EPAM is pleased to announce new appointments in its Moscow office. Effective July 1, 2014 the Firm appoints Elena Gavrilina as a Partner of Real Estate and Construction practice. Leading practice experts Alexander Vaneev and Vera Rikhterman have become Counsel.

Elena Gavrilina, PhD, is a recognised Russian expert specialising in real estate, land law, privatisation, public procurement and other federal and municipal property management matters. She is experienced in structuring of, and legal support for, major privatisation deals; advising on ownership and lease conveyance deals involving public land plots, including agricultural land; advising on the disposal of public properties and other methods of making public properties available for general trade, including implementation of investment projects involving public legal entities; performing market-value appraisals; and performing legal due diligence in respect of privatised and other properties. Before joining EPAM, Elena was Chief of the Legal Support Section in the Legal Department of Vnesheconombank Investment Company LLC (VEB Capital).
Prior to this, Elena worked as Deputy Director of the Legal Department at the Federal Agency for Management of State Property (Rosimuschestvo) where she gained invaluable experience participating in the drafting of laws. Moreover Elena also has 10 years of experience working with the Russian Fund of Federal Property, a specialised state institution of the Russian government.
Best Lawyers recommends Elena as an expert in Real Estate, Construction, Land Use and Zoning, while Legal 500 ranks her as “a very knowledgeable in regulatory real estate matters”.

Alexander Vaneev is one of the leading lawyers of the Firm’s Litigation practice. For more than 10 years he specialises in dispute resolution and commercial law, primarily on litigation and arbitration matters, both domestic and cross-border. He also advises on restructuring and insolvency matters and provides commercial advice to clients active in a number of industries including automotive. Alexander has been deeply involved as a leading attorney in a number of high-profile domestic litigations in construction, automotive, agricultural, pharmaceutical and financial sectors.
Prior to joining the Firm, Alexander worked as a Legal Counsel at Volvo Financial Services Vostok. In that capacity, he took part in dozens of court cases implicating automotive and supervised contractual work in the company.
Thanks to his active position and perfect track record Alexander is recoginsed as a leading Russian expert by a number of international legal guides. Chambers Global 2014 recommends Alexander as a lawyer who successfully “leads teams when advising on cross-border arbitration matters”. Alexander holds an honours degree from the Law School of the State University – Higher Schools of Economics where he is now doing at a postgraduate study. As a part of his out-of-work activity, he also acts as a lecturer at the Moscow State Academy of Law where he reads a course on international commercial arbitration.

Vera Rikhterman, PhD, is one of the leading lawyers of the Firm’s Litigation practice. She focused on representing the interests of domestic and foreign companies in litigations related to corporate and sport disputes, as well as disputes arising out of contractual relationships. Vera has vast experience in regard to representing clients in arbitrazh courts and general-jurisdiction courts of all levels, particularly in the Higher Arbitrazh Court and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. She also specializes in restructuring, insolvency and debt recovery matters.
Vera graduated from the Moscow State Legal Academy with honors and from the Economic Faculty of the Moscow Aviation Institute. She defended her candidate thesis at the All-Russian State Tax Academy of the Russian Ministry of Finance. Vera has been admitted to the Moscow Bar Association since 2008.