AEQUITAS Announces the Firm Management Restructuring and Appointment of a New Managing Partner

AEQUITAS Law Firm is happy to announce changes in the firm management structure aimed at ensuring succession and its further sustainable development.

According to such changes, Yelena Manayenko was appointed as AEQUITAS Managing Partner.

Yelena has been with AEQUITAS since 2003 and has worked her way from an Associate to a Senior Partner. Over the last few years, she has been successfully leading the natural resources and M&A practices, supporting many significant projects in these spheres. She has been distinguished by such ranking agencies as The Legal 500, Chambers & Partners, IFLR, asialaw and Lexology as an outstanding partner and recommended lawyer in the field of commercial and corporate law, M&A transactions, energy, and subsoil use.

Furthermore, for many years, Yelena has been actively participating in internal and external development of the firm, including on the issues of building teams and relations with clients. In her new status, she will focus on operating management of the firm, development of practice areas and internal processes.

As part of improvement of the firm management, AEQUITAS has set up the Board of Partners with Olga Chentsova in charge. The Board of Partners will be responsible for strategic development of the firm and solution of fundamental issues of its activities. Olga Chentsova will still participate in the firm's projects, thus ensuring succession of approaches and high-level expertise.

Olga Chentsova was the initiator and one of founders of AEQUITAS in 1993. For 33 years, she has been all-time Managing Partner of the firm. During this time, the firm reached significant professional achievements and became one of leaders on the legal services market of Kazakhstan. AEQUITAS was recognized as the Firm of the Year in Kazakhstan according to Lexology Index Awards in 2021-2025 and asialaw Awards in 2024-2025.

For many years, Olga Chentsova has been distinguished by ranking agencies among the best lawyers of Kazakhstan in the subsoil use and other sectors. In 2024, asialaw Awards named Olga as the Female Lawyer of the Year in Kazakhstan. She was listed among the world elite lawyers by Lexology Index and the female leaders by IFLR1000.

AEQUITAS considers its firm management restructuring as a meaningful and timely step, ensuring balance between succession and team update. In its new management configuration, AEQUITAS intends to consistently adhere to high professional standards, including ethical.

Olga Chentsova: "I am very happy that together we found a good formula for future activities of the firm. Team work and spirit have always been important for us. While growing together with AEQUITAS, Yelena fully corresponds to her appointment as the Managing Partner not only due to high personal competence, but also as a person who is totally aligned with professional and human values of the firm. As for myself, I will still work on clients' projects and participate in solution of the firm's strategic issues and, as a lawyer, I hope to further pay much attention to projects socially important for the country and society and primarily to development of the Kazakhstan legislation in the animal law sphere and improvement of its application practice".

Yelena Manayenko: "Appointment as the firm Managing Partner is a special professional step for any lawyer. It is not just a new position for me, but rather recognition of the path I have taken at the firm, which is now my second family. Here, I grew as a lawyer, got support and opportunity to develop. Many thanks to my colleagues for their trust. I assume this role with personal responsibility for preserving high-quality work and values attributable to our profession, as well as the best traditions of AEQUITAS".