Before signing, it is important to verify the circumstances on which the transaction is based

A company check answers the question of what the organization is: structure, owners, beneficial owners, connected persons and corporate history. Legal Due Diligence is built around a specific transaction. We verify the parties, authority, subject matter of the agreement, obligations and circumstances to the extent that they affect the decision to sign. If ownership structure needs to be established separately, that falls under Company Due Diligence.

We treat the agreement as a source of stated terms: we identify material provisions and compare them against factual information about the parties and the subject matter. Legal review of the text, assessment of wording and preparation of a legal opinion are performed by legal counsel. Our result is the factual basis on which the lawyer decides on the revision of terms.

Within the limits of available sources, the position, information about the person in registers and the scope of authority disclosed in the documents provided are confirmed. Limitations set out in the charter or internal resolutions are visible only once obtained, so part of the questions are formulated as requests to the counterparty: power of attorney, current version of the charter, resolution of the authorized body.

Yes, to the extent lawfully accessible: public registers of pledges and restrictions, court and enforcement records, bankruptcy proceedings, corporate disclosures. Obligations that are nowhere disclosed cannot be fully established, so the report separately states what has been confirmed and what remains unverifiable and must be closed by representations and warranties in the agreement.

Yes. Work is carried out separately for each jurisdiction, since the set of available information differs: in some places participants and encumbrances are disclosed, in others only the fact of registration is accessible. The report states what information was obtained for each country and where sources are limited. The timeline of an international check depends on the number of jurisdictions and the process of obtaining official documents.

The discrepancy is recorded as a separate fact with both sources and the date indicated. We do not draw a conclusion about the party's intentions: the discrepancy may be explained by outdated information, an error or incomplete disclosure. The client receives the wording of the question to put to the counterparty, and the decision on its effect on the transaction is made together with the legal team.

Yes, this is the standard engagement format. Lawyers identify the material terms that require factual verification, we collect and cross-check the information, and then deliver materials with sources and degree of confirmation indicated. Where necessary, we take part in discussing the results and refine the scope of verification as negotiations proceed.

A limited check can be performed within a compressed timeframe if there is a single party, the jurisdiction is accessible and the list of material terms is clear. Timeframes increase with multiple jurisdictions, requests for official documents and the need to reconstruct a chronology of events. We provide a realistic timeframe once the scope has been defined and do not promise a result that cannot be achieved within the stated time.

At the initial stage it is sufficient to name the parties, the subject of the transaction, the countries involved and the expected signing date. This is enough to assess whether the task is feasible, the required depth and the timeframe. Contracts, passports and banking documents are not required at this stage and are transferred only after a secure channel has been agreed.

A profile of the parties, confirmation of authority, a list of documents reviewed, a map of obligations and connected persons, a chronology of material events, discrepancies identified, a map of legal and factual risks, a list of missing confirmations, questions for the counterparty and the limits of the verification performed. Confirmed circumstances are separated from analytical conclusions and working hypotheses.

The materials are prepared as a factual basis for the legal team: with sources, dates and degree of confirmation indicated. The question of whether a particular document is admissible as evidence is decided by the court under the rules of the relevant jurisdiction, so we do not state in advance that the materials will be accepted procedurally. If the matter is already connected with a dispute, the work is carried out under the Pre-Litigation Intelligence format.

Yes. The fact of the enquiry, the content of the matter and the results of the check are not disclosed to third parties. The party under review is not notified of the work, since the information is collected from available sources. Within the project, access to materials is limited to participants, and the procedure for transferring documents is agreed separately.