Chambers & Partners is set to crank up its coverage of Russia by moving beyond the well-known centers of Moscow and St. Petersburg to include new sections for Russian provincial cities.
In a bold move, Chambers Europe will drill into the Russian regions and feature rankings and editorial commentary for the likes of Kazan (pictured above), Krasnodar, Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Tomsk and Volgograd.
Europe editor Georgia Brooks made an announcement to Russian firms last week in both English and Russian.
Here’s how Georgia explained the decision:
“After a successful round of advance research, led by myself and deputy editor Elitsa Yurukova, we have decided to research the Russian regions for the first time. As you know, we currently have the main Russian ranking tables as well as general business law and dispute resolution in St Petersburg. This year we would like to expand our coverage throughout Russia, and already have a number of leads in various cities. This includes but is not limited to: Kazan, Krasnodar, Kursk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Tomsk and Volgograd. At present we are considering a general business law table, which would cover any and all practice areas.”
Georgia said that the response to her email was positive, with one lawyer saying “it’ll be great to show there is more to Russia than just Moscow and St Petersburg.”
The deadline for submissions to these new city sections is July 26 2013, with the online research schedule likely to be updated soon.
Chambers has assigned a dedicated Russian speaker to research the Russian regions this year.
Firms looking to get included in these sections should contact Elitsa Yurukova.
I think this is a fascinating move, for a number of reasons.
Firstly, there are few legal publications covering the less well known cities and regions in Russia.
There are Russian legal directories, but it’s rare among international publications to see such detailed regional coverage.
One of the accusations sometimes leveled at the international directories is that they ignore important activity outside the main business and legal centers.
By focusing on the Russian regions, Chambers addresses that point.
From Chambers’ branding point of view, it also underlines the emphasis on deeper local coverage in the Chambers Europe directory, leaving the Global directory to cover the broader cross-border markets.
As we reported last week, there are similar moves to expand the European content in areas like Geneva and Barcelona.
I also think legal directories and publications should educate and inform.
Russia is the world’s largest country by size, and it’s ninth most populous at 143 million.
Yet I’d be surprised if many people – even the well traveled and informed – could name many Russian cities outside the main two of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Hopefully these new sections will tell us more about a region of the world that is poorly understood.
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