Lions Lawyers is a Ukrainian law firm whose roots reach back to the 1990s, when Vitaliy Batryn established a private legal practice in Uzhhorod, the administrative centre of Ukraine’s Transcarpathian region.

By the early 2000s, the practice had developed into one of the recognised legal teams in western Ukraine. Its founder was also deeply involved in the development of the Ukrainian legal profession, representing the interests of the attorney community at the national level and heading a senior qualification body responsible for maintaining professional standards within the Bar.

His untimely passing was a profound loss. It also left a professional legacy that the next generation was determined to continue.

In 2012, following the family’s relocation to Kyiv, that legacy entered a new chapter with the establishment of the firm that operates today as Lions Lawyers. From the capital, the practice expanded beyond its traditional areas of work into complex commercial disputes, international matters and projects involving foreign businesses, investors and states.

Since then, the firm has been led by the founder’s sons, both qualified Ukrainian advocates, combining the principles on which the original practice was built with a modern and internationally oriented approach to legal work.

Over the years, the firm has changed in scale, geography and areas of practice. Its fundamental approach has not.

We believe that effective legal advice cannot be separated from the environment in which a client operates. Legal issues often sit within a wider commercial, economic, political and social context, and understanding that context is essential to identifying solutions that work in practice.

For that reason, we do not see our role as simply responding to legal questions. We aim to anticipate problems, develop practical solutions and take responsibility for moving matters forward. We also recognise that our clients’ time is a valuable resource and that legal advice should be clear, focused and proportionate to the problem it is intended to solve.

That combination of continuity and change continues to define Lions Lawyers today: a firm built on a family legal tradition, shaped by decades of Ukrainian practice, and increasingly focused on the international challenges facing businesses, investors and institutions.