Sergei Vataev’s currently practices law as an advocate with the Almaty City Bar Association, being an independent contractor for Dechert. He focuses on litigation and arbitration, corporate law, and project finance.Mr. Vataev has substantial experience in dispute resolution. During the past 17 years, he has advised and represented a large number of major oil and gas companies and oil services companies in contractual and regulatory litigations and arbitrations. He advised foreign investors on expropriation issues in arbitration proceedings in investment disputes, and defended clients in commercial lawsuits, as well as in lawsuits brought by Kazakhstan regulatory authorities. Mr. Vataev also advises clients and has drafted documents for complex project finance transactions involving innovative use of payment and debt instruments. He participated in structuring financial transactions with elements of municipal financing and securitization and securitization restructuring. He was extensively involved in a major municipal transportation restructuring project with planned investments of more than $1 billion. He advised on insurance law and he was also involved in restructuring a major bank in Kazakhstan. Prior to working in law firms, Mr. Vataev held positions of legal counsel in a governmental agency and in the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, where he was a co-drafter of several laws. Mr. Vataev is the Chairman of the International Arbitration Court of the Republic of Kazakhstan and a listed arbitrator in International Arbitration Court “IUS”, Kazakhstan International Artbitrage and other institutions; he acted as an arbitrator in proceedings administered by the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce and ICC international Court of Arbitration.Specialties: Dispute Resolution (Litigation and Arbitration): commercial litigation and arbitration; tax and regulatory litigation; investment disputes; labor disputes.