Sara Aghamaliyeva

Sara Aghamaliyeva is a Senior Legal Associate at VLM and Partners with significant experience advising domestic and international clients in key sectors such as renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, M&A, intellectual property, and cross-border transactions. She brings a strategic and pragmatic approach to legal matters, with a focus on complex regulatory frameworks, multi-jurisdictional deal structuring, and the negotiation of high-value commercial agreements.

Sara has been instrumental in the development of renewable energy projects in Azerbaijan, advising foreign and local investors on large-scale solar and wind energy projects in the Garabagh and Gobustan territories. Her role includes drafting and negotiating Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs), EPC contracts, Transmission Connection Agreements (TCAs), and O&M contracts, as well as navigating licensing and land acquisition procedures.

She plays a key legal advisory role in Azerbaijan’s first pharmaceutical manufacturing project, where she reviews sector-specific agreements such as Licensing Agreements, Technology Transfer Agreements, and Packaging Agreements, ensuring compliance with industry standards and evolving regulatory requirements.

Sara has a robust track record in mergers and acquisitions, including advising on regulatory filings, competition clearance, and merger control approvals. Notably, she contributed to securing one of the first merger control approvals under Azerbaijan’s new Competition Code for a major international transaction.

Her expertise extends to legal due diligence and risk assessment in sectors such as energy, insurance, and oil and gas. She provides in-depth analysis of Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs), corporate structures, and compliance issues, identifying key legal risks in domestic and cross-border transactions.

Sara collaborates regularly with leading international law firms from the UK, Belgium, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Romania, offering local legal insight on matters relating to pharmaceuticals, mergers, intellectual property, licensing, and regulatory compliance.

Before joining VLM, Sara spent three years as an in-house lawyer at a large international franchising company. There she handled the franchise agreement and its negotiations, sale, service, supply and lease contracts, labor disputes, state registration of changes to constituent documents, and applications for permits and licenses. She has supported businesses ranging from FMCG companies and insurance brokers to oil and gas players, and has volunteered for international non-governmental and governmental organizations. Alongside her practice, Sara is an adjunct lecturer at Baku State University.