Mr. Zimbler has been the Managing Partner of the firm's Moscow office since 1994. He concentrates on corporate, securities and investment matters in Russia and the other former Soviet countries, with emphasis on cross-border transactions. Since 1986, he has advised on hundreds of projects in the former Soviet Union, ranging from joint ventures in telecommunications and manufacturing, to technology transfer agreements, to capital markets and real estate transactions. He has traveled extensively throughout Russia and represented clients in such diverse locations as Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Komi Republic, Western Siberia, Tatarstan, Stavropol, and the Russian Far East. One of the most senior foreign attorneys in Moscow, Mr. Zimbler has served as President of the Moscow International Lawyers Group for two years (1996-1998), and as an arbitrator for NAUFOR, the association of Russian securities brokers and dealers. Mr. Zimbler is a graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D., cum laude, 1986) and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (M.A.L.D., 1986), and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard International Law Journal during 1983-84. He earned his undergraduate degree from Harvard College (B.A., magna cum laude, 1980), and has also studied in France and Brazil under fellowship programs. He is fluent in Russian and French and has a working knowledge of Portuguese.

Mr. Hines, resident in Moscow, has over 20 years of continuous experience on major projects for clients throughout Russia and the CIS.  His broad transactional involvement has included a number of the largest oil and gas projects (PSAs and other E&P development projects, as well as M&A deals) in Russia and in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan; extensive work for the Caspian Pipeline Consortium; Aeroflot's lease acquisition of several Boeing and Airbus aircraft; and gold mining, oilfield services, automobile and vodka production ventures.  Mr. Hines has also advised clients with respect to international commercial arbitrations in Moscow, Stockholm and elsewhere, and was appointed in 2000 to a five-year term on the Panel of Arbitrators of the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry.  He serves on the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (since 2001), and is a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN).  Mr. Hines is a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School (J.D., 1978), Princeton University (B.A., 1974), and spent a year studying civil law at Moscow State University (1979-80).  He speaks fluent Russian, and has a working knowledge of French, German and Danish/Norwegian

Mr. Berger, resident in Moscow, heads our Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group, concentrates in international corporate, M&A, securities and project finance transactions in Russia, and also has significant experience with international dispute resolution.  Prior to joining Dewey & LeBoeuf, he spent several years with a large multinational law firm in New York where he focused on capital markets and project financing transactions.  Since his posting in Moscow, Mr. Berger has had broad experience in representing a number of equity funds and Western investors making strategic investments into Russian industrial and financial sectors.  Mr. Berger also represents select Russian clients in cross-border venture, financing and securities transactions and commercial disputes.  He is a cum laude graduate of the University of Wisconsin Law School (1992), where he served as Comment Editor of the Wisconsin International Law Journal, and an honors graduate of the University of Michigan School of Business Administration.  He was born in Moscow and raised and educated in the US, and is thus a native speaker of both English and Russian.

Ms. Strizh has substantial experience representing clients on cross-border and domestic mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, cross-border investments and joint ventures, capital markets transactions including public and private securities offerings, and advising on related corporate, securities law, compliance and reporting, and privatization matters.  She has experience advising clients in a variety of industries, including power, oil and gas, insurance and other financial services, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals, and food and beverage.  Ms. Strizh has led complex cross-border mergers and acquisitions (both acquisitions and divestitures) and joint venture transactions, projects involving issuance and listing of securities, structured settlements, and various forms of financing. She has authored or co-authored several articles on Russian corporate and securities law, and is considered a leading authority in those fields.  Ms. Strizh was awarded a law degree in 1992 from Moscow State University and has had additional courses of law study at Harvard and Columbia Law Schools in the US, and the Universities of Muenster and Bonn in Germany.  Born in Estonia, she is a native Russian speaker and is fluent in English.

Mr. Coppel advises private equity and hedge fund investors, investment banks, and major and mid-sized corporates on cross-border mergers & acquisitions, joint ventures, restructurings, and otherwise on general corporate and commercial matters. He has significant experience of foreign direct investment in emerging markets. Mr. Coppel joined the firm from the London office of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton where he had practised since 1998. Prior to that he was associated with Linklaters where he practised from 1995 in their London and New York offices. He received a Diploma in Legal Practice from the College of Law, Chester in 1995 and an LL.B. degree from the University of Leeds in 1994. Mr. Coppel is a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales and a member of the New York Bar. He has lectured on various professional matters from time to time.

Ms. Cherkassova is a securities lawyer with expertise in the Russian capital markets. She has acted for lead managers and Russian borrowers in Eurobond offerings; for issuers and depositaries in connection with establishing and maintaining depositary receipts programs in Russia; and has advised leading multinational investment banks on Russian corporate and securities law in connection with international offerings of Russian shares. Ms. Cherkassova has also advised foreign and Russian clients on a number of corporate issues, including reorganization, corporate governance, and mergers and acquisitions. Her other areas of experience include structured finance — such as securitization of credit card receivables — debt restructurings, and derivatives. Prior to joining Dewey & LeBoeuf, she spent eight years practicing with large multinational American and English law firms. She is a 1996 graduate of the Moscow State Institute for International Relations (MGIMO). A Russian native speaker, Ms. Cherkassova is fluent in English and has a basic knowledge of German and French.

Mr. Dashko advises primarily on corporate and M&A transactions. Other areas of experience include capital markets, real estate and tax matters. Prior to joining Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP in 2006, Mr. Dashko was a lawyer with an international German law firm where he headed the Corporate and M&A practice. He also served as the General Counsel with a subsidiary of the major German investor in Russia.  Mr. Dashko received his law degree from Kuban State University (1998, magna cum laude) and is qualified to practice in the Russian Federation. A native Russian speaker, Mr. Dashko is fluent in English and German.

Mr. Batalov advises on asset securitization, secured lending, mergers and acquisitions, securities law and general corporate matters.  He has broad experience representing issuers, underwriters, purchasers and servicers in public and private offerings of mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities.  His practice also includes representation of lenders and borrowers in a variety of debt finance transactions.  Mr. Batalov is a graduate of the University of Washington (J.D., 1999), Whitman College (B.A. in Economics, 1996, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa), and the Ural State Technical University (B.S. equivalent in Economics and Management, Merit Scholar).  He is a member of the American Bar Association and the Washington Bar Association and served as Articles Editor of the Washington Law Review , 1997-1999.  Mr. Batalov is qualified to practice in Washington. He was born and raised in Russia and educated in the US where he lived for over 16 years, and is thus a native speaker of Russian and fluent in English.

Dmitri Kunitsa heads our Real Estate Practice Group in Russia. He has extensive experience in real estate development/investment projects and other types of real estate transactions in Russia. His practice focuses on advising institutional and private investors on structuring and implementing complex, cross-border transactions aimed at acquisition of real estate; representing major Western and Russian companies in wide varieties of real estate transactions in Moscow and other regions of Russia; advising lenders on real estate financing; and regulatory aspects of such transactions.

Mr. Huhs founded Dewey & LeBoeuf's practice in the Commonwealth of Independent States and Eastern Europe. He has devoted his professional career to the international practice of law, and has over 35 years of personal experience in structuring, negotiating, concluding, and implementing hundreds of cross-border transactions of practically every variety. He is considered the dean of the foreign legal community in Moscow, having served there continuously longer than any other foreign attorney. Mr. Huhs is one of the leading authorities on the international practice of law and writes and speaks extensively on the subject. He served in the White House in the National Security and International Affairs area during the Nixon and Ford Administrations. Mr. Huhs is an honors graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School, where he served as Comment Editor of the Stanford Law Review and was awarded the Order of the Coif. He is also a member of The Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School. He is fluent in Russian and has a working knowledge of French.

Bela Pelman heads the Corporate Compliance Group for Dewey & LeBoeuf's Moscow office. She assists foreign investors with establishing legal entities in Russia, and is experienced in Russian corporate and commercial matters, as well as antitrust, securities and currency regulation. She is a 1997 graduate of the Moscow State Law Academy.  Ms. Pelman is a native of Irkutsk and is fluent in English.

Dina Kzylkhodjaeva advises on international oil and gas development projects, energy-based financings, securities and project finance. She has broad experience in mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity and general commercial transactions. Representing major Russian and international clients of the firm, she has structured and executed complex share acquisitions (representing buyers and sellers) and international joint ventures in the Russian and CIS markets in a variety of industries, with a particular emphasis on mining and energy sectors. Prior to joining the firm in 2006, she worked for more than five years in the New York offices of Baker & Botts and Shearman & Sterling, where she was involved in LNG projects, transactions involving the purchase and sale of oil and gas assets, public and private placements of debt and equity, MTN programs, asset securitization and structured finance transactions.

Alexei Matsuev has extensive experience representating clients in various local and international finance and mergers and acquisitions transactions. Other areas of experience include engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), real estate and capital markets transactions. Mr. Matsuev's experience includes a six-month secondment to Dewey & LeBoeuf's long-term client VTB Bank where he was involved in various projects of the bank (including securitization transactions, operations with derivatives and acquistition finance). Prior to joining the firm in March 2005, Mr. Matsuev served for over four years at the Moscow office of another international law firm. 

Elena Savrasova joined Dewey & LeBoeuf from Bank Evrofinance where she was the legal adviser to the first vice president. She has drafted trust agreements under English law for the trust of property rights, including those arising under foreign law. Ms. Savrasova has counseled multinational clients in start-ups; and corporations on regulatory compliance, corporate governance, cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and joint ventures. She has advised foreign investment companies incorporated under Russian law on share issuances and the structuring of stock holdings.