Janis Smiltnieks

- Practising lawyer for over 20 years.
- Graduated from the University of Latvia (LLM) in 2001.
- Areas of expertise: civil litigation, corporate law, immovable, insolvency / bankruptcy cases, defence in asset seizure cases, AML and compliance risk analysis.

Overview

Janis is a partner at Lawerton, specializing in corporate and insolvency law. He frequently concentrates on immovable property transactions and serves as an appointed liquidator in the liquidation of legal entities. Janis has a strong track record in recovering sized assets through various court procedures (unfreezing of blocked funds in criminal proceedings and recovery of funds from credit institutions being under liquidation or insolvency).

Details

Recent Experience:

• Leading an international legal team to present an independent Legal Opinion in a frozen assets case, followed by successful litigation (EUR 16 million);
• Representing bank creditors in front of the bank liquidators, Financial Intelligence Unit, state police, and court (EUR 25 million in total);
• Leading a legal team in a major credit restructuring during insolvency proceedings (EUR 36 million);
• Leading a legal team in building a real estate portfolio in Latvia (EUR 15 million), including the organisation of a share purchase arrangement, real estate acquisition arrangement, and property legal due diligence;
• Leading a legal team providing a Legal Opinion for the establishment of an underground gas storage facility;
• Serving as a member of a legal team to secure capital for a renewable energy project;
• Serving as a member of a legal team to uncover large-scale tax and environmental fraud.

Services

• Legal due diligence                                                                           
• Development / realization of litigation strategy
• Representation in asset recovery cases
• Liquidation of legal entities / recovery of assets
• Debt recovery and credit restructuring

Career

• 2024 Partner at Lawerton                                                     
• 2015 Acceded to Lawerton team                                                        
• 2008 Independent legal practice                                                    
• 2000 Inhouse lawyer in a bank