The global legal industry is still dealing with repercussions stemming from the war in Ukraine. It’s been more than two months since the Russian invasion began, but for law firms and their clients, dealing with sanctions—both in the West and in Russia—and dropping Russian clients—even sanctioned Russian state-owned entities—has proven difficult. 

Last week, Latham & Watkins was finally given the OK to withdraw from representing one of Russia’s largest, and now-sanctioned, state-owned banks—a client it took on in a case related to the 2014 downing of a passenger plane over Ukraine. Back in April, Latham lawyers moved to withdraw from the litigation involving VTB Bank, noting that its client had agreed to allow the firm to withdraw. A U.S. judge finally granted the firm permission to stop representing VTB in the litigation but warned the bank that if it failed to quickly hire new attorneys, it risked being in default.