EPAM announces appointment of new partners and counsel at the Moscow office. From 1 July 2012, Denis Arkhipov and Andrey Porfiriev will become Partners and Victoria Burkovskaya, Natalia Kuznetsova and Igor Serebryakov will become Counsel.

Denis Arkhipov, PhD, Attorney at Law, specialises in litigation in the areas of corporate and contractual law, antitrust law, real estate and exclusive rights, including copyright on the Internet. Denis has consistently represented clients in court proceedings in the Supreme Arbitrazh Court of Russia and the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, arbitrazh (commercial) courts of the cities of Moscow and St Petersburg and the regions of Kemerovo, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Arkhangelsk, Rostov, the Republic of Komi, the Krasnodar Territory and the Khanti-Mansi Autonomous Area, as well as relevant appeal and cassation courts. Denis began his career with one of the territorial administrations of the Ministry for Property Relations, where he specialised in litigation over privatisation of government property and corporate conflicts. Prior to joining EPAM, Denis was an attorney for an important attorneys’ association, representing major federal landline and mobile operators in various disputes, including ones related to real estate titles, corporate and antitrust law. Denis graduated with distinction from the Law Faculty of Kemerovo State University in 2001 and obtained a Master’s degree in private law, with distinction, from the Russian School of Private Law. He completed postgraduate studies from 2005 to 2008 at the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences and was awarded a PhD in 2011 for his thesis on “Legal criteria for risk distribution in contract law”.

Andrey Porfiriev, PhD, specialises in state and municipal property, bankruptcy and GR support for projects. He also has over ten years’ experience of liaising with state authorities at all levels and state corporations, as well as extensive experience of legislative work and of handling litigation involving state authorities. Before joining the firm in 2008, Andrey held a variety of posts at the Federal Industry Agency and the Russian Ammunition Agency. From 2005 to 2008, he headed the litigation section of the Federal Industry Agency, overseeing bankruptcy proceedings of strategic enterprises and organisations, protection against corporate raiding of state-owned enterprises and legislative work affecting various branches of the economy. Andrey is Co-chairman of the Business Against Corruption public centre under the auspices of the Delovaya Rossiya chamber and takes part in the Interagency Workgroup of the Government Commission for preventing bankruptcy of Russian strategic and defence enterprises. Andrey is accredited with the Ministry of Justice of Russia as an independent expert for conducting expert anti-corruption reviews of legislative acts. In 2003, Andrey graduated with distinction from the Law Faculty of Moscow Teachers’ Training University and in 2006 completed post-graduate studies at the same institution.
 
Victoria Burkovskaya, Doctor of Laws, Attorney at Law, heads the firm’s White Collar Crime Practice, specialising in legal aspects of corruption and financial crimes, including unlawful business practices, money laundering, smuggling, tax evasion and fraud, as well as crimes against government services and state and municipal authorities. Victoria’s practice area also covers aspects of personal data protection and cryptography. Prior to joining EPAM in 2009, Victoria was leading scientific associate at the Academy of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation and took part in preparing legal opinions on criminal cases of all categories, including: business crime (unlawful business practices, legalisation of criminally derived proceeds (money-laundering) or other property, smuggling and tax evasion); crimes against the civil service and state and municipal authorities, cases examined by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation; as well as matters concerning extradition of Russian citizens. Victoria is participating in the reform of Russian criminal law, is a member of the ICC Task Force on Criminal Law and Arbitration and has written over 80 works in specialised legal publications. Victoria graduated from Voronezh State Teachers’ University with distinction in 1996 and Moscow State Law Academy with distinction in 2002. She completed postgraduate studies at the Research Centre for Enhancement of Rule of Law and Public Order of the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation in 2000 and, in 2005, was awarded a Doctor of Laws degree by the Management Academy of the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry.

Natalia Kuznetsova, Attorney at Law, specialises in criminal law and proceedings. In addition, she is developing the firm’s forensics practice, advising clients on using forensics as a tool for protecting their interests in supporting transactions and resolving disputes. Prior to joining the firm in 2009, Natalia worked for over 25 years in economic crime units of the Ministry for Internal Affairs. She is also an experienced legal publisher, having overseen publication of 12 books on jurisprudence. She was awarded the “Outstanding Police” merit badge and “Impeccable Service” medals of three degrees. She graduated from the Law School of Leningrad State University in 1975 and has been a member of the St Petersburg City Bar since 2003.

Igor Serebryakov, Attorney at Law, has worked for EPAM since 2002, specialising in representing clients in Russian and foreign courts. Igor’s practice area includes commercial and corporate litigation, copyright disputes and bankruptcy cases. He also advises on employment, maritime and transport law, on real estate and inheritance matters. Igor has extensive experience of co-ordinating cross-border judicial proceedings in Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Nigeria, Panama and other countries and has participated in several disputes in the international commercial arbitration. Igor is a member of the Moscow City Bar. Prior to joining the firm, Igor was lead legal counsel for the Rossiyskiy Kredit Bank, a legal department expert at the audit firm Unicon and chief lawyer of the National Timber Company, where he participated in setting up a vertically integrated holding company and acquiring assets and took part in bankruptcy cases of counterparties. The Central Bank of Russia has expressed its gratitude to him (for performing an audit), as has the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (for assisting in pursuing state interests in the field of nuclear security during investigations into serious crimes with major social and political implications). In 1995, Igor graduated from the Economics and Law Faculty of Friendship University. In 1997, he obtained a Masters in jurisprudence with distinction, again from Friendship University, and a Masters in private law from the Russian School of Private Law. This was followed in 1999 by an LLM in international commercial law from Leiden University (Netherlands).