Bate C TOMS Managing Partner, B.C.Toms & Co. Legal education: Yale Law School (J.D., 1975); Magdalene College, Cambridge University (Law Tripos I; 1972-1973). Mr. Toms is admitted to legal practice in the District of Columbia and Virginia, USA, and in France.Chairman, British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce
Education:
Mr. Toms studied at Yale Law School (J.D., editor of the Yale Law Journal), Washington and Lee University (B.A., magna cum laude) Phi Beta Kappa and Cambridge University (Magdalene College — Law Tripos). As an undergraduate, he also studied Soviet Studies for a year at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.
Professional experience:
Bate C. Toms is the Managing Partner of B.C. Toms & Co, which 25 years ago was the first western law firm to open an office in Ukraine. He has since handled the legal work for many of the most significant transactions in Ukraine, including the largest acquisitions in the oil and gas and agricultural sectors. He recently acted as the sole Ukrainian legal expert for the largest arbitration ever involving Ukraine, at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, based on claims for Ukrainian law violations occurring during a corporate raid.
Mr. Toms has also handled the legal work for the first IPO, and many other large IPO’s, for Ukrainian companies, a number of significant loans for Ukraine and the first successful foreign bank (EBRD) led Ukrainian project financing, as well as many of Ukraine’s largest real estate acquisitions and land development and oil and gas projects. B.C. Toms & Co handles the legal work for a number of important agricultural companies. Prior to founding his firm, Mr. Toms was a partner for many years in London at a major multinational law firm.
He has written numerous articles on Ukrainian law and is the principal author of the ICC book “Doing Business with Ukraine”. In addition, he is the Ukrainian editor of the Journal of International Banking Law (JIBL) and the International Energy Law Review (IELR) and is the Chairman of the British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce (“BUCC”) and the Yale Club of Ukraine.
B. C. Toms & Co
- Tel.:
- +380 44 490 6000, 278 1000
- E-mail:
- kyiv@bctoms.net
- Web-site:
- www.bctoms.net
B.C. Toms & Co is a multinational law firm of Ukrainian and Western lawyers specializing in Ukrainian law. It was the first Western law firm to open a Kiev office, having focused its practice on Ukraine at its independence in 1991. The firm has handled, for example, the land leasing for many of Ukraine’s largest agricultural and oil and gas projects, as well as acquisitions of land for commercial property developments. We also handled the legal work for the first, and the most, IPOs to raise funding for Ukrainian companies, as well as the first true project financing in Ukraine. Based on our over 25 years of experience in Ukraine, we can provide, with our legal advice, practical commercial advice on how to establish and develop a business in Ukraine.
The firm has recruited and trained its Ukrainian lawyers from students at Ukraine’s leading law schools, most of whom have also studied at UK and US law schools as Chevening, Pinchuk, Fulbright and Muskie fellowships. Based on the firm’s practical experience, it has written numerous articles on Ukrainian law, including the legal section of the book Doing Business in Ukraine.
The principal practice areas of B. C. Toms & Co include real estate and land development, energy, natural resources, agriculture, banking and finance, M&A, environmental, labor, bankruptcy and administrative law. The firm also has a successful litigation and arbitration practice, having successfully handled many of Ukraine’s most important cases, including in all Ukrainian courts and before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague. The firm regularly advises on Ukrainian tax law, including from a multinational tax planning perspective.
B. C. Toms & Co has prepared a wide variety of documentation for clients, including Ukrainian law share purchase agreements, asset purchase agreements, joint venture agreements, construction contracts, project financing documentation, production sharing and oil and gas license agreements, airport investment and management agreements, hotel management agreements, private placement agreements, real estate acquisition agreements, loan agreements, leases and agency, distribution, franchise and licensing contracts.
