Yekaterina Khamidullina
PARTNER, HEAD OF AEQUITAS AIFC BRANCH
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Practice Areas |
Yekaterina Khamidullina specializes in corporate, financial, labour and contract law. She is also highly experienced in personal data protection, compliance, project financing, real estate and healthcare matters and Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) law. She joined AEQUITAS in 2012 after taking internship with the firm in 2011.
Yekaterina acted as a member of the working group of Kazakhstan Bar Association formed to draft the Law “On Introduction of Amendments into Legislative Acts of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Corruption Control Issues” as part of the project “Implementation of a
She was a member of the working group on the draft Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan «On Amendments to the Labour Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan”. Yekaterina also acted as a respondent for the World Bank”s legislation monitoring in the Doing Business ratings.
Memberships
Kazakhstan Bar Association
Ius Laboris
TerraLex
Astana International Financial Centre (юридический советник)
Experience
| 2024–present | |
| 2023–2024 | AEQUITAS Law Firm – Partner, Head of AEQUITAS AIFC Branch |
| 2020–2023 | AEQUITAS Law Firm – Senior Associate |
| 2016–2020 | AEQUITAS Law Firm – Associate |
| 2014–2016 | AEQUITAS Law Firm – Junior Associate |
| 2012–2014 | AEQUITAS Law Firm – Paralegal |
Education
| 2022-2023 | King's College London, Master's Degree in Financial Law, Technology & Data Protection, the United Kingdom. Chevening Scholar. |
| 2016; | Central European University, LLM, Hungary |
| 2014 | Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, LLM, Kazakhstan (with distinction) |
| 2012 | Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, LLB, Kazakhstan (with distinction) |
Awards / Recognition
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Rising star in Commercial, Corporate and M&A; Recommended lawyer in Banking, Finance and Capital Markets (The Legal 500, 2024) |
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"She is proactive and responsive. Provides good communication and clear answers." Asialaw Profiles 2021 According to the AsiaLaw rating agency, Yekaterina was announced as the “highest-rated lawyer to work with” in Kazakhstan in 2021. |
REPRESENTATIVE PROJECTS
BANKING & FINANCE, REAL ESTATE
- Representation of lenders in many financing transactions with Kazakhstan borrowers governed by Kazakhstan and English laws, advice regarding security structures, and drafting of financing, security documents and legal opinions.
- Advice to Eurasian Development Bank on restructuring of a loan agreement entered between the Bank and Ekibastuz
GRES-2 Power Station JSC, including preparation of legal opinions concerning the pledge of property of the company to the Bank, change of the company’s shareholders and issuance of guarantees by the company’s shareholders to secure performance under the loan agreement. - Overall legal support in the process of pledging immovable property of a major local company to a foreign bank.
- Legal support in the process of registering pledges over immovable and movable property (shares, participatory interests, land use rights and other property) of local companies in favour of Islamic Development Bank, Eurasian Development Bank and EBRD.
- Advice to a transnational energy company on the transfer of movable and immovable property as part of the project involving restructuring of this company’s business in Kazakhstan.
- Advice to foreign investors on power plant construction matters and obtainment of required permits.
LABOR & EMPLOYMENT
- Advice to Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, Chevron, Metro Cash & Carry, Willis Towers Watson, Visa, and other major companies on the Kazakhstan labour law matters, including with respect to procedure for hiring employees, amendment of labour conditions, grounds and procedure for termination of labour relations, remote work, personal data protection, compliance with the GDPR and other issues.
- Drafting of employment contracts with different categories of employees,
non-compete agreements, incentive payment regulations and other employer’s acts. - Regular advice to clients on different personal data protection issues (collection, processing, localization of personal data in Kazakhstan) and drafting of the forms of consent for collection and processing of personal data.
- Conducted webinars for clients on the issues of Kazakhstan labour and migration legislation, personal data protection together with IUS Laboris (alliance of the leading law firms specialising in labour law matters).
ANTI-CORRUPTION COMPLIANCE
- Advising on
anti-money laundering and terrorist financing legislation,anti-corruption issues, compliance with mandatory requirements and procedures, applicable liability. - Verification of the activities and internal documentation of companies for compliance with
anti-corruption laws. Adaptation of internal global operating procedures and companies’ policies to requirements of Kazakhstan and international legislation. Development of recommendations for the prevention and elimination of compliance risks.
M&A. CORPORATE
- Regular participation in due diligence of major Kazakhstan oil, construction and pharmaceutical companies, including review of corporate and labour documents, companies' assets, contracts with counterparties and required permitting documents for doing business in Kazakhstan.
- Advising on matters related to registration and liquidation of legal entities and their structural subdivisions in Kazakhstan, increase in the charter capital, reorganization, bankruptcy of companies, and change of shareholders (participants), support of M&A transactions.
- Advice on dividend payment, procedure for approval of transactions and posting of information about corporate events of joint stock companies on the website of the Financial Reporting Depository.
HEALTHCARE & PHARMACEUTICALS
- Advice to transnational companies (Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi, AstraZeneca, Santo, Pfizer, Dr. Theiss Naturwaren GmbH, Terumo, Canon Medical Systems and other companies) on various issues regarding regulation of activities in Kazakhstan, including expert examination, import, procurement, registration, circulation, sale and advertising of medicines, medical products and medical equipment.
- Drafting of different contracts for pharmaceutical companies, including a contract for the implementation of a patient support program, pharmacy chain services contracts, car auction contract, etc.
- Analysis of a major pharmaceutical company’s standard operating procedures as to compliance with the Republic of Kazakhstan’s legislation.
BUSINESS SUPPORT
- Advice regarding the issues of registration and
record-keeping of freight rolling stock in the Republic of Kazakhstan. - Legal support in the obtainment of a license to provide services in the atomic energy use area for General Electric.
- Legal analysis/drafting of contracts of various types and degrees of complexity (supply, services, lease, pledge, guarantee, trust, insurance, licensing agreements and other types of contracts governed by local laws).
- Preparation of information memoranda concerning amendments to the Republic of Kazakhstan’s current legislation.
INDUSTRY AND TRADE
- Advising on legal regulation of advertising in the Republic of Kazakhstan, including drafting of various contracts for the provision of marketing/advertising and advisory services.
- Advice to Shoppinglive on different legal matters of selling goods in the Kazakhstan territory using a TV channel and an online store.
- Advising companies on the matters of TV and radio broadcasting, VoIP telephony, technical regulation, product marking, advertising campaigns, etc.
COMPETITION LAW
- Advice on obtainment and issuance of the Republic of Kazakhstan Ministry of Energy’s authorization to alienate the subsoil use
right-related objects. - Advising companies on a range of antitrust legislation issues.
- Preparation of notifications and applications on behalf of clients to obtain consent to economic concentration from the authorized competition protection agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
- Participated in the preparation and conduct of training on local antitrust law and advertising regulation in Kazakhstan.
Publications
Khamidullina Y., Nadirov E. 10 questions to a lawyer about authorization in the AIFC // Zakon.kz – 2024.07.10
Khamidullina Y. Kazakhstan: Legal regulation of personal data protection in the AIFC // OneTrust DataGuidance – March 2024
Khamidullina Ye. Anti-Corruption Compliance in Charitable Activities // Petroleum. – 2022.-6.; KPLA Journal. – 2023. – 1.
Khamidullina Y., Working from home abroad – Kazakhstan chapter // Ius Laboris. – June 2021
Chumachenko Yu., Khamidullina Y., COVID-19: how and where to work – guide for international employers in Kazakhstan // Ius Laboris – February 2021
Khamidullina Ye. A guide to how labour relations are regulated in the Astana International Financial Centre in Kazakhstan // Ius Laboris. – April 2020
Khamidullina Ye. The impact of the GDPR outside the EU. Kazakhstan chapter // Ius Laboris. – September 2019
Pestereva Ye., Tkach R., Khamidullina Ye. Lending and taking security in Kazakhstan: overview // Thomson Reuters. – November 2018
Khamidullina Ye. Remote Work: Issues and Particulars of Legal Regulation in Kazakhstan and Abroad // Legal 500. – December 2016.
Shaikenov V., Khamidullina Ye. Awarding Attorneys’ Fees by Kazakh Courts: Some Ambiguities. // Investors’ Voice. – 2014. – № 58. – p. 18-21.
