USA and U.S. Law

Together with U.S.-licensed attorneys, Nordic Star provides support to Russian and international companies, financial institutions, and private clients on matters of U.S. law, particularly in connection with sanctions restrictions, cross-border disputes, and protecting assets. 

Sanctions and OFAC:

• Analyzing how U.S. sanctions are applied to companies, individuals, transactions, and specific assets;
• Assessing sanctions risks, including issues of direct and indirect ownership and control, U.S. nexus, and secondary sanctions;
• Drafting legal opinions on how U.S. sanctions legislation applies;
• Assisting with drawing up and filing applications with OFAC for specific licenses, including licenses required for assets and funds to be unblocked;
• Managing communications with OFAC during the application review process;
• Advising on the application of OFAC general licenses and other exceptions to sanctions restrictions;
• Devising legal strategies for having assets and payments unblocked, taking into account U.S. and other applicable sanctions regimes;
• Supporting clients throughout procedures seeking to have individuals and entities removed from sanctions lists, and challenging sanctions restrictions.

Litigation and Disputes

• Representing clients in commercial and sanctions‑related disputes in the U.S., including proceedings in federal and state courts;
• Providing support for disputes involving U.S. law, including sanctions restrictions, asset and payment freezes, breaches of contractual provisions, recovering debt, recovering losses, as well as having foreign court judgments and arbitral awards recognized and enforced;
• Developing legal positions in disputes involving U.S. sanctions and other U.S. law issues, including preparing legal opinions to be used in court and arbitration proceedings;
• Assisting with obtaining evidence from U.S. companies and organizations for use in foreign court and arbitration proceedings, including under 28 U.S.C. § 1782;
• Acting as experts on Russian law in foreign state courts and before international arbitration institutions, including in cases where sanctions restrictions form part of the subject matter of the dispute.

Corporate Law and Transactions

• Advising companies and entrepreneurs on doing business in the U.S.;
• Assisting startups, investors, and technology companies with fundraising and business development;
• Supporting the formation and structuring of companies;
• Advising on corporate governance matters;
• Handling commercial transactions and investment projects;
• Advising on how to structure venture transactions, preparing investment documentation, and regulating relationships among founders, investors, and other project participants;
• Managing contractual relationships with U.S. counterparties.

Intellectual Property and Technology

• Protecting clients’ rights to key intangible business assets – trademarks, technologies, software, and other IP items;
• Handling the registration and protection of rights, license agreements, technology transfers, and IP infringement disputes;
• Representing clients in disputes with technology platforms and digital services, including issues of having app and developer accounts blocked, platform access restrictions, the removal of digital products, the withholding of payments, and other restrictions imposed by Apple, Google, and other tech companies.

SAMPLE MATTERS

• Assisting a Russian client with assets being blocked under the U.S. sanctions regime, including developing a strategy and preparing an application to OFAC for a specific license to have the assets unblocked;
• Representing Russian companies jointly with U.S. attorneys in federal court proceedings in the U.S. involving the application of U.S. sanctions restrictions;
• Preparing legal opinions on whether U.S. sanctions applied to cross-border transactions and payments, including analyzing U.S. nexus, ownership and control structures, and potential grounds for exceptions and OFAC licenses to apply;
• Advising on how U.S. and Russian sanctions and counter‑sanctions restrictions relate to one another when cross-border operations are being structured;
• Representing a group of investors in a claim against managers of a venture fund for misusing the fund’s assets, failing to provide financial information, and failing to maintain the fund’s valid status;
• Representing a mobile app developer in a dispute with technology platforms over access being restricted to the digital product, including developing a legal strategy, seeking interim measures, and liaising with service providers;
• Representing a venture investor in court proceedings to recover funds invested in a technology project;
• Preparing expert opinions on Russian law to be used in foreign court and international arbitration proceedings.

Additional information