Kazakhstan & Russia · Expert witness · Litigation consulting
The law of Kazakhstan and Russia, proved to a U.S. court.
Expert declarations, reports and testimony on questions of Kazakh and Russian law under FRCP 44.1 and its state analogues. Litigation consulting to U.S. counsel on CIS corporate, financial and cross-border matters.
Kazakh-qualified, honors. Twenty years of Kazakh practice. Practice before the Supreme Arbitrazh Court of the Russian Federation — the state commercial court, not an arbitral tribunal — including a won case on execution of a disputed Russian arbitral award. The file gets read in the language it was written in — not in a translation vendor's output.
Al Stam
San Diego · CA
01Matters
Where a Kazakh or Russian law question actually arises.
Immigration & asylum
For immigration counsel
Written declaration
Typically 10 business days
Written declaration
Typically 10 business days
Where the claim turns on whether the legal system itself is the instrument of persecution rather than a source of protection — a legal question, not a political science one.
- Politically motivated criminal prosecution; use of criminal process against commercial opponents
- Interpol Red Notice practice and extradition exposure
- Whether the Kazakh or Russian judiciary can supply a remedy — state protection and internal relocation
- Criminal procedure and pre-trial detention practice; law on the books against law as applied
- Authenticity and meaning of Kazakh and Russian court documents, summonses, police records and civil registry entries submitted as evidence
Probate, trust & family with CIS assets
For probate, trust and family counsel
Written opinion
Defined scope
Written opinion
Defined scope
Recurring questions where U.S. counsel has no reliable local source, and a mistranslated notarial act can decide the matter.
- Validity and effect of a Kazakh or Russian marriage, divorce, or civil registry record
- Forced heirship and compulsory-share rules under Kazakh and Russian succession law
- Whether a Russian power of attorney or notarial act is effective; apostille and legalization chain
- Ownership and transferability of CIS real property or an LLC participation interest in a decedent's estate
- Characterization of foreign-titled assets in a California dissolution
Commercial, arbitration, sanctions & asset recovery
For litigation and arbitration counsel
Declaration, report, testimony
Or consulting engagement
Declaration, report, testimony
Or consulting engagement
Substantive Kazakh and Russian commercial law, and the offshore architecture that CIS ownership generally runs through.
- Kazakh and Russian corporate, contract, tax, banking and antimonopoly law
- Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) structures and its common-law carve-out
- Enforcement and recognition of Russian judgments and arbitral awards; the arbitrazh (state commercial) courts and how they differ from arbitration; service of process; res judicata under Russian law
- Beneficial ownership tracing through Cyprus, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Cayman, BVI, Marshall Islands, Belize, UK and Hong Kong vehicles
- OFAC sanctions and CIS counterparty exposure; screening ownership chains for designated persons
- Cross-border asset-recovery mapping across Kazakhstan and Russia
02Mode one
Expert witness on foreign law.
Under FRCP 44.1 and California's equivalent, a question of foreign law is one of law for the court, decided on any relevant material or source — including expert declarations, reports and testimony, whether or not otherwise admissible. Qualification runs through FRE 702: knowledge and experience, not domestic bar admission.
The qualification is on the record: Kazakh law degree with honors from the national law academy, two decades writing Kazakh legal opinions in practice, and a litigation record before the Supreme Arbitrazh Court of the Russian Federation, the state commercial court of last instance for disputes between legal entities.
Retained for
- Written declarations and expert reports on Kazakh or Russian substantive law — civil, corporate, tax, banking, criminal and procedural
- Country-conditions and legal-system declarations in immigration proceedings
- Deposition and trial testimony, including federal-court and immigration-court appearances
- Rebuttal reports where an opposing expert has overreached or mis-stated the source
- Statutory text, court decisions and administrative practice translated and explained — with the reasoning made usable by a U.S. tribunal
- Choice-of-law and enforceability opinions in cross-border commercial disputes
Prior expert testimony: none to date. Twenty years of substantive practice and opinion work in the relevant jurisdictions; references from U.S. and CIS counsel available on request. Available for first-chair expert designation.
03Mode two
Litigation consultant to counsel of record.
When a U.S. matter turns on documents, entities or transactions from the CIS, the record sits behind both a language barrier and a legal-system barrier. Working as consultant to counsel of record — under your supervision, on matters where you are the attorney — I read the file in the original and give you what the case needs.
No California license is required for this work, any more than one is required to retain a forensic accountant. The structural rule is simple: the attorney supervises; the consultant supports.
Typical assignments
- Reviewing Russian-language corporate records, board minutes and contracts — surfacing what a translation vendor missed
- Beneficial-ownership tracing through offshore holding structures
- Sanctions and OFAC exposure analysis on CIS counterparties
- Asset-recovery mapping across Kazakhstan and Russia
- Legal due diligence on CIS assets — oil & gas, mining, retail, e-commerce, cement, logistics, pharmaceuticals
- KYC and AML review of prior corporate housekeeping and transaction flows
- Transaction reconstruction and deal-structure analysis for M&A, transfer-pricing and profit-repatriation disputes
- Deposition and cross-examination preparation on foreign-law issues
This is consulting to attorneys on matters within their representation. It is not the practice of California law and is not held out as such.
04The record
Twenty years across the systems that come up.
Legal education
Kazakh State Law Academy
Diploma with honors, Qualified Lawyer (equivalent to LL.B.) — Kazakhstan's national law academy, now M. Narikbayev KAZGUU University. Doctoral programme in law, 2001–2004 (not completed)
Graduate degree
UCLA School of Law
LL.M., Business Law & Securities Regulation
Graduate degree
University of East Anglia
LL.M., International Commercial Law
Litigation record
Supreme Arbitrazh Court of the Russian Federation
The Russian state commercial court of last instance for disputes between legal entities — distinct from the Supreme Court, and merged into it in 2014. Won the lead case in a group of some thirty related matters on execution of a disputed Russian commercial arbitral award; aggregate value approximately US$5M
Transactional practice
Foreign law firms · Private equity
International M&A, corporate tax, transfer pricing, offshore structuring for CIS profit repatriation; legal due diligence across oil & gas, mining, retail, logistics
In-house / banking
Kazkommertsbank
International syndicated loans (English law, LMA); securitization (New York law); ISDA agreements; structured finance; trade finance, SWIFT and international transfers; FX and Kazakh customs regulation
Advisory & compliance
KPMG
Risk, advisory, audit and compliance — Kazakhstan engagements on corporate, financial and regulatory files
California credential
Licensed Professional Fiduciary
CLPF #1601. California Bar Examination sat July 2026; results pending
Working languages
English · Russian
Source-language review of Russian-language legal materials, corporate records and court filings
Jurisdictional coverage — substantive and structural
Kazakhstan
Civil, corporate, tax, banking, antimonopoly, customs, criminal procedure; corporate disputes, M&A, privatization; environment, construction, PPP and infrastructure; e-commerce, logistics, pharmaceuticals; AIFC structures
Russia
Commercial, civil and procedural — through Supreme Arbitrazh Court practice; the arbitrazh court system and recognition of Russian judgments and awards
Cyprus · NL · LU
EU holding structures for CIS beneficial owners
Cayman · BVI
Offshore SPV and fund vehicles
Marshall Is. · Belize
Offshore administrative structures
UK · Hong Kong
Intermediate holding and trade-facing entities
05Engagement
How the work is scoped and billed.
Scope call
Thirty minutes, no charge. Conflicts cleared before any document is reviewed.
Retention
By written engagement letter with counsel or the party. Expert engagements are retained by counsel; no attorney–client relationship is created, and I do not render U.S. legal advice.
Basis of billing
Hourly for consulting, research and report drafting. Flat fee available for defined-scope written opinions and immigration declarations. Separate rate for deposition and trial testimony, with a half-day minimum.
Retainer
Replenishing retainer on commercial matters. Flat-fee matters are billed half on engagement, half on delivery.
Turnaround
A written declaration typically runs ten business days from receipt of materials. Expedited work is available at a surcharge; tell me the deadline on the first call.
Fee schedule
Provided with the engagement proposal following conflict clearance.
06Contact
Send the caption, the question, and the deadline.
If you are working against a Rule 26(a)(2) date or a merits hearing, say so in the first line — scheduling is usually the constraint, not scope.
Direct
Email
CV
LinkedIn
Based
San Diego, California
Appears
Federal and state courts nationwide; remote and in-person testimony
Conflicts & scope inquiry
Sent directly to me. Reply within one business day. Nothing you send here creates an engagement, and conflicts are cleared before any material is reviewed.
Inquiry Received
Thank you. I will review and respond within one business day. If your deadline is inside a week, call (858) 331-9080 directly rather than waiting on email.