It didn’t make much difference. Shortly after Goltsblat’s departure, Pepeliaev sought to collect $50,000 from BLP for expenses that he claimed Goltsblat had accrued during his lengthy negotiations with the U.K. firm. Goltsblat insists that all meetings with BLP were conducted in his free time during business trips. BLP confirmed that Pepeliaev had made an initial approach in relation to the claim, but that the firm assumed the dispute had been dropped, as it “never heard anything more about it.”