Brian Bellerose is an attorney and adjunct professor of law. He graduated from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and the University of Chicago and studied education at Columbia University. Brian has taught US business law, international business law, legal language and writing at several universities such as Concordia University of Chicago, Suffolk University Law School and Bentley University. He also has several years of experience teaching English to foreign language speakers. Brian's legal career has specialized in international business, investments and financial services. He has over 25 years of experience advising multi-national companies and start-ups. He was the General Counsel and Managing Director of Renaissance Capital and MDM Group in Moscow Russia, the General Counsel of Oriflame Cosmetics, a publicly-traded company headquartered in Brussels Belgium. He was also the General Counsel of two groups of investment funds—Kazimir Funds, which specialized in investing in the former Soviet Union and BeiKai Capital, a group of private equity funds in China. Brian lives in New York City.

Sergey Budylin is an advisor at the Bartolius Law Office in Moscow. Mr. Budylin got his LLM, with honors, from Pericles in 2007, where he was the valedictorian of his class. In addition to his Pericles degree, Sergey also holds a Candidate of Science in Physics from Moscow State University, a diploma in economics and management from the Russian American Independent University (American University in Moscow), and a law diploma from the Russian Academy of Investment Specialists (GASIS). Sergey has taught various courses (such as tax planning, English trusts, English contract law, comparative corporate law, and others) at the Higher School of Economics, the Moscow School for the Social and Economic Sciences (“Shaninka”), the Russian School of Private Law, and Pericles. He is the author of numerous articles on tax, intellectual property and civil law issues, including several well-read English language articles on various topics of Russian law and comparative Russian-US law that have been published in US an European law journals.

Donald Cannon graduated from the University of Washington, Seattle. He began his professional life working first as translator for business concerns involved in commerce with the USSR, soon acting as negotiator and commercial representative as East-West trade increased. During this time, he also participated enthusiastically in citizen diplomacy and the Sister Cities Program. After the dissolution of the USSR, Donald embraced the economic changes taking place in Russia and, following the then-popular trend, he helped create several joint ventures. In the 1990s, he also established and managed a new business venture in Russia and was responsible for all of its operations, including complex technical issues. Donald ardently supports cultural diversity and has always advocated for pinpointing and interpreting societal differences and their underlying realities; he believes this to be as important as interpreting words and ideas. Operating on this conviction, he has supplied in-depth Russian company profiles to Western investors, mediated in contract negotiations and edited English-language website for Russian businesses. Wherever Donald has been throughout his career, he has always taught English, also using the principle that experiencing cultural differences is the root of language acquisition. To grasp English fully, we need to perceive its culture from the inside out. Traditional instruction in Russia, however, typically explains English and its culture from the outside in. Donald’s approach is to restore the inside-out flow and to give students a sudden “Aha!” experience uniting both language and culture.

Sergey Danilov obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University (Arlington, Virginia). A native of St.Petersburg, Russia, he spent over 30 years in various parts of the world, including the United States, Europe, and Central America, and speaks several languages. Currently he lives in France where he consults international clientele on various aspects of commercial and corporate law. At Pericles he teaches Language of Сontracts, Contract Drafting, Business Organizations, Transactional Lawyering and International Asset Recovery.

Marian Dent is the Dean of Pericles Center for International Legal Education, which runs an LLM program as well as legal skills programs for Russian practicing lawyers. Dean Dent teaches courses in legal writing, international business transactions, contract law and economic sanctions law. In addition to teaching law and directing the program, she also created Pericles’ texts on legal writing and legal English, helped develop materials for GMAT and TOEFL preparation, and occasionally teaches the logic section of the GMAT. Professor Dent obtained her Juris Doctor from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall) in 1988. After graduating Ms. Dent joined the Washington, D.C. law firm of Kirkpatrick and Lockhart, and worked there for four years in the fields of East-West and international trade, securities and general business law. She moved to Moscow in 1992 to direct the Moscow office of the American Bar Association, CEELI Project. After leaving CEELI, she taught legal writing, and intro to American Law, at the Russian Law Academy of the Russian Ministry of Justice from 1995-1998, and started the first Russian Jessup International Moot Court competition. She has also taught from time to time at Moscow University Touro, the American Institute of Business & Economics, and for ten years taught an introductory course in Russian Law for visiting students from the University of San Diego Law School. She was one of the founders of Pericles, and became Dean in 2002.

Paul Richard Engelke is an advocate practicing at the Pretoria Bar in South Africa. He graduated from the University of Port Elizabeth in 1991 with a B-Juris and immediately started working as a Public Prosecutor. In 1995 the Department of Justice relocated him to Pretoria. While in Pretoria he enrolled at the University of Pretoria where he graduated with a LLB. He completed the Law School for attorneys in 2001 and practiced as an attorney for a year. In 2002 he was admitted as an Advocate to the High Court of SA. In 2003 he worked for the Special Investigation Unit of the National Prosecution Authority where he spent 12 years specializing in the investigation and prosecution of Fraud, Corruption and Serious Commercial Crimes. He also headed up the Anti-Money Laundering unit of the SIU, it was during his time at the SIU that he was invited and attended a Forensic Investigation Course at the Russian Federal Detectives Collage, in Moscow. From 2015 he shared his time between his advocate duties and giving lectures to students in Criminal law and Forensic Investigations in Pretoria. Mr Engelke also completed the CELTA course and teaches English as a foreign language.

Matthew Jasniewski is an English language specialist and U.S.-trained attorney with extensive experience in legal English and professional communication training. He holds a Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School in Chicago and practiced law in Illinois, focusing on litigation, civil rights, immigration, and criminal defense.
As an English Language Fellow and Specialist, he has designed and delivered professional communication and presentation skills training, along with EMI (English as a Medium of Instruction) programs, for universities and professional audiences in both virtual and in-person settings. His work emphasizes practical application, combining structured training with interactive activities such as simulations, case discussions, and task-based learning.
In his courses, Matthew focuses on helping participants communicate clearly, think critically, and use English effectively in real-world professional contexts. His teaching approach is collaborative, structured, and designed to help participants build practical skills and develop confidence for real-world professional communication.

Prof. Vladimir Lissniak, RF Honored Human Rights Defender, president of Pericles, has extensive experience in public, private and NGO sectors, diplomatic service, law practice, and academic activity. He has worked as a consultant in the Moscow Mayor’s Office, for the Administration the RF President. He has been practicing law privately for the last 30 years for Russian and foreign clients in courts of general and special jurisdiction in a number of countries and Strasbourg court of human rights. Mr. Lissniak has taught American Business Law, Banking Law, Negotiations and other courses in the Institute of International Law of the Russian Ministry of Justice, MGIMO, Higher School of Economics, University of San Diego (California), the American Institute of Business and Economics (AIBEC), Immanuel Kant Baltic State University. He was chief editor of the Russian edition of “The Banking Law” by prof. Gavalda and prof. Stoufflet (France).

Valeriia Natsvina (Esq.) is an attorney admitted to practice law in Pennsylvania. She holds an LL.M. from Temple University Beasley School of Law and a dual M.J./LL.M. degree from Pericles Law Center and Widener University Delaware School of Law. She received her initial legal education in Russia at Ural State Law University and the Russian School of Private Law. She passed the New York Bar Exam in 2025 and was subsequently admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar. Before coming to the U.S., Valeriia worked for over a decade as in-house counsel in Russia, providing comprehensive legal support to manufacturing companies. She currently works at the Philadelphia-based immigration law firm Palladino, Isbell & Casazza, LLC, where she handles a wide range of immigration matters. Professor Natsvina brings to the classroom a practical, international perspective on the legal profession. Her background allows her to help students better understand the ethical, professional, and cross-cultural aspects of modern legal practice.

Moritz Näf is the founding partner of the Swiss law firm Apex Legal. His fields of expertise include contract and corporate law as well as commercial dispute resolution. Moritz’s clients are predominantly Swiss and foreign corporations and entrepreneurs as well as wealthy individuals. Moritz acquired his law degree at the University of Basel, Switzerland, in 1999 and holds an LL.M. in European Law from the University of Lund, Sweden (2002). He was admitted to the Swiss bar in 2001 and is entitled to represent clients before all Swiss courts and administrative bodies. Before founding Apex Legal in 2024, he worked for several leading law firms in Zurich as well as the largest Swiss Bank UBS AG. Moritz is a native German speaker and is fluent in English, French, Swedish and Norwegian. In addition, he has a solid command of Russian. In his free time, he enjoys alpine skiing, travelling, photography as well as spending time with his children.

Evgeny Roshkov is the Managing Partner at Kesarev, where he has worked since 2004. He has more than 25 years of experience in public affairs. Evgeny’s primary responsibilities include providing strategic advice to clients on public affairs, public policy, and a broad range of industry-specific issues.
He has extensive project experience across Russia and the CIS, including advising global technology companies on risk mitigation and regulatory engagement. Evgeny is a member of the International Bar Association (IBA), the International Compliance Association (ICA), the Society of European Affairs Professionals (SEAP), and the Issues Management Council.
He currently advises more than 30 companies primarily multinational investors on obtaining government approvals related to business restructuring in Russia.

Holger Zscheyge works as an executive in legal and tax publishing in Russia since 1996. First for the local subsidiaries of C.H. Beck (German legal publisher) and Wolters Kluwer (global provider of professional information, software solutions, and services), since 2009 for his own publishing company Infotropic Media.
In 2015, he started to branch out into legal technology as a speaker, event organizer, expert and mentor. Holger is the organizer of Moscow Legal Tech (first legal tech conference in Russia), Legal AI (first conference on AI in the legal domain in Russia), co-organizer of several ELTACons (annual conference of ELTA) and FutureLaw (legal innovation conference in the Baltics) and a frequent speaker on legal tech and innovation at conferences in Germany, UK, Spain, France, Israel, Turkey, Romania, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. In 2017, he co-founded Moscow Legal Hackers and joined the European Legal Technology Association (ELTA), where he currently serves as member of the board.
Holger works as a mentor for legaltech startups for the Founder Institute and serves as advisor to several legaltech companies.