Rybalkin, Gortsunyan and Partners acted as gold sponsor of the conference, which was supported in total by eleven leading Russian and international law firms. Dmitry Dyakin, Deputy Chairman of the Commission on Arbitration, ICC Russia, and Partner and Head of Arbitration at RGP, opened the event with a welcome speech and moderated the first panel discussion. Dmitry Kaysin and Yan Kalish, both counsel at RGP, took part in the business programme as speakers.

Dmitry Kaysin gave a speech on practical aspects of cross-examination in online hearings as part of the session “Evolvement of virtual hearing as a new indispensable feature of international arbitration”. In his address, Dmitry touched upon the topic of control in the course of cross-examination of the opposing party’s witnesses, and spoke about methods of interpreting the oral testimony of witnesses and methods of presentation of electronic and paper-based case materials. Yan Kalish took part in a moot trial which successfully completed the business programme of the conference.

The conference participants were welcomed by Tatiana Monaghan, ICC Russia Secretary General, and Mikhail Galperin, Representative of the Russian Federation at the European Court of Human Rights and Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation. Special guests and speakers included Alexander Fessas, Secretary General of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and Director of the ICC Dispute Resolution Services; Nina Vilkova, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Law, Professor of the Department of International Private Law of the All-Russian Academy of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, Member of Presidium of the ICAC at the RF CCI, member of CIArb, and Interim Chair of the ICC Russia Arbitration Commission; Wendy Miles QC, Co-Chair of the ICC Arbitration Commission Task Force on “Resolving Climate Change Disputes through Arbitration and ADR” and Vice President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration; and Alexis Mourre, President of the ICC International Court of Arbitration.

The ICC arbitration conference in Moscow is an annual event held with the active support of the ICC International Court of Arbitration and aimed at promoting development of international commercial arbitration in Russia and the CIS countries, popularizing Russia as a place for dispute resolution, and promoting Russian arbitrators at the national and international levels. ICC Russia invites representatives of the Russian Ministry of Justice and leading experts of Russian and international legal community to speak at the conference. RGP’s arbitration team led by Dmitry Dyakin traditionally takes an active part in shaping the business program of the event.