ALRUD at 35: A Milestone That Invites Us to Reflect

In 2026, ALRUD celebrates its 35th anniversary. This milestone has given us an occasion not only to recall the firm’s journey, but also to reflect on its history. ALRUD’s anniversary celebrations included a gala evening at the Pashkov House, as well as a project involving the restoration of rare books and a unique exhibition organised by the Russian State Library and devoted to the legacy of Dmitry Aleksandrovich Rovinsky.

To mark its anniversary, ALRUD decided to undertake a rare book restoration project for the Russian State Library.

«We met with Vadim Valerievich Duda, Director General of the Russian State Library, and offered him our assistance with restoring books from the legal literature collection, and we were delighted to discover that some very valuable and significant books required restoration. A strong lawyer must combine not only knowledge of current legislation and how it is applied in practice, but also a solid understanding of the history and theory of law – something made possible only by collections such as the Russian State Library’s», says Vassily Rudomino, Senior Partner and co-founder of ALRUD.

In finding and selecting items for restoration, ALRUD’s working group was assisted by staff of the Russian State Library: Natalya Yuryevna Samoylenko, a Ph.D. in Art History and Adviser to the Library’s Directorate; Aleksander Anatolyevich Soshnin, Head of the Department for Ensuring the Conservation of the Russian State Library’s Collections; Dzhamilya Nurovna Ramazanova, Head of the Research Department for Rare Books.

As a result of the joint efforts of the Russian State Library and ALRUD teams the following editions were selected:

• The Justinian Code which marked the beginning of European law — Corpus juris civils 1560/61.

Furthermore, the Judicial Statutes which marked the beginning of the Russian legal profession:

• Russia. Las and Regulations. Code of Local Laws of the Baltic Provinces, 1845-1864.

• Russia. Laws and Regulations. Judicial Statutes of 20 November 1864, with an Outline of Reasoning on Which They Are Based, Published by the State Chancellery, 1867.

Later Natalya Yuryevna Samoylenko suggested turning our attention to Dmitry Aleksandrovich Rovinsky (1824 – 1895).

Dmitry Aleksandrovich was a distinguished lawyer, one of the architects of the Judicial Reform of the 1860s, as well as an outstanding scholar and indefatigable collector, and an honorary member of the Rumyantsev Museum, which occupied the Pashkov House from 1862 to 1925. Dmitry Aleksandrovich began supporting the museum in the first years of the existence of this major educational centre in Moscow. While serving as Moscow Provincial Prosecutor and working on the preparation of the Judicial Reform, he still found time to examine 20,000 engravings transferred from the Hermitage to the Rumyantsev Museum by order of Emperor Aleksander II. In accordance with Rovinsky’s will, the Russian part of his remarkable collection of engravings was transferred to the museum in 1897. After the dissolution of the Rumyantsev Museum in 1925, the collection was transferred to the Museum of Fine Arts (the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts). The Russian State Library’s collections currently hold handwritten documents relating to D.A. Rovinsky, as well as books he published based on materials from his collections.

Thus, the books associated with the name of a man whose life brought together law, public service, art, and the preservation of cultural heritage were added to the list of editions being restored with ALRUD’s support:

• A Detailed Dictionary of Russian Engravers of the 16th – 19th Centuries / compiled by D.A. Rovinsky, 1895 – 1899

• D.A. Rovinsky. Alphabet of Artists.

The completion of the restoration work and ALRUD’s 35th anniversary were marked by a gala evening held on 30 September 2026 at the Pashkov House.

At the event, guests were able to see the results of the restorers’ work, as well as precious manuscripts and remarkable editions from D.A. Rovinsky’s collection. Specially for this event the custodians brought out the most valuable artefacts from the Russian State Library’s vaults and displayed them to the public.

In the official part of the evening, Vadim Valerievich Duda, Director General of the Russian State Library, as well as ALRUD Senior Partners and co-founders Maxim Alekseyev and Vassily Rudomino addressed the guests of the gala with welcoming remarks.

«We sum up our work in the brief formula of our mission – bringing clarity and order, and opening up new opportunities for you. And here we see a direct connection with the work of Dmitry Rovinsky and, in particular, with the judicial reform: systematization, codification, and bringing order to the law. We do the same, just on the scale of the tasks entrusted to us by our respected clients. For many years, we have been supporting our clients in protecting and growing what they entrust to us – and that trust itself is something we value deeply. That is why we treat our work as part of a great tradition, rather than as a mere set of services. To care for heritage as professionally as we handle legal matters – that is an important combination of qualities for us. And we have tried to reflect this approach in the format of today’s event», notes Vassily Rudomino.

The evening was filled with reflections on ALRUD’s history. Clients and colleagues from the firm shared memorable moments of their work together and discussed prospects for future cooperation.

«Thirty-five years! On the one hand, it seems to have flown by in a single instant. On the other, it has been a long and fascinating journey. There is much to look back on – how the company grew from two MGIMO graduates into one of the leading law firms in the country. Today the firm comprises 16 equity partners, 130 lawyers and 230 employees in total, 25 practice areas and 9 industry sectors. In recent surveys, clients describe us as a modern, technology-savvy firm with our own precedent and template platform, a contract builder, a private cloud for file storage, and an AI product for handling large volumes of data that is actively evolving into other areas as well. We are constantly developing our data protection and leak detection systems. Thank you – our clients and partners! You are all part of the history we have already written, and part of the future that is undoubtedly yet to come. And if experience and tradition can be compared to a book, then this evening is a new page that we carefully open together», says Maxim Alekseyev, co-founder and Senior Partner of ALRUD.

The evening brought together more than two hundred guests – clients and partners of the firm – with a rich tour programme and lively conversation, accompanied by fine food and music.

To learn more about what these 35 years have been like, see the firm’s history.