Bate C. Toms

Managing Partner, B.C.Toms & Co. Legal education: Yale Law School (J.D., 1975); Magdalene College, Cambridge University (Law Tripos I; 1972-1973). Mr. Toms is admitted to legal practice in the District of Columbia and Virginia, USA, and in France.Chairman, British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce

Education:

Mr. Toms studied at Yale Law School (J.D; editor of the Yale Law Journal), Washington and Lee University (B.A., magna cum laude: Phi Beta Kappa) and Cambridge University (Magdalene College — Law Tripos 1). As an undergraduate, he also studied Soviet Studies at the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris.

Practice Areas:

Agriculture, Energy, Real Estate/Construction, and related M&A, Project Finance, Litigation and Arbitration

Professional experience:

Bate C. Toms is the managing partner of B.C. Toms & Co, which 26 years ago was the first Western law firm to open an office in Ukraine. He has since handled the legal work for many of the most significant transactions in Ukraine, including the largest acquisitions in the oil and gas and agricultural sectors. He more recently acted as the sole Ukrainian legal expert for one of the major arbitrations at the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, based on claims for Ukrainian law violations occurring during a corporate raid in the energy sector.

Mr. Toms has also handled the legal work for the first IPO, and many other large IPO’s, for Ukrainian companies, a number of significant loans for Ukraine and the first successful foreign bank (EBRD) led Ukrainian project financing, as well as many of Ukraine’s largest real estate acquisitions and developments and oil and gas projects. B.C. Toms & Co handles the legal work for a number of important agricultural companies. Prior to founding his firm, Mr. Toms was a partner for many years in London at a major multinational law firm.

He has written numerous articles on Ukrainian law and is the principal author of the ICC book “Doing Business with Ukraine”. In addition, he is the Ukrainian editor of the Journal of International Banking Law (JIBL) and the International Energy Law Review (IELR), and is the Chairman of the British Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce (“BUCC”).