Russia honours the top ‘digital’ lawyers

On December 3, as part of the Runet Prize, lawyers and advocates were honoured for their substantial contributions to the development of digital and information law in Russia.

In the category ‘For contribution to the development and formation of the image of cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation’, Mikhail Uspensky, a partner at Taxology, won.

In 2017-2018 he was the legal adviser to the first ICO under Russian law and, in court, prevented the project’s site from being blocked. In 2019 he advised on the first Bitcoin contribution to the charter capital of a Russian company, which was registered with the Federal Tax Service of Russia.

Together with RACIB and the Moscow branch of the Russian Lawyers Association, Mikhail Uspensky developed a cross-rate for Bitcoin against the Russian ruble, and also co-authored methodological guidance on how appraisers should determine the market value of cryptocurrencies within the ‘Expert Council’.

The award ‘For contribution to the development of judicial and enforcement practice’ went to Yuri Brisov, director of the company ‘Legal and Financial Creative Solutions’, and Alexander Zhuravlev, managing partner of the law firm ‘Efficient Business Resources’.

They developed and implemented the first deal using a blockchain token as bank loan collateral. By the assessment of experts, the deal created a precedent in the DeFi sector for Russia, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The award ‘For contribution to legal science’ was given to Roman Yankovsky, associate professor at the Faculty of Law of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. He is the author of scientific research and articles dealing with issues of applying new information technologies, regulation of smart contracts, tokens and cryptocurrencies, the legal aspects of software protection, and the peculiarities of entrepreneurial activity on the Internet.

The award in the ‘For public activity’ category went to Maria Shklyaruk, CEO of the Center for Advanced Management Solutions, under whose leadership a methodology for assessing an organization’s digital maturity was developed.

‘Leader of digital transformation’ was Anna Serebryannikova, president of the Big Data Association and a member of the Board of Directors of MegaFon. In 2020 the Association implemented a strategy to develop the big data market through 2024, introduced a Data Ethics Code and created a data sandbox.

The role of lawyers in the long-term construction of the digital economy ecosystem was highlighted by Sergei Plogotarenko, director of the Russian Association of Electronic Communications:

“Analysis and drafting of IT-related bills, shaping enforcement practice, aligning business processes with legal norms – no less important tasks than writing code or refining an IT product”, he said.

The ‘Digital Lawyer of the Year’ award was established in 2019 by the Moscow branch of the Association of Lawyers of Russia in conjunction with the Russian Association of Electronic Communications and Moscow Digital School.

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