Andrey Makarov and Alexander Tobak are the founding fathers of the firm.

Andrey Makarov bears the title of “honorary lawyer”, which the state confers only on outstanding members of the Bar. He is a top Russian defense lawyer known for winning numerous high-profile cases. Mr Makarov has been a member of the Russian Parliament four times, and is presently the deputy chairman of the parliamentary budget and tax committee. Additionally, Mr Makarov chairs the United Russia party think tank for tax and budget policy. Simultaneously he is working for the Federal Tax Service as a member of departmental board. During his prestigious career Mr Makarov has drafted numerous laws, most notably: the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and the Federal Law, “On Lawyer’s Activities and Advocacy in the Russian Federation”.

Aleksander Tobak is a senior managing partner. He has 30 years of experience in the field of international law. As a part of his experience Mr Tobak chaired the law service for a large trade firm within the Soviet foreign trade ministry. He also represented Russia in various courts in the United Kingdom, Sweden, and other European countries. Mr Tobak works as s specialist in justice matters for the Council of the European Union. He is a member of the Lions Club (Italy).

Since the founding of Makarov & Tobak, over 20 years ago, some of the best Russian lawyers have been our partners:

Viktor Akimov

former judge and deputy chairman of the Supreme Court of Bashkiriya, a region of Russia between the Volga and the Urals;

Olga Anufrieva

former advisor of the tax minister, took part in drafting the Tax Code;

Julia Makarova

leading scholar and researcher in corporate law;

Galina Nilus

highly successful criminal defense lawyer;

Petr Triboi

former investigator of major cases for the Prosecutor General’s office;

Polina Zarubyan

expert in corporate and finance law, as well as in questions of Russian business activities in various jurisdictions.

Our firm employs lawyers who have experience with both large international law firms, and state service. For example, Mikhail Orlov is a leading expert in tax law, chairman of the Tax Law Expert Council in the parliamentary tax and budget committee, and partner of KPMG, one of the big four international auditors. He was also the chairman of the tax policy department of the Russian ministry of economy and trade. Natalya Aristarkhova is the first vice-president of Gazprombank JSC. Prior to joining Makarov & Tobak, Ms Aristarkhova served the deputy tax minister, holding the rank of “secretary of state”, and was a senior advisor on tax policy matters for the International Center for Tax and Investment.

Many of our lawyers at Makarov & Tobak are on a team of experts for the Russian parliament, or the State Duma, and they frequently take an active role in drafting new laws and regulations.