Dmitry Stepanov is one of the most respected experts on corporate and financial law. He is actively involved in the development of Russian law and has over 20 years of practical experience in areas such as corporate law, securities, restructuring and corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcy and arbitration proceedings.

Being actively interested in the fundamental reform of the Russian Civil Code, Dmitry was involved in creating of a new version of the Code as a member of the Non-Profit Partnership for Advancement of Corporate Law and as an active member of the Presidential Task force to create an international financial centre in Moscow.

Dmitry advised the Russian Ministry of Economic Development and the State Duma Property Committees and then the State Duma Committee on Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and Procedural Legislation on a wide range of major laws, including the federal laws On Joint-Stock Companies, On the Securities Market, On Insolvency (Bankruptcy) and On International Companies. He was also engaged in a joint project between the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of the CIS States and the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD) for drafting a Model Joint-Stock Law for the CIS countries.

Among Dmitry's projects:

• Jointly with a working group under the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, supporting the development of Federal Law No. 229-FZ "On International Companies and International Funds".
• Jointly with a working group under the Russian Ministry of Economic Development, supporting the development of Federal Law No. 287-FZ "On Amendments to Parts One and Three of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation" (to implement the institution of personal funds).
• Representing RUSAL as well as two dozen other companies in the process of redomiciliation and registration as a new resident of the Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Oktyabrsky Island (Kaliningrad region).
• Advising Bestway Global Holdings, a Chinese outdoor leisure products manufacturer, on Russian and Ukrainian legal matters regarding its USD 149m IPO on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
• Advising a special committee of bondholders on the Russian law under the international debt restructuring for Roust Corporation, the world’s second largest vodka producer. The Roust Group financial restructuring was a rare example of a Russian group’s financial debts restructuring done under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code.
• Representing the Client before the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in a case regarding an unconstitutional claim that Article 302(1) of the Russian Civil Code, which allowed escheat flats to be taken away from purchasers in a good faith. Because of the work of the Firm's attorneys, the court recognised the owners' rights to the property acquired from persons who had taken possession of it in circumvention of state law.
• Mediation of a dispute between a state customer and a construction company over the performance of a state contract for the construction of railway infrastructure in Siberia.
• Defending the interests and settling a dispute worth over RUB 600m between two construction companies, specialising in infrastructure in a contractual dispute.
• Drafting of a law amending the Russian Civil Code to regulate transactions and contracts concluded in electronic form.
• Advising a Russian company on a syndicated loan to finance the establishment of a Russian chain of fitness clubs in the interests of the loan organiser (including drafting documents for the transfer of rights under the syndicated loan agreement to other parties after the loan has been provided).
• Advising a Russian bank in the course of restructuring a syndicated loan in connection with the borrower's redomiciliation (based on an English LMA).

Alongside his law practice, Dmitry teaches at the Statute Law School, and the M-Logos institute. He heads the Corporate Law Department at the Russian School for Private Law. Dmitry is the author of several monographs and around 100 publications.

Dmitry was a member of the development of the "road map" working group for the improvement of corporate governance at the Agency for Strategic Initiatives. He is a member of the Presidium of the Russian Arbitration Centre at the Russian Institute of Modern Arbitration; he also heads the Corporate Disputes Panel of the Arbitration Centre at the RSPP. Since 2017, Dmitry has been a member of the Expert Council for Corporate Governance under the Russian Ministry of Economic Development.

Dmitry has a degree from the Moscow State Law Academy (1999, magna cum laude) and the Russian School of Private Law (2001, master’s degree in private law, magna cum laude). He completed his post-graduate studies at the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Legal Studies under the Russian Government and was awarded his PhD in law in 2004. Subsequently, in 2013 he earned an LL.M degree from Harvard Law School, and in 2015 successfully completed the Master of Public Administration program at Harvard Kennedy School.

Dmitry has been admitted to the Moscow Bar Association.