Rupert has been recognised as a leading barrister in commercial litigation and international arbitration by Chambers and Partners UK, Chambers & Partners Global and The Legal 500 which have commended him as “very bright” “commercially astute” and “extremely responsive”. He has been cited in these publications for his “profound knowledge of the law” and as “an excellent draftsman” who “stands out for his quick mastery of the law as applied to the facts”; “anticipates any pitfalls very effectively” and is “very good on detail”.

Rupert’s advocacy has been repeatedly recognised by other lawyers who have worked with him. His peers are recorded in Chambers and Legal 500 as commenting that “his advocacy is excellent” and have “singled him out for his authoritative arguments in court” and for “succeeding in obtaining the relevant responses without being aggressive”.  

Rupert’s niche expertise in Russian & CIS related disputes is widely recognised. Chambers, Chambers Global and Legal 500 have described him as being “Extraordinarily knowledgeable on all matters relating to the CIS” and noted that “his Russian language skills and substantial understanding of local market practice make him a strong asset in CIS-linked disputes.” As such, the directories have commended him as “excellent for CIS work”, and “a good choice for cases in need of a cerebral Russian/CIS expert” He is regularly instructed to provide expert opinions on English law issues for use in CIS court proceedings.

Rupert holds the following positions of responsibility in relation to Russia and the CIS:

Bar Council International Committee representative for Russia and the CIS
Secretary of the British-Russian Law Association (BRLA)
Secretary of the British-Kazakh Law Association (BrKLA)
Rupert also sits as arbitrator in LCIA arbitrations involving CIS parties.

Shantanu undertakes domestic & international litigation, arbitration and advisory work in a number of areas. He has a substantial and growing practice in disputes involving CIS parties, often instructed directly by lawyers in the CIS.

He qualified as a mediator in 2019 and was appointed Queen's Counsel (“Silk”) in 2020.
His practice encompasses:

• Agency
• Arbitration
• Banking & Finance
• Breach of Warranty
• CIS disputes
• Civil Fraud & Asset tracing
• Commercial Litigation
• Company and Insolvency
• Employment
• Economic Torts
• Guarantees
• Injunctions and other urgent relief
• Insurance
• Jurisdiction and Conflict of Laws
• Limitation
• Professional Negligence and Liability
• Restitution, equity and trusts in a commercial context
• Sale of goods & supply of services
• Sanctions
• Shareholder, partnership and joint venture disputes

The Legal 500 2020 ranks him in Tier 1 (2020 Silks) in 

• Commercial Litigation
• Civil Fraud &
• Professional Negligence

Amongst other things, it says that he is a
‘A strategic thinker, hard-working and collaborative – a superb trial lawyer and cross-examiner.’

Mo Haque QC is a highly experienced and client-focussed commercial litigator.
He practised at the English Bar for eighteen years, during which period he took Silk (in 2015). He then spent time with a premier law firm in the British Virgin Islands. The Caribbean Legal 500 described him as a “first class heavyweight”. Missing the weather, he returned to the UK and joined CANDEY in 2019.
Mo’s workload spans the borders of the Caribbean, CIS, USA, UAE and the Far East. He advises on company and commercial disputes, acting for shareholders, directors and partners. He has considerable experience of international insolvency acting for liquidators, receivers and creditors. His practice covers enforcement, contract and tort issues and the professional negligence of business, construction and legal professionals. Being of a scientific slant, he also enjoys technology cases.
He has appeared in the Courts of England, the BVI and Cayman Islands. He has also acted in international arbitrations conducted under various arbitral rules.
His recent interesting cases include:

• Representing a Russian oil refinery in arbitral proceedings (involving multiple challenges to jurisdiction) and in parallel acting on a £200million freezing injunction, leading eventually to Russian insolvency proceedings.
• Representing an individual shareholder in a £30 million dispute involving the ownership of shares in part of a famous chain of hotels. Issues of director’s liabilities and responsibilities, derivative claims in complex structures and equitable remedies.
• Acting in one of the first legal disputes over the ownership of millions of dollars of contested Bitcoin held by a HK-registered crypto-currency exchange, with multinational parties under BVI law.
• Defending a £20million claim brought by Irina Abramovich for breach of trust by a former employee.
• Tracing the assets of one of the wealthiest individuals in the UK to seek enforcement of a £100million judgment.
• Acting for trustee in bankruptcy in the £2billion Petters fraud in the Cayman Islands in issues about the priority of claimants.
• Acting for Vincent Tchenguiz in the long-running £600million dispute against his brother, Robert.

He is the author of several texts, the most recent of which are the 2018 BVI and Cayman Island chapters of Global Legal Insights “International Arbitration”. He has also contributed to Emden’s Construction Law.

Ben Wells is a Solicitor Advocate and a fluent Russian speaker. The majority of his work is focused on Russian-speaking clients.
Ben is experienced in international arbitration and dispute resolution related to cross-border disputes. Ben has a particular focus on contentious trusts issues, claiming relief under Part III of the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984, asset-tracing and recovery. Ben also assists clients to decide contentious issues in relation to commercial contracts, trading, investments, banking, company and shareholder disputes, cross-border insolvency, international civil fraud and enforcement. Ben regularly represents clients in arbitration and in the English courts.
Ben is the founder and chairman of RusFor (the Russian Speaking Legal Professionals’ Forum) a group that hosts conferences and networking events for its professional members. He is also an executive committee member of the British-Kazakh Law Association, holds rights of audience at the Astana International Finance Centre (AIFC) and is listed as an international arbitrator with the Russian Arbitration Centre and RSPP (Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs).
Ben writes articles which have been published in CIS Arbitration Forum, Arbitration.ru and Zakon.ru as well as having featured in articles for the Law Society of England and Wales. Ben is a frequent speaker at conferences throughout Russia, Kazakhstan and the former Soviet Union and is a guest lecturer the St Petersburg State University of Economics.

Yuri is a specialist in complex litigation and arbitration across multiple jurisdictions including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan (and other CIS countries) the Middle East and Africa for both corporations and individuals. Actions range from multi-million-dollar multi-jurisdictional fraud claims through to shareholders disputes, partnership disputes, foreign law claims, enforcing foreign judgments, construction disputes, actions for and against directors, defamation, breach of contract, tort and insolvency. Yuri is regularly invited to speak as an expert on a variety of topics regarding doing business in Russia/Former Soviet Union (‘FSU’) and emerging markets. Notable recent litigation cases involved a shareholders’ dispute regarding 600m USD asset in Russia which involved SCC arbitration proceedings and related interim injunctions in the BVI and Cyprus; shareholders’ arbitration dispute relating to a Russian bank involving numerous Cypriot and High Court injunctions, shareholders’ arbitration dispute regarding a CIS coal mine, contractual disputes regarding oil commodities. Yuri often acts in concert with lawyers from across the CIS/Middle East/Africa to provide access to international dispute resolution solutions for clients.

Artem Zhavoronkov is a Specialist Partner at Borenius Russia. Artem specialises in corporate, antitrust, banking and financial law, as well as cross-border M&A transactions. Over the past 27 years, Artem has taken a hands-on role in providing legal support for international transactions, representing a wide range of foreign and Russian clients from various business sectors. These have included social networks, software development, telecommunications, direct investments, financial institutions, the motor industry, oil & gas, the iron & steel industry, food products, as well as development and construction.

Artem has advised certain major investment and international banking institutions on the structuring of complex transactions. He was engaged in drawing up draft legal documents and undertook general management of the entire process of transaction support.

In 2014, Artem was one of the pioneers in Russia who became closely involved in compliance and sanctions regulation. In the context of this practice, he advises Russian and international companies on corporate governance, as well as the structuring of beneficial ownership and contractual relationships with foreign counterparties in order to identify and mitigate risks from sanctions.
Chambers | 2021

Artem Zhavoronkov assists international corporates with Russia-related transactions. He also acts on corporate restructuring mandates.

Chambers Europe | 2020
“He has been extremely responsive and his turnaround time is impressive. You can always trust urgent matters to him.”

Olesya is a founding partner of Petrol Chilikov law firm. She has over 10 years of experience in advising Russian and overseas clients on various matters of Russian private law, including leading transactions and acting as counsel in international and local Russian disputes, both before state courts and in arbitration. Olesya is a trusted advisor to high net worth individuals in the planning and preservation of their wealth and resolving private disputes. She is specifically experienced in complex cross-border matrimonial and inheritance matters.

Prior to establishing Petrol Chilikov, Olesya worked at an international law firm and later independently at her boutique law offices.

Olesya is an Associate Professor at the Russian School of Private Law and a lecturer at the Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences. She speaks regularly on damages, arbitration, family and inheritance law. Olesya is a Member of the Council for Development of Arbitration of the Ministry of Justice of Russian Federation. She is frequently invited to act as a Russian law expert.

Attorney, mediator-conflictologist, negotiator, Ph.D in law, lecturer, author of articles and books


Since 2010, Anastasia is the attorney at the Moscow bar association. She has had working experience from trainee to managing partner at the Barschevsky & Partners Moscow bar association for 12 years. Great knowledge and working experience with private clients in settlement of family disputes, property distribution, as well as working with subscription clients: legal persons in areas like software development, international trade, medicine, private education, entertainment and aviation.

Yan Kalish is a counsel at RGP in our Dispute Resolution practice.

Yan represents clients before arbitral tribunals acting under the rules of various institutions, including ICC, SCC, LCIA and SCAI. He also advises clients on complex cross-border litigations involving proceedings before the courts of the United States, Norway, British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, Singapore and Russia.

Yan Kalish takes active part in the activities of international arbitration community. He is a Co-Chair of The Arbitration Association 40 (RAA40) and Thought Leaders 4 FIRE CEE-CIS Committee, member of ICC Russia Commission on International Arbitration, Executive Secretary of the Commission for development of Arbitration and alternative settlement mechanisms of the Moscow regional department of the Association of lawyers of Russia. Yan is a member to other youth associations focused on development of international arbitration.

In 2021 Yan has been selected to become a member of the Reserve Panel of Arbitrators of the Tashkent International Arbitration Centre (TIAC).

Also, his activities include delivering various publications and speaking engagements.

Dr Viktor Gerbutov is a partner and a head of the Dispute Resolution Practice in the Moscow office of Noerr. For 15 years he has represented clients before Russian state courts, including the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation. He also represents clients in arbitration proceedings and regularly sits as arbitrator being included in the lists of recommended arbitrators of the Arbitration Center at the RSPP and the Russian Arbitration Center at the Russian Institute of Modern Arbitration. 

Dr Gerbutov has acted as a Russian law expert witness in numerous high profile proceedings before the English High Court, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, the Irish High Court, the Royal Court of Guernsey, as well as arbitral tribunals under the auspices of the London Court of International Arbitration and the Russian Arbitration Center at the Russian Institute of Modern Arbitration, and the Arbitrazh Court of Moscow.

Dr Gerbutov holds the position of Associate Professor at the Law of Obligations Department at Alexeev Private Law Research Centre under the President of the Russian Federation and lectures at the Civil Law Department of the Law Faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Dr Gerbutov has been recommended by The Legal500, The Best Lawyers, WTR1000, Chambers Global & Europe, Pravo.Ru 300, Kommersant business newspaper.

Kirill Belskiy is a Senior Partner and the head of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Practice Koblev&Partners (Moscow). 

His main practice areas are criminal defense and the representation of corporate victims in criminal cases involving economic, official and corruption orientation, along with the resolution of complex large-scale legal disputes, such as corporate and shareholder conflicts.

Kirill has represented clients accused of corporate embezzlement, fraud, bribery, abuse of power, and tax evasion in dozens of high-profile cases. He has also frequently worked on behalf of major Russian and international companies that were the victims of crimes, for example, by organizing internal investigations and developing strategies for the recovery of stolen assets. Kirill is highly experienced in resolving large-scale economic disputes, joint-stock and other corporate conflicts, as well as being an expert in bankruptcy law.

As a recognized leader in the field of criminal law and dispute resolution, Kirill is often the recipient of awards and high praise from colleagues and professional organizations in the industry. Chambers describes Kirill as "a great lawyer with impeccable knowledge of the criminal justice system", while Legal500 notes that Kirill demonstrates "a thorough analysis of evidence and a frank approach to the case". Most reputable Russian legal market researchers

 Pravo300 and Kommersant regularly put Kirill among Top5 leading criminal defense attorneys.


Among Kirill’s clients are found prominent Russian entrepreneurs and companies from the top of the Forbes 500. Kirill also advises and represents major international companies on issues related to doing business in Russia.

Kirill’s legal practice spans the globe, including cases in The United States, The UK, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Israel, Poland, Serbia, The Czech Republic, Georgia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Ghana, Indonesia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates.

For over 26 years, Maxim has represented clients in Russian state courts of all levels, including the Russian Supreme Court and the Russian Constitutional Court, and in international arbitration centres such as the ICAC, the SCC, the ICC and the LCIA. He has extensive experience giving evidence in foreign courts and arbitral proceedings as a Russian law expert. Independent legal ratings agencies,The GAR 100, The Legal 500, Chambers & Partners, Best Lawyers and Who’s Who Legal, all recommend Maxim.

“Maxim Kulkov is one of the strongest Russian litigators acknowledged for his marked skill in complex Russian commercial disputes”
Chambers Europe, 2021

Andrey is a Counsel in Allen & Overy’s Dispute Resolution practice based in Moscow. He has over 12 years of experience representing his clients before Russian and foreign courts, as well before arbitral tribunals. Andrey regularly acts as lead counsel in his cases, and has conducted his own advocacy in numerous commercial, construction and investment arbitration cases under the ICC, SCC, LCIA, SIAC and ICAC Rules. He has also represented clients in many high profile commercial and corporate disputes at all levels of the Russian courts, with some of his cases becoming precedents cited in the information letters of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation.

Andrey has advised his clients on litigation conducted in jurisdictions including England and Wales, Switzerland, Cyprus, Jersey, the British Virgin Islands and the Marshall Islands. In addition, Andrey sits as an arbitrator in domestic and international cases under various sets of rules, including the ICC.

He is recognised in all major legal directories and is highlighted as “one of the top next-generation arbitrators” and “one of the most prominent Russian practitioners” in the field of international arbitration.

Head of the International Projects Group at the VEGAS LEX Law Firm.

Natalia has extensive practical experience in Russian law and has managed the International Projects Group at VEGAS LEX for over 5 years.

Natalia graduated from Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov (degrees in law and foreign languages) and University College London (LL.M.).

Natalia specializes in legal support of foreign investments and complex international projects, including sanctions-related advice, and provides comprehensive support in IT и telecom. Her clients include Elawan, Sabre, Wabco, Dassault Systemes and a number of major Russian holding companies.

She is on the list of the best lawyers in Russia in the field of M&A and Corporate Law according to the Best Lawyers rating.

Natalia and her colleagues author articles and comments for leading business media such as Kommersant, Vedomosti, RBC, Forbes, and publish materials on international law in major foreign mass media (Practical Law, CEE Legal Matters, Mondaq).

Prior to GRATA, Vyacheslav was a partner and head of finance and projects practice in Russia and CIS at DLA Piper. Before that, he was a consultant in the banking department of Allen & Overy and headed Russian banking practice and dispute resolution desk at Lovells.

Vyacheslav specializes in the areas of banking and finance, including corporate and secured lending, trade, property and asset finance, debt capital markets, restructuring and transactions with distressed assets, debt recovery and dispute resolution.

Education:
· University College London (UCL) University of London, 2003. Master of Laws (LLM),
· Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University) (MGIMO), Faculty of International Law, 1995, Honours Degree in Law.

Languages:
· English
· Russian
· Spanish
· Ukrainian

Alexander Popelyuk is a partner at Lidings and heads the firm's Dispute Resolution practice.

His practice within the firm focuses on handling major restructuring, insolvency and bankruptcy projects, representing clients in labour and corporate disputes, as well as insurance disputes and receivables collection proceedings. Alexander has many years' experience in advising Russian and international companies from a wide range of industries including oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, healthcare services, manufacturing, IT and electronics, as well as major financial institutions and energy companies.

Before establshing VLawyers Feodor headed Moscow's leading Dispute resolution and Bankruptcy practices for the Russian law firm and built it from the ground up to a high ratings.

For the past 15 years Feodor has handled a number of complex arbitrations, litigations and bankruptcy cases. Feodor has a material experience of working with big international and Russian clients. Successfully represents interests of the clients in the state commercial courts and court of general jurisdiction in Russia of all instances including former Supreme Commercial Court and Supreme court of Russia. He has a strong focus on complex domestic and cross-border disputes involving international private law matters.

Feodor is an experienced expert on Russian law and international private law matters acting in a number of international arbitrations and litigations, in particular at LCIA arbitration for the amount around 1 bln USD, GAFTA arbitration, The High Court of Justice etc

EDUCATION
Graduated with honours from Lomonosov Moscow State University 
Ph.D. in Law, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 2008


PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Assistant professor at the Civil department of the Law faculty of the Moscow state University, member of the IBA Litigation committee

CREDENTIALS
Chambers Global. Feodor Vyacheslavov as "very reliable, always ready to give his best and go the extra mile." In addition to domestic litigation, he regularly assists with international arbitration mandates.”

Chambers Europe. Restructuring and insolvency. “Feodor Vyacheslavov is noted for his expertise on contentious matters related to distressed situations. His experience includes cases linked to bankruptcy procedures and debt recovery.”

Chambers Europe. Dispute resolution. “Head of the disputes team Feodor Vyacheslavov is widely appreciated by clients for his dedication to cases, creative approach and excellent presentation skills. "I use him when I need an orator," one client reports.”

Legal 500. ­Feodor Vyacheslavov “Is always ready to go the extra mile"

Egor has been with KPMG since 2000, having begun his professional career as an auditor, what helped him to obtain extensive knowledge of accounting issues under different accounting standards. Having experienced a wide range of audit engagements in 2014 Egor joined KPMG Forensic practice to embark on new challenges. Since then he has gained wide-ranging experience in forensic projects, including fraud investigations, dispute advisory projects, and antibribery and corruption matters.

Egor is a fellow member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and a Russian licensed auditor. He has worked across a number of industries, including banking, real estate and construction, manufacturing, transportation, retail, power and utilities, agriculture, and mining. His clients have included large international and Russian companies with turnovers of more than USD 14 billion and comprising over 200 legal entities.

Since 2016 Egor has specifically focused on dispute advisory work and now as a partner leads the KPMG Dispute Advisory practice in Russia and CIS. He regularly acts as an expert witness in cases involving accounting issues, forensic matters, valuations, and quantifications of damages. He has also been invited as a panel speaker and expert witness to numerous local and international legal seminars and conferences.
Egor has worked under the rules of various local and international courts, such as the London High Court, LCIA, SCC, ICSID, and Courts of Cyprus and has also given expert witness testimony.