Upon the decision of the Chief Official Ethics Commission (COEC), Raimondas Kivylius and Regina Derkintytė-Kaupienė, the partners of AVERUS Klaipėda Office, were included in the List of Lobbyists on 13 September 2017.

Whereas on 20 September 2017, Povilas Karlonas and Laura Čereškaitė-Kinčiuvienė, the partners of Vilnius Office, joined the team of lobbyists.

“By registration of lobbying activities and public declaration of the interests, attempts are made to ensure the transparency of lobbyism and to prevent the society from illegal lobbying. These principles are in compliance with the values of our law firm and our clients, therefore, we believe, from now on we can represent our clients’ interests even more effectively in institutions of the central government and local authorities,” – said Raimondas Kivylius. 

In Povilas Karlonas’ opinion, this inclusion in the List of Lobbyists will open new possibilities for AVERUS to represent its clients and business associations, seeking that legal acts and administrative solutions will be adopted or not adopted based on the interests of the clients.

“By this more active involvement in the lobbying activities, among other things, we seek to dissolve a stereotype that a lobbying activity supposedly is the protection of interests balancing on the edge of lawfulness. Very often, presentation of qualified legal arguments may prevent from litigation with public institutions and help to save time and resources to everyone. Sometimes even politicians or public servants get caught in the legislation trap, but to err is human, and it is very wise to admit your mistakes,” -  Regina Derkintytė-Kaupienė admitted.

Laura Čereškaitė-Kinčiuvienė emphasised that from 1 September 2017, the amendments of the Law on Lobbying Activities came into effect establishing a new regulation in respect to different business associations and other interest groups – from now on any activity of such associations, aimed at influencing politicians, is considered lobbying. Before the amendment of the Law, such activities by non-profit organizations were not considered lobbying, however, in the opinion of the national legislature, this was not a good practice, therefore it was changed. After ratification of the amendments, quite a number of business associations have applied to the law firms, which are included in the List of Lobbyists, for consultation.