Foreign law · Cross-border litigation support
Foreign law, read in the original, put on the record.
Expert testimony on Kazakh and Russian law under FRCP 44.1 and its state analogues. Litigation consulting to U.S. counsel on the corporate, financial, and cross-border structures of the post-Soviet space.
KazGUU-trained. Kazakhstan-practiced. Russian Supreme Court–litigated. Working the file in the language it was written in.
Al Stam
San Diego · CA
01Mode 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. Qualification runs through FRE 702: knowledge and experience, not domestic bar admission.
The credentials the record needs are already there: KazGUU LL.B. with honors, sustained practice writing Kazakh legal opinions, and a litigation record before the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation.
Retained for
- Written declarations and expert reports on Kazakh or Russian substantive law — civil, corporate, tax, banking, procedural
- Deposition and trial testimony, including federal-court appearances
- Rebuttal reports where an opposing party's foreign-law expert has overreached or mis-stated the source
- Translation and interpretation of statutory text, court decisions, and administrative practice — with the reasoning made accessible to a U.S. tribunal
- Comfort opinions on choice-of-law and enforceability questions in cross-border commercial disputes
02Mode two
Litigation consultant to counsel of record.
When a U.S. matter turns on documents, entities, or transactions from the CIS, the record you need is often 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 service missed
- Beneficial-ownership tracing through Cyprus, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Cayman, BVI, Marshall Islands, Belize, Hong Kong, and UK holding structures
- Sanctions and OFAC exposure analysis on CIS counterparties; screening chains of ownership for designated persons and entities
- Asset-recovery mapping across Kazakhstan and Russia
- Legal due diligence on CIS assets — oil & gas, mining, retail, e-commerce, cement, logistics
- KYC/AML review of prior corporate housekeeping and transaction flows
- Interpretation of Kazakh or Russian statutory and regulatory positions in support of counsel's case theory
- Transaction reconstruction and deal-structure analysis for M&A, transfer-pricing, and profit-repatriation disputes
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.
03The record
Twenty years across the systems that come up.
Legal education
KazGUU University
LL.B., with honors — Kazakhstan's leading law faculty
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 Court of the Russian Federation
Commercial disputes; substantive and procedural appearances
Transactional practice
Foreign law firms · Private equity · Kazkommertsbank
International M&A, corporate tax, transfer pricing, offshore structuring for CIS profit repatriation
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 — separate practice; noted for completeness of background
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; corporate disputes, M&A, privatization; environment, construction, PPP and infrastructure; e-commerce, logistics, pharmaceuticals
Russia
Civil, commercial, procedural — through Supreme Court practice
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
04Engage
Send the case caption and the question.
Initial calls are complimentary. Engagements are by written retainer with counsel or the party. Conflicts are cleared before any document review begins.
Email
Based
San Diego, California
Practice areas
Federal & state courts nationwide; remote and in-person testimony