Expertise & Legal services

Ruskova & Partners Law Firm has been providing legal services in the sphere of energy law since 2005. We advise our clients on their business of building energy facilities for the production of electric power, on connection of such facilities to the power supply system of the country, on specific property legal matters in respect of the properties necessary for the building of the energy facilities and on the trade in the electric power produced. The law firm has also gained significant experience in the procedures related to the connection of facilities of producers and consumers of electric power to the grid. The law firm provides legal assistance to its clients from the very beginning of those procedures giving consultations on the signing of preliminary and final grid connection contracts with regard to the obligations imposed on the connected entities and with regard to the allocation scheme of the costs related to the building of the facilities that are to be connected.

RUSKOVA & PARTNERS Law Firm provides overall legal services in the sphere of production of and trade in electric power produced from renewable energy sources – wind and photovoltaic parks and biomass. Within this process we also provide legal advising in the course of the procedures under the Environmental Protection Act and in the cases where investment intention affects protected territories or areas.

The law firm has also experience in the preparation of projects for the building of photovoltaic parks. This includes both the specific statutory requirements as to the technical rules and norms for the building of such facilities and how they are to be placed in compliance with the law by means of approval of detailed development plans, approval of building sites and change of farm lands’ purpose and also with regard to the investment design requirements.

We also have a vast practice with regard to construction of wind power parks. Our firm advises its clients on the specific requirements as to what distance such facilities must be located away from inhabited areas as well as the grid connection methods in respect thereof with a view to the installed power.

We also advise our clients on the methods of sale of electric power produced from renewable energy sources, both at regulated preferential prices in the conditions of the mandatory off-take of that type of electric power and at freely negotiated prices.
Ruskova & Partners Law Firm has significant experience in the preparation of a complete legal analysis for building of energy projects using renewable energy resources. This analysis includes risk evaluation in terms of lands and title therein, permissions and licenses to carry on business, planning procedures and procedures under the Environmental Protection Act and the Biological Diversity Act as well as construction permission and implementation process and company status of the designing companies.

Ruskova & Partners Law Firm provides to its clients legal advising on incorporation, maintenance of business and structuring of investment intentions offering an optimal legal form and structure in terms of the effectiveness of management and tax planning according to the specifics of their business.

The legal services provided by the law firm in the field of corporate law cover a wide scope of activities:

• analysis of client’s investment intentions and provision of an optimal legal form for development of client’s business in view of an optimal management structure and minimization of tax effects from such business;
• structuring and restructuring relations between shareholders (subsequent transfers of shares and interests) and relations between the shareholders and the company;
• preparing incorporation documents and entering the business companies in the relevant registers;
• obtaining all permissions, licenses and tax registrations required by the law;
• preparing, calling and holding general meetings of shareholders and preparing all corporate documents related thereto, entering the resolutions adopted in the relevant registers;
• preparing the relevant documents on the organization and internal order of the business of the companies: rules of the activities of management bodies, internal order rules, management contracts, registers of shareholders and rules on how to keep such registers;
• preparing and signing employment contracts, controlling the observance of employment law;
• changes of capital structure and reorganization of investments made: increase and decrease of capital, capitalization of cash contributions, in-kind contributions of immovable and moveable property and receivables, transfer of business companies and parts thereof;
• developing shareholding schemes: type of shares, classes and their proportions;
• preparing all types of commercial contracts related to client’s business;
• changes in the business activity related to resignation/dismissal of shareholders, settlement of property matters in this regard, changes in the number of members of management bodies;
• representation in the sessions of company’s bodies, participation in meetings, etc.
• • reorganization (merger or fusion of companies, division or separation of part of the business) or change of companies’ legal form in order to comply their corporate structure and allocation of property with proprietors’ investment intentions, increasing the trust of financing institutions and optimization of management; legal analysis and preparation of relevant documentation; preservation or transfer of licenses and/or permissions held by the company for unhindered continuation of its business.

Our team of specialists establish and register all types of commercial and civil companies, public and private entities for Bulgarian and foreign citizens, companies with special investment purpose, supports registration under the VAT Act, under the Protection of personal data Act, creates branches and trade representations legal entities with non-profit purposes.

"Ruskova and partners":

• prepares and negotiates all types of commercial contracts and related additional agreements, including terms and conditions, letters of intent, auction documentation, all documents relating to the various types of company termination;
• advises clients in relation to consortiums and joint venture agreements;
• prepares all kinds of documents relating to the registration, change of circumstances, draft of instruments of incorporation shareholder agreements, agreements for cooperation, rules, documents for corporate financing and debt structuring;
• consult on changes in the capital structure of the company, including in-kind contributions of assets such as real estate, receivables, etc.
• assists and performs procedures for obtaining the necessary administrative permits, registrations and licenses depending on the specific desires of the client provide advices on corporate governance, rights, duties and responsibilities of directors, conflict of interest, etc.

The team of "Ruskova and partners" has a long practice in the provision of legal services involving consultations and procedural representation in the area of the commercial and contractual law:

• advice on all types of commercial transactions;
• legal assistance in connection with the procurement, implementation and breach of contractual obligations and compensation for harms caused by the breach, termination, cancellation and destruction of deals and contracts;
• preparation of all types of commercial contracts and participation in negotiations;
• procedural representation in cases involving contracts, commercial transactions, torts;
• advice, submission of claims and procedural representation in all stages of bankruptcy, including creditors' meeting.
• consultation of unfair competition: damage to the reputation of competitors, deception, imitation, unfair attraction of customers, misleading and comparative advertising, dissemination of industrial and commercial secrets;
• legal representation before the Commission for Protection of Competition and the Supreme Administrative Court;
• preparation of recovery plans and legal assistance for their enforcement and restoration of the normal activity of insolvent companies;

The firm provides advice and assistance in the selection of appropriate sites for investments, as well as analysis of the most appropriate forms of acquisition of ownership or limited rights by foreign investors, including through the establishment of a company:

• participation in negotiations and drafting of preliminary agreements and deeds to owners and construction companies for land acquisition, completed projects, Projects under construction and upcoming construction; full legal service of investment projects for acquisition of land and construction of commercial and office centers; rental agreements and property management; procedural representation in cases by a proprietary nature;
• legal analysis of the ownership including Checks concerning compliance with administrative procedures in the course of restoration of real estate ownership, structural status of the property for the determination of all rights and burdens on a particular property; analysis of hereditary rights, resulting from acquisition titles - purchases, exchanges, donations, partitioning, assignment of claims, wills, restitution claims, etc.;
• legal assistance in obtaining licenses and other construction documents;
• schemes of project financing and guarantee;
• spatial regulation and planning, change of designation of the land impact assessment on the environment, supply of needed permits, entry into exploitation;

"Ruskova and Partners" Law firm has a long standing practice and excellent recommendations regarding the provision of legal aid to foreigners, namely:

• an overall administrative and legal assistance in relation to procedures for the obtaining of Bulgarian citizenship;
• procedures for obtaining the status of continuous, long-term and permanent resident of on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria;
• consultations on the enforcement of the Law on Foreigners in Bulgaria, as well as the Foreign Investments Act and the opportunities they provide for the obtaining of Bulgarian citizenship;
• assistance in the signature of contracts and legal transactions by foreigners;
• helping in the preparation and collection of the necessary documents before competent authorities and administrations;

In the context of the implementation of investment projects, our team has experience in the structuring of lending transactions and project financing, in which we have provided advice to various parties to such transactions: banks, investors, persons offering the loan security. Our practice in project financing includes legal consultation to our clients and participation in negotiations on the execution and restructuring of loans, assistance in terms of eligibility for financing, and preparation of all the necessary contracts and documents to this effect

In the field of financial law and in view of the activities of our clients, we provide services related to the:

• drafting of contracts, articles of association and all the other legal documents needed for the launch of a financial institution;
• advice on specific banking and financial operations and transactions, the financing of acquisitions and the restructuring of loans;
• representation of our clients in applying for funding and preparation of the related documentation;
• drafting of the requisite legal documentation for the incorporation of security and making it claimable;

The Law Office has years of experience in the legal service for companies whose shares are traded on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange. Our lawyers advise clients in the course of procedures for primary and secondary public offering of securities, as well as all matters relating to the procedural rules of the Public Offering of actions. We work closely with our clients to make sure that their actions would be in accordance with the obligations of disclosure of information, the legislation applicable to public companies and the rules of the stock market. We have rich experience in consulting activities of banks and investment firms in connection with the purchase by various types of financial instruments and we strive to continually provide them with comprehensive services.

Some of the services provided by our company include:

• complete legal advice for public companies (primary and secondary public offering of securities, corporate governance, organization of general meetings, etc..);
• transactions with financial instruments (securities, options, futures, swaps, forward contracts, allowance prices for trading schemes with emissions);
• consultations regarding the regulatory regime in the implementation of investment services;
• legal advisory in organizing and carrying out procedures for the issuance of debenture loans.

The services we provide in the field of taxation and administrative law include:

• litigation under the Administrative Procedural Code
• appeal of administrative acts, penal decrees and tax assessments;
• compensation requests caused by unlawful administrative acts, actions and inactions;
• consultation on favorable tax rulings;
• consultations and procedural representation in cases of administrative, tax, and criminal nature;

The lawyers from our firm are professionals with profound knowledge and years of experience in proceedings and settlement of disputes before the Bulgarian courts and special jurisdictions, as well as before arbitration courts. Our team provides a complete protection in civil, commercial, administrative and arbitration cases - initiation of affairs by making claims, collection and preparation of proofs, conducting of procedural representation in all instances until the final closure of the cases, preparation of appeals, additional requests court settlements and others. In recent years a lot of practice was accrued in the provision of comprehensive protection in enforcement proceedings - initiation of enforcement cases before state or private bailiff representation in the course enforcement affairs through consultation on the most appropriate action by submitting claims, demands, objections to the bailiff and others.

The firm represents clients in a wide range of commercial, financial, including disputes relating to the protection of competition, bankruptcy and enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards.