April 8-9, 2010 – EPAM, the official sponsor of the Legal Forum organized by Vedomosti in Moscow, received The Corporate Lawyer Award for Contribution to Legislation. The winners of the Award were announced on the first day of the event.

The Legal Forum, organized by Vedomosti for the past six years, brought together representatives of government authorities, leading Russian and international law firms, heads of corporate legal departments and business media.

The event was opened by Dimitry Afanasiev, member of the Partners’ Committee of EPAM, who also acted as a moderator for the Key Legal Problems in Legal Support of Business session. The guest of honor at the first session was Anton Alexadrovich Ivanov, Chairman of the Supreme Arbitrazh Court of the Russian Federation, who talked about how the Russian judiciary system is adapting to the economic crisis in Russia.

Guests of event included key representatives of government authorities and Russian businesses, such as: Vladimir Gruzdev, first deputy chairman of the Committee for Civil, Criminal, Arbitration and Procedural Legislation of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Coordinator of the Russian political party United Russia for liaison with business community; Leonod Melamed, President of AFK Sistema; Kirill Komarov, executive director of Atomenergoprom; Igor Kosarev, vice-president of Russian Standard Corporation; and Sergey Pepeliaev, managing partner of Pepeliaev Group.

Dmitry Stepanov, a partner at EPAM, acted as an organizer and a moderator for the discussion titled Corporate Law – Return to the Russian Legal Framework, which focused on the most recent trends in selecting jurisdiction when providing legal support for Russian businesses.

The agenda for the first day of the event included the Entry of Russian Business into the CIS Market: a View of a Practicing Lawyer session, which was organized by representatives of six leading CIS law firms who are members of the CIS Leading Counsel Network. This is a professional network (established in 2009 by EPAM) that provides consultancy services in the CIS economic region.

Denis Arkhipov, a senior lawyer at EPAM, joined the event on the second day as a moderator for the session Can Dispute Resolution Process Be Optimized?

By tradition the first day of the event ended with The Corporate Lawyer official awards ceremony. Since 2007, the award from The Corporate Lawyer magazine has been given to law firms excelling in the services they provide and for the contribution they make towards solving significant social issues.

EPAM has received an award in the Contribution to Legislation category for its significant input into developing Russian legislation. The category assesses the expertise and support provided by law firms to government authorities in drafting new laws.