Centil Law Firm

Centil advises within the jurisdictions of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan and is one of the largest law firms in the region. The firm's core team has been established in 2003 and since then has been advising on banking and finance, energy, M&A, and infrastructure projects across the region. Centil also provides technical assistance to local governments, IFIs and other beneficiaries..

Client needs are our priority.

Our mission is to provide legal services across Central Asia in an accessible and useful way.

Be it a multi-billion dollar project finance transaction in Kazakhstan, or acquisition of oil terminal in Bandar-Abas, Iran, or the establishment of a subsidiary in Turkmenistan, each individual client must have the best possible experience. We achieve this by combination of the relevant expertise, reasonable pricing and fast response times. Whilst it may be relatively easy for smaller firms to achieve this, this takes more planning and skill for a pan-regional law firm like ours, especially when ensuring the same standards throughout the entire region. In order to ensure the delivery of consistently excellent service and meet all of our various clients' needs, we have developed a process management system that sets specific relationship and service standards.

Expertise is doing something really, really well.

Clients don't just want good firms, they want outstanding firms. When handling a project, we believe that unless we do it better than anyone else, we might as well not do it at all. Clients want prompt advice, supported by relevant knowledge and experience. Nowadays, however, projects require more than just good lawyers; clients need reasonable prices and lawyers that are willing to go the extra mile. We face a new set of challenges in terms of both the practice and theory of law, as well as its relationship with the ever-evolving commercial environment. Clients want innovative approaches for tackling the tough legal challenges that arise in emerging markets.

Our single partnership structure is our backbone.

We are a classic single partnership law firm, which is unique within Central Asia as no other firm in the region is built like Centil. All our partners across our numerous jurisdictions are genuinely interested in raising the firm's profile and protecting its reputation by all means necessary. This internal architecture sets us apart from others and defines our strategic positioning, with this unique structure enabling us to out-perform other firms within Central Asia. Thanks to this business model, the firm has more horizontal processes that connect our complex cross-jurisdictional operations to ensure the reliable exchange of data and fast response times across the board. You could say that the firm's info-structure has become more important than its infra-structure.

Emerging markets are beautiful.

We are lucky enough to work at the heart of the developing Silk Road, and are passionate about emerging markets. With the infinite steppes of Kazakhstan, the blossoming valleys of Uzbekistan, and the snowy Pamir mountains in Tajikistan, our region is a classic example of an emerging market, albeit with all the associated pros and cons. And yet, although there are still high entry barriers, there is also huge potential. We know that entering a new market, whilst navigating through an unfamiliar legal context, can be challenging. By employing our local expertise, tracking industry and regulatory developments, and focusing on the wider legal picture, we help our clients to feel confident and stay well-informed. Most importantly, an emerging markets law firm must come from an emerging market!

Talent is at the heart of good business.

Growth depends on the firm's most important asset: its people. Businesses who can find and, most importantly, retain talented people are the market changers. As such, a question we have continued to ask ourselves since the day of our inception back in 2005 is "Are we a better place to work?" Che Guevara once said that the power of an army is the number of soldiers multiplied by one unknown "X". But how could the firm identify this "Unknown X"? How can we discover and magnify the strengths of our people? Is this young intern the firm's future chairman of the board? Asking these questions helps us to build a firm where individual differences are nurtured, information is not suppressed or spun, the company adds value to employees rather than merely extracting it from them, and the work itself is intrinsically rewarding.

There is no competition.

We do not like the word "competition". Rather than approaching business like a sports contest, we handle it like mountain hiking. Mountain hikers are not focused on a world cup, but are more focused on the challenges and rewards that lay within their own sporting endeavors. They are focused on proving to themselves that they can go above and beyond within the context of their personal challenges. Similarly, and like all sustainable and market-changing businesses, we compete solely with ourselves, ensuring that our unique offering of regional coverage, local talent and international experience continues to evolve. That this then translates into high rankings and positive feedback from clients is a positive upshot of this approach.

Company values and business ethics reign.

We believe that our business must continue to challenge us and evolve, growing sustainably and ethically, and that significant progress is more likely to happen with the right corporate culture. This does not just mean systematic brainstorms, open-plan offices and occasional team nights out. We value passionate people, and set development plans for each individual within the firm. We collaborate with other businesses, liaise with governments, partner with different institutions, and promote continual education and personal development. What's more, we cannot maintain our business and success without being ethical. Ethics always come first. This helps us to make difficult managerial decisions and to assess each case from all perspectives, even if this means making the difficult decision not to accept a case. It is this approach that cements the principles that form the firm's character.

Strategy is a battlefield plan.

At Centil, we set goals that we know we cannot attain now. Our board produces breakthrough ideas that range from establishing business intelligence resources and think tanks, writing technologically ground-breaking knowledge management algorithms and expanding into new territories. We are a team of lawyers, entrepreneurs and leaders that always keeps one eye on what's next in order to navigate the continually evolving future. This involves strategic planning and a corporate vision that are aimed at making this quantum leap, further developing a youthful and ambitious enterprise, and handling tasks at a completely new level. It is this vision that has helped us to successfully execute a corporate metamorphosis, turning the ambitious young enterprise we initially created into the cross-regional firm.

Practice Areas	No. of Attorneys
Corporate	3
Energy and Oil & Gas	2
Finance	3
Litigation - General (consumer)	2