Pericles ABLE Project - American Business & Legal Education in Moscow

Bochnev, Valery

Valery Bochnev is a native of Russia who moved to the US about 20 years ago. He received his Bachelors, with honors, in economics from NYU and for his law degree he attended Rutgers University and Brooklyn Law School. He is a member of the New York Bar. He has worked in employee benefits administration for the Bank of America in San Francisco and has spent several years with law firms and in private practice in New York, dealing with contracts, real estate, immigration, insurance law and litigation. In 2006 he moved to Moscow as in-house counsel to an international film company representing the interests of Walt Disney, Columbia Pictures, Sony Entertainment and others. Valery also has experience teaching English in New York schools with the Kaplan company and freelancing in Moscow. Valery taught Legal English and Business Organizations at Pericles until leaving Moscow in 2010.

Bodley, Anne

Anne Bodley is a dual Australian/US citizen who moved to Moscow in October 2007 to work as a lawyer with Clifford Chance in the banking and finance group until January 2009. Before that she spent three years as a Legal Officer with the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and for the Former Yugoslavia. She also worked as an associate at Allen & Overy in London, and at Mayer, Brown & Platt in New York. Before law school Anne worked in Russia for two years as a Project Officer for the US Agency for International Development. She received her law degree from New York University in 1999 and is a member of the New York Bar. Anne is also the director of The Global Challenge, an international lawyers' initiative to reduce poverty in the world's 50 least developed countries. Anne assistant taught in the legal writing program at Pericles in Fall semester 2008. Now she is in New York continuing to do the pro-bono work she loves so much.

Dersch, Jurgen P.

Jurgen Dersch has been practicing law in the U.S. state of Georgia since 1999, with a specialty in contracts and real estate transactions. He also has a broad general practice experience in the areas of criminal law, litigation, bankruptcy, family law and corporate law. He holds a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Georgia and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School in Atlanta. Coming to Moscow in late 2004 to accompany his Russian wife, Jurgen worked for a few years as the English language editor for DLA Piper Rudnick and now he is a lawyer with the Russian consulting firm AGA Management. He taught Legal English for Pericles for some time.

Feldman, Jack

Jack Feldman graduated with a B. A. from the University of Michigan, received his J. D. from the Boston University School of Law, and his Master of Arts in Teaching from the Johns Hopkins University. He has been admitted to the Bar in Maryland, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia. After a brief diplomatic career in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1978-81, he practiced law for the next 19 years in Washington, D.C., with the firm of Feldman, Krieger, Sheehan, Goldman & Tish and its successors, focusing on immigration and general litigation matters and successfully defending numerous asylum and criminal cases. He has represented corporate clients and individuals from Canada, France, the U.K., Mexico, Spain, Brazil, and elsewhere. He taught French, English, and Spanish in the International Baccalaureate program for seven years, moved to Moscow in 2006 and taught at the Anglo-American school as well as teaching Legal English at Pericles. In 2008 he moved to St. Petersburg where he still teaches with the Anglo-American school.

Feldman, Steve

Steve Feldman was born and raised in Connecticut. Mr. Feldman graduated from the University of Connecticut with a degree in Economics and subsequently earned his MBA in Marketing from Columbia’s Graduate School of Business. He has broad managerial experience in emerging-market real estate and market development. Beginning in 1992 and lasting almost a decade, Mr. Feldman lived and worked in Moscow. He rose from Director of Marketing to Board Member and Equity Partner in Rosinka ZAO (www.rosinka.ru), the single most successful expatriate residential townhouse community in Moscow. With more than 1400 residents, this international community has individuals from 35 nations including seven consulates. He was also instrumental in bringing to fruition several schools (one with a major international school partner) within this community. During the Asian financial crisis of 1998 Mr. Feldman was a project manger for Soros Fund Management in Moscow. In 2004 and 2005 Mr. Feldman was an Adjunct Professor at the Pericles. Mr. Feldman has been a Roving Ambassador, interviewing candidates for the Columbia Business School for more than ten years and a member of the Columbia Business School Club of NYC since 1998. Mr. Feldman was a guest speaker at a Columbia Business School conference on Ethics in Emerging Markets in 2004.

Gill, Franklin

Franklin Gill is a retired professor in International Business Transactions and Securities Regulation from the University of New Mexico, where he has taught for the past 15 years. Prior to that he was Chief Corporate and Securities Counsel for Sun Oil Company and also worked as an associate with the New York law firm of Davis, Polk & Wardell. Professor Gill is the editor of a three volume treatise on American securities law. Besides his J.D. from Northwestern University in Chicago, Professor Gill also holds a B.A. degree from Colambia Univercity and an M.A degree in Russian studies from Columbia's prestigious Harriman Institute. Professor Gill taught Securities Regulation and Legal English at Pericles, and has since returned to the United States.

Hale, Tim

Tim Hale graduated with a B.S. degree in computer science from the University of North Texas. He then received his J.D. from Fordham University in New York. While attending law school, Professor Hale worked at Lexis Publishing, where he researched and wrote portions of the employment treatise. In 2000, he began practicing patent law at the New York law firm of Davidson, Davidson & Kappel. While there, Professor Hale researched, wrote, and prosecuted patents in the fields of computer programming, spectrometry, and medical devices. After leaving Davidson, Davidson & Kappel, he worked as a consultant in the former Soviet Union and at the New York branch of Sullivan & Cromwell. At Sullivan & Cromwell, Professor Hale performed due diligence for corporate reinsurance transactions, mergers, and acquisitions. He is a member of the New York State Bar and Federal Patent Bar. Professor Hale is also proficient in Russian and Spanish. He taught Legal Writing II at Pericles in the Spring semester of 2008, and has since returned to New York.

Hehir, Andrew

Andrew Hehir received his law degree from University College Dublin in 2003. Upon graduation Andrew worked in-house for an investment funds company for several years. In 2006, Andrew joined A&L Goodbody Solicitors where he specialized in investment funds law. In early 2008, Andrew moved to Moscow and took up a position with Baker & McKenzie's Moscow Office in the banking and finance division, where he worked until March of 2009. He has decided to exercise his desire to teach by joining Pericles full time. Andrew is a qualified Solicitor and a member of the New York State Bar; Andrew is also Fellow of the Institute of Arbitrators (London branch). He worked full time at Pericles for the 2009-10 academic year, teaching European Union Law, Introduction to English Law, Banking and Financial Law, and Legal English courses.

Klein, Daniel

Daniel Klein is a partner in the largest independent foreign-owned Russian-based law firm, Hellevig, Klein & Usov. He is also a Director at the Independent Directors Association, and co-owner of Avenir Accounting company & Avenir Recruitment, as well as acting Legal Editor for Passport Magazine. Professor Klein has also worked as an investment officer for an Austrian-based Siemen's owned adventure capital company that was going public and other corporate and legal roles in various companies and countries including New York's IP law firm, Pennie & Edmonds. He has a law degree from NYLS, an MBA from London Business School and a mechanical engineering degree from Washington Univeristy. Professor Klein also speaks, Russian, French, Spanish and Czech. He taught Securities Regulation and Business Organizations courses at Pericles. Professor Klein is frequently interviewed on Russia Today http://www.russiatoday.ru/guests/video/918 regarding his opinion of business opportunities in Russia.

Myers, David

David Myers graduated with B.S. degrees in Economics and Political Science from Iowa State University and a Juris Doctorate and Master's Degree in Economics from the University of Iowa. Professor Myers then joined the U.S. Department of Justice through its Honors Program where he specialized in antitrust law. After several years with the Justice Department, he accepted a position with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in Melbourne, Australia, where he assisted in the implementation of new antitrust legislation. Professor Myers then moved into the private sector, working first for an Australian firm and later for Fried Frank in Washington, DC. In 2006-2008 he worked as a diplomat at the US Embassy in Moscow, and in Spring 2008 he taught antitrust law at Pericles on an adjunct basis. Professor Myer's diplomatic career then took him back to the US, and in 2009 he moved to Ho Chi Min City for his next foreign posting.

Nielsen, Holly

Holly Nielsen is a partner in Baring Vostok Capital Partners. Formerly she was International Counsel with the Moscow office of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and co-head of the firm's Russian practice. Ms. Nielsen has more than 22 years of experience in corporate and corporate finance matters including twelve years managing and practicing law in the Moscow offices of Baker Botts (Houston), Milbank Tweed Headley & McCloy ( New York ) and Debevoise & Plimpton ( New York ). During 1995 – 1997, Ms. Nielsen was employed by Harvard University as a resident advisor to the Russian Securities Commission. In Spring 2010 we hear that Ms. Nielsen is moving back to the U.S. permanently.

O'Grady, Kristin

Kristin O'Grady was with the American Public Transportation Association, where she worked for over six years as counsel/lobbyist for this non-profit industry association representing the public transportation industry sector. Ms. O'Grady also has a long history in international affairs, dating back to her work with the US Department of Commerce and the US Trade Representative, where she focused on Canadian trade, subsidies, tariffs, dispute settlement, and natural resource management issues. In addition, she worked with the US Department of Energy on on-site inspection provisions in arms control agreements and other treaty interpretation matters. She has also been published in scholarly journals on several international topics. She holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of New Mexico School of Law. She taught Property Law and Legal Writing I at Pericles for two years. Currently she is living in South Korea where he husband is working with the US Department of Commerce.

Petruzzi, Frank

Frank Petruzzi practiced law in the states of Ohio and Pennsylvania from 1983 to 1994 and was chief of financial crimes investigation and head of the legal department for an Ohio State agency. Later as a sole practitioner, his practice focussed on tax and family law. In 1994 he moved to Russia with the Peace Corps. Since then, working in the cities of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod and Yekaterinburg Mr. Petruzzi has managed the establishment or reorganization of several complicated projects for clients including the U.S. Government and the UNDP. He holds a J.D. from the University of Akron, Ohio. Frank currently divides his time between Moscow and Odessa. At Pericles Mr. Petruzzi tought Introduction to American Law, Contract Law and Drafting and Secured Transactions until late 2007.

Pozhitkov, Andrey

In Spring 2010 Andrey co-taught the Securities Regulation course at Pericles with Ethan Heinz. When Andrey Pozhitkov taught for us he was a Russian law-qualified associate at Linklaters CIS specialising in structured finance and derivatives as well as equity and debt capital markets. Before joining Linklaters, Andrey worked as a senior legal counsel in the legal department of the Russian licensed banking subsidiary of an international bank. Prior to that he has worked in the Banking and Finance group of a US Law firm. Andrey graduated from the Law faculty of the Moscow State University (MGU im. M.V.Lomonosova) and read civil law. In the summer of 2010, after finishing teaching his course at Pericles. Andrey left Linklaters and joined Allen & Overy Moscow office.

Roazen, Matthew

Matt Roazen is a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in the Moscow office. He received his J.D. cum laude in 1993 from Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was an editor of the Temple Law Review and where he clerked for his third-year clinicals in the chambers of a United States District Judge in New Jersey. Prior to his law degree, Mr. Roazen earned a bachelor's and master's degree in Russian. After admission to the bar in 1993, and before joining the partnership at Akin Gump, Mr. Roazen was in private practice in the United States and Russia, worked with the Moscow offices of Salans, and Leboeuf Lamb Green & MacRae, served for five years as General Counsel of the SUN Group, and later became the Chief International Counsel of Alfabank. Mr. Roazen taught Contract Drafting and Mergers & Acquisitions at Pericles, but most recently he has decided to keep his evenings free for his family. He still occassionally guest lectures.

Rodriguez, Jackie

Jackie Rodriguez has taught Business English, Business Writing, and sections of the GMAT, GRE and TOEFL preparation courses at Pericles. Prior to moving to Moscow, Jackie was Director of Publications for Technomic, Inc., a consulting company based in Chicago, IL, USA. Jackie also worked as a senior editor at Restaurants and Institutions, a trade magazine covering the food industry. Jackie began her career at a Chicago newspaper, where she worked as a reporter, copy editor and as food and dining editor. She received her degree in Journalism and Political Science from Indiana University. Jackie left Moscow in 2008 to accompany her husband, an international correspondent, on his assignment in the Middle-East.