What do lawyers work on?

We all live in a state and obey its laws. Beko and IHP are large scale companies that produce and sell a variety of products and conduct active commercial activities, so there are a lot of laws, regulations and rules governing their work.
The work of the company's lawyers can be divided into two main areas: protection and development. You have to protect (constantly!) your legitimate interests, avoid situations in which you will have to pay fines, compensation, etc without reason, and you should not forget that the damage can be not only material: losses can be not only in finance and property, but also reputational, undermining the authority of the company, discrediting its good name. By the way, name - brands, trademarks, etc. - also needs protection, and this responsibility is beared by our lawyers.
However, laws and rules for those who know them well are not only restrictions, but also opportunities that must be used for sure. Lawyers help establish more effective mutual relationships with partners, improve various processes within the company, and accompany operations for production, logistics, distribution, import and export of various goods, including components and spare parts necessary for production and maintenance. Of course, personnel management, as well as sales and marketing has its special legal features - and in each company, lawyers solve such issues differently, develop their own system of relationships and their own style of work.
Of course, when two companies unite to the single structure, a lot needs to be built and rebuilt, in order to develop a common style and common methods of work. How did this process happen at Beko and IHP?

– We can proudly say that the integration of our department occurred very quickly. Almost immediately after the transaction, we began to communicate with each other, share experiences, some of our ideas and thoughts - and after the merger took place into one legal function supporting two companies, we established effective work. Each of our lawyers focuses on his professional skills and supports both companies, regardless of whether you are working with Beko or IHP.
During integration, we all went beyond our normal routine activities. The processes in the two companies, on the one hand, are similar, but on the other hand, differ - in terms of our contracts, verification of the contracts, suppliers, clients, operational processes, etc. We still continue synchronizing activities of the two companies, but we have already moved quite far in this and, I think, we have achieved good results in this year.

With help of Electronics

Over the past year, we have introduced the Tesis electronic contract review and approval system at Beko, based on our experience with this system at IHP. To facilitate and speed up their work, legal teams that previously belonged to two different companies are developing common contract drafts (templates). This is a complex job: it is necessary not only to combine various standard document samples, but also to analyze risks, exclude or add something, and create new standards that must comply with current legislation.

– I am responsible for supporting the purchasing department, production, logistics (including customs issues), we have agreed upon templates for both international transportation and domestic Russian transportation, but each company has its own characteristics - now we have brought it to a single standard - international (modal) transport contracts. The same thing happens with indirect purchases: each type of contract for services/works/purchase of goods has its own characteristics, but we are developing uniform standards and loading them into the Tesis system whıch is successfully functioning now in both Beko and IHP.

Two lawyers - one team

Dealing with consumer complaints is one of the most important activities of the legal department. Defects, returns, compensation, damage caused by fires, floods and other troubles that occurred due to the faults of our equipment - everything must be resolved through the courts, and in this regard our employees protect legislation first of all. If the consumer’s claims are justified and he behaves in good faith, everything will be compensated. But, unfortunately, we often facing such a phenomenon as “consumer extremism” - when a buyer, under any pretext, tries to get more money from a company - even if he knows that he is obviously wrong. And here the legal department props up legitimate interests of the enterprise, and, moreover, some episodes of this work partake of mystery subjects.

– Together with Anton Ivanov from Beko, I deal with litigation cases with consumers, including those related to fires and floods. We work for both companies at the same time: Anton examines the bulk of standard cases, I analyze the most complicated ones.
For example, a case in St. Petersburg: a consumer stated in court that he woke up, opened his eyes and saw white smoke coming from the microwave oven. It happened in winter, at 3 o’clock in the morning, in the meantime a short circuit occurred and circuit breakers inside the panel turned off. It was possible to prove that it was still dark at this hours in winter, and if there was no electricity in the apartment, it means there was no lighting; so it was impossible to see white smoke in the dark room. The court agreed that the consumer was trying to mislead, an required an expertise, which proved the fact of wrong use and consumer's lie: at the moment of the fire, the microwave was operated and some forbidden object was put inside it.

– Some unscrupulous consumers try to make money from fines. These individuals, as well as various consumer protection organisations, constantly address lawsuits to us, the courts often act according to a well-established scheme, and our purpose is to make the truthful overview and, at at least, reduce the sum of the company expences.
It is worth noting that our company has never sought to infringe on the consumer’s rights or unlawfully refused to satisfy their legal requirements. We not only work in strict accordance with the law, but we always try to be objective and fair, not forgetting about the company’s reputation, including for consumers.
In the process of work, we often discuss our court cases with Alexey Morozov; in general, it’s great that our lawyers can exchange their actual experience - Alexey has really extensive work experience, more than 20 years, and I learned a lot for myself, I hope that my experience is useful too – and our synergy provides its results.

Protect from putting on the spot

Beko & IHP is a 100% honest company, but from time to time it must be proven to supervisory and regulatory authorities - Rostekhnadzor, Rosprirodnadzor, customs, tax etc... Each such case means a huge amount of documents, thorough checks for compliance with the law in all details, examinations, confirmation - and a victory in court, saving millions of the company rubles. And here the vast experience of lawyers is also reflected, which can be multiplied by two after integration and establishing of interaction.

– The key task of a lawyer is to provide business with effective instruments that are clear, concise and take into account all legal risks for the company. Our task is to offer solutions that not only comply with current legislation, but are also in line with the actual legal practice. In addition, we monitor changes in various areas of law that apply to the company’s activities, from drafts, their public discussions to their entry into force, and inform businesses about this, explain and advise on how the legislation should apply.

– If to mention some interesting cases, I provided legal support in challenging the tax authority decision to assess taxes, fines and penalties after an on-site audit. Our court case lasted quite a long time, more than four years, but we obtained a positive decision: the problem was that the tax authorities did not take into account some transactions and interactions with our counterparties, which could lead to significant financial losses for the company. In result, we seized the court, successfully defended our company interests and, in addition, received partial compensation for legal expenses from the tax authorities.

– When we renamed, changed the IHP company name, I accompanied this process in terms of making changes to the tax authorities. Two IHP legal entities are registered in different regions, but if renaming procedure in Moscow occurred automatically, in Lipetsk there was some incomprehensible delay. And I started calling the tax office in order to learn about the case. When, after many attempts, I finally got through, it turned out that the woman at the tax office in Lipetsk did not click on the “refresh page” button, and therefore the renaming was not displayed on the site. The human factor does not disappear anywhere even with new technologies.

A lawyer in a team is more than a lawyer!

Stereotypical attitude towards law enforcement officers, judges, lawyers, etc. is often transferred to company lawyers, and certain “punitive” functions are usually reminded firstly. This affects trust between departments, which should be as high as possible, and the role of lawyers in this matter is actually expanding - not only in order to protect the company, but also to improve the corporate culture level, and to serve as intermediaries between colleagues, especially in the context of current integration. And legal departments were among the first ones to establish mutual understanding.

– I am responsible for the commercial function of our companies, and have to be a moderator between departments. And when a large corporation undergoes a process of integration, it is difficult, but also incredibly interesting at the same time, it is an exit from the comfort zone and relief from the routine, it requires understanding between different functions, like between “physicists” and “lyricists”, quick decisions which will determine personnel work performance, whether they will be successful in achieving their goals, whether their security level will increase - and all this, in turn, should comply with legal rules. You should always say “yes” and then “how”; This is probably the guarantee of the perfect lawyer work and performance of the legal department as a whole.