Jon Hines has been practicing in Moscow for over 20 years, most recently as a partner at the Morgan Lewis firm -- representing US, European, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Russian private and state-owned companies in large project development, joint venture, and M&A related transactions in Russia and other former Soviet republics. Jon focuses primarily on large-scale oil and gas projects, including liquefied natural gas (LNG) deals, mining and metals, and other industrial ventures. Since the onset of economic sanctions against Russia in 2014, Jon has been providing his clients with strategic advice in this area also. He has become a noted expert in the field, having written numerous articles on the subject, and spoken on sanctions at high level meetings and international conferences. He also serves on the Presidium of the International Commercial Arbitration Court at the RF Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Jon is a member of the New York Bar and a graduate of the University of Virginia Law School, and Princeton University School of Public & International Affairs and Russian Studies. He also was a one-year exchange scholar in civil law at Moscow State University. Jon is teaching Pericles’ Economic Sanctions course in fall 2021.

Eric Johnson is a veteran digital rights activist Eric Johnson has architected or managed projects supporting independent media and networks, uncensored internet access, pro-cyberliberty internet policy, and progressive national ICT regulatory frameworks on all continents—throughout the post-socialist space, the Balkans, Palestine, Nigeria, Zambia, Ethiopia, Syria, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, Nicaragua, and many others. He has taught cybersecurity workshops to hundreds of activists, journalists, and lawyers in over a dozen countries. He also works on developing and deploying online privacy-enhancing/security-preserving technologies, e.g. Tor, Ricochet, Lantern, GlobaLeaks, and CertainTLS. An American born in Africa, he has lived/worked in Australia, China, France, Russia, and Singapore. He studied at Grinnell College, Georgetown University, the Pushkin Institute, and the University of New South Wales / ADFA.

Jennifer Josefson is a member of King & Spalding's Global Transactions Practice Group. She specializes in Russian and international transactions in the energy and natural resources sector, regularly advising clients on M&A and joint venture arrangements, joint operating agreements (JOAs), concessions, PSAs, farm-ins, supply and service agreements and international arbitration in the subsoil and energy sectors. She is ranked as one of the top energy and natural resource lawyers in Russia by Chambers Global, PLC Which Lawyer, and the Who's Who of International Oil and Gas Lawyers. Ms. Josefson is a Vice President of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN) and was the founding regional director of AIPN's CIS Chapter, from 2005 to 2008.

Soroush Kafiabadi graduated with an LL.B. from King's College London and LL.M. from University of London. He has since been practicing in a mediation-arbitration capacity at the Financial Ombudsman Service based in London, UK. The Financial Ombudsman Service is an entity established by parliament to mediate financial disputes between financial institutions and their clients. Mr. Kafiabadi's work involves seeking resolution to all financial disputes (from banking, investment and insurance sectors) without recourse to formal legal proceeding before the courts. In his spare time Mr. Kafiabadi coaches UK law students in international law and mooting skills for the Jessup, and has come to Russia several times to judge the Russian regional Jessup competition. Mr. Kafiabadi will be coming again to Russia in November 2011 to teach a short course in Mediation Skills at Pericles.

Demos Katsis is a Corporate Counsel, Partner and Managing Director of KATSIS LLC, Law Firm based in Cyprus. He was a partner at Christodoulos G. Vassiliades & Co. before establishing in Limassol the innovative law firm KATSIS LLC, consisted of experienced Greek and Russian persons. He specialises in contractual drafting and consulting on corporate and tax strategies. His main areas of practice are contractual and company matters, construction, trusts and estate planning, tax, and intellectual property matters. He holds an LLB degree from the University of Bristol, an LLM degree from the University of Bristol, a Diploma in Professional Legal Skills from City University and MA from the University of Malta. He was admitted to the Cyprus Bar in 2003 and is a member of the Cyprus Bar Association. He is the author of several articles and a regular speaker in tax conferences, intellectual property conferences and immovable property conferences organised by various organisations. Mr Katsis was assistant National Rapporteur for Cyprus for the EU Project on Unfair Commercial Practices in the new Member States for the year 2005-2006 undertaken by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and he was also assistant National Rapporteur for Cyprus for the EU Project on Legalization of Public Documents undertaken by the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. He is a visiting professor at Pericles, engaged to teach Anglo Saxon and International Trust law, and also an occassional guest seminar presenter on issues related to offshore and Cyprus business planning.

Steffen Kaufmann is a corporate partner at DLA Piper's Moscow office and has been working in the Russian legal market for over 20 years. Steffen studied in Freie Universität Berlin, University of Cape Town and BPP Law School in London. He is a German-qualified lawyer (Rechtsanwalt) and a solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Steffen has extensive experience advising international and Russian clients on a wide range of M&A transactions, including acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures and group reorganisations. Steffen is recommended for corporate and real estate by the Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 guides. His client portfolio includes companies from various industry sectors including manufacturing, natural resources, banks, retail, transportation, pharmaceutics as well as real estate developers and investors. Steffen speaks German, English and Russian.

Michael Kosnitzky is a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, in charge of its Tax and Middle Market Practice Group. He is listed in Chambers USA as a leader in the field of tax law, in the publication the Best Lawyers in America in Tax Law and in the Florida and New York-Metro editions of Super Lawyers in Tax. Mr. Kosnitzky's practice includes representation of both domestic and foreign high net worth individuals and companies. He has represented many international clients in both taxable and tax-free mergers and acquisitions, business combinations, equity and debt financing, corporate joint ventures and other strategic alliances. He is not only a lawyer but a former practicing certified public accountant with a national accounting firm. He is currently the Chair of the American Bar Association's National Conference of Lawyers and CPA's. Mr. Kosnitzky has authored numerous articles in U.S. tax journals. He has been a member of the Adjunct Tax Faculty at the University of Miami School of Law Graduate Tax Program, and is a frequent lecturer for the University of Miami, the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and numerous other organizations.

Amy Kouznetsova graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 2006 and is a member of the New York State Bar Association. She completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Mississippi in 1995 and worked as a court reporter in North Carolina, Florida and Washington DC before entering law school. She has experience in litigation and corporate transactions. Currently, she is the business director of Sputnik Gallery and serves as Counsel for the Russian Chapter of Democrats Abroad. Amy taught Legal English and Legal Writing at Pericles when she first moved to Moscow and is enthusiastic about her return to the Center to teach Introduction to American Law.

Professor Eugene (Gene) Lipkowitz, is Of Counsel at Stevens & Lee’s New York office. (Stevens & Lee is a large Pennsylvania based law firm.) Gene consults on antitrust laws concerning exclusionary behavior, mergers and acquisitions and other horizontal activity, trade association conduct, price discrimination, creation and termination of distributorship and other vertical agreements and predatory pricing. Prior to joining Stevens & Lee, Gene worked as in-house antitrust counsel to Du Pont and Western Union, was a trial lawyer with the Special Trial Section of the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Justice Department, and was employed by the Federal Trade Commission where he focused on the competitive aspects of horizontal and vertical combinations in the health care industry. He also taught economics for several years at Baruch College of Business at the City University of New York. Gene graduated from Harvard Law School and holds a M.Phil in Economics from Columbia University.

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).

Tanya Livshits is the Research Manager for Southern California and Mexico at Holland and Knight LLP. She earned a B.A. in Political Science and Russian Studies from the University of California Los Angeles, a J.D. from the University of San Diego School of Law and an MLIS with a specialty in Law Librarianship from the University of Washington School of Information. Prior to Holland and Knight, Tanya was the Director of Research and Information Services at Irell & Manella LLP, an intellectual litigation powerhouse based in Los Angeles, CA. Tanya has an expertise in all aspects of legal research. She regularly runs educational programs for the attorneys at her firm. She has also presented on various topics in the field of legal information and research at the Annual Association of Law Libraries conferences, including a ground breaking study on the efficacy of legal analytics tools. Prior to joining the law firm world, Tanya worked at the San Diego Public Law Library, University of Washington's Gallagher Law Library and the United Nations Dag Hammarskjold Library. Before obtaining her MLIS, Tanya practiced law in San Diego, CA with a focus on land use.