Ukraine law day 2026

Professor Tetyana Antsupova is the lead researcher for the Project "The Dynamics of the Judiciary in Ukraine in the Context of the Rule of Law and the EU Accession Aspirations", and a former judge of the Supreme Court of Ukraine (Grand Chamber).

Professor Antsupova is a Senior Fellow at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law and awardee of the British Academy Global Professorships scheme. She is an experienced academic and legal professional with a strong background in European Human Rights Law and 17 years of University teaching experience in Ukraine and Poland. She is recognised as the author of learning courses for LL.M. students on the Council of Europe Law.

In 2022, Professor Tetyana Antsupova was on a national shortlist of candidates for the position of judge to the European Court of Human Rights in respect of Ukraine (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Communication | Doc. 15485 | 21 March 2022). As a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ukraine for over 5 years (2017-2023), she contributed as a coauthor to judge-training programs on legal writing. Her expertise spans Judiciary reforms in Ukraine, with a focus on promoting the judiciary's independence.

Professor Tetyana Antsupova is committed to upholding justice, safeguarding human rights, and contributing to meaningful improvements in the European legal domain.

Charlie Banner KC was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 2004 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2019. Since 2024 he has been a Working Peer in the House of Lords, in which capacity he sits as a legislator in the upper house of the UK Parliament. He also has significant judicial experience, having sat part-time as a Justice of the Astana International Finance Centre Court in Kazakhstan from 2019 until 2025 and thereafter in the Judicial Greffe in Jersey as an Appeals Inspector hearing planning-related cases.

He is recommended as a leading silk in a total of 8 practice areas by Chambers & Partners (Band 1 for planning) and Legal 500. His advocacy experience includes over 250 reported cases, including 19 appeals in the UK Supreme Court. He has appeared in 13 cases before the EU Courts.

Neil Barnett is CEO of Istok Associates Limited, a London-based intelligence and investigations consultancy focused on Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  

Previously, he was a journalist in the same regions for 13 years and wrote for The Telegraph, The Spectator and Janes Information Services. He covered the war in Iraq, the Ukrainian Orange Revolution, the eastern expansion of NATO and the EU in the 2000s and Balkan organised crime.  

He is an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and a regular writer on European security matters. 

Ivan is specialized in handling complex energy industry-oriented transactions and acquisition, as well as regulatory disputes and GR initiatives serving his clients as a partner in meeting their legal challenges, as well as a trusted resource for strategies that are built on his vast experience in business.

Over the last 10 years Ivan has advised the Clients from energy and utilities industry with over 1 GW development portfolio including key national and international stakeholders of energy industry such as SCATEC SOLAR, UDP RENEWABLES, DTEK, NEBRAS POWER, Elementum Energy and Veolia. 

Recent projects included acquisition of the 200-MW wind powerplant development by major international investor in Ukraine, development, construction and commissioning of one of the first 3 powerplants commissioned since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, advising major national utility on challenging significant anti-monopoly fine for alleged dominance abuse in the electricity market as well as handling complex regulatory litigation aimed on recovery of losses incurred by renewable energy industry due to the illegal regulation by national energy regulator in Ukraine. 

Ivan is well recognized legal expert acting for USAID projects as well being involved in expert group on preparation of Ukraine’s positions for the negotiations with the European Union on the conclusion of the Agreement on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union on energy matters.

In addition to that, being chairman of Energy law, Oil and Gas Committee for Ukrainian Bar Association as well Board Member for Ukrainian Wind Energy Association Ivan is involved in the vast majority of GR initiatives for development of energy markets in Ukraine.

Kirsty Brimelow KC

Kirsty Brimelow KC is Chair of the Bar 2026. Kirsty practises in criminal, international and public law from Doughty Street Chambers, where she is on the management board as head of the criminal law team. Kirsty was appointed Queen’s Counsel (now King’s Counsel) in 2011. Kirsty has the distinction of having led in both Civil and Criminal Courts of Appeal, the Supreme Court, the Privy Council, and the European Court of Human Rights. 

In 2021, Kirsty was appointed a deputy High Court judge in the King’s Bench Division and in 2022 appointed a Recorder. She is an accredited mediator and acts in conflict resolution. Kirsty worked in the Colombia peace process and negotiated an historic apology from the former President of Colombia to a community of farmers, for a massacre. 

Kirsty was a member of the Bar Council Public Affairs Committee and a Bar Council Young Spokesperson from 1998 to 2008. Kirsty was the first female Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee (2012 to 2018) and served as the Vice Chair and then Chair of the Criminal Bar Association (2021 to 2023). In 2022, she led negotiations with the government of an historic increase in fees for criminal barristers. 

Kirsty is a Bencher of Gray’s Inn and was elected to the management board (2020 to 2023). She is an experienced high-level trainer, facilitator, and conference speaker in international human rights around the world, holding consultancies to the United Nations and OSCE (the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe). She has driven law change including in sexual offences law in Denmark and FGM protection orders in England and Wales.  

In 2018 Kirsty won both the First 100 Years ‘Inspirational Woman in Law Barrister of the Year’ Award and Advocate’s pro bono ‘International Barrister of the Year’ Award. She twice has featured as The Times Lawyer of the week. Kirsty is a trustee and director of the leading global environmental charity WWF UK, visiting professor at Goldsmiths Faculty of Law (2019 to 2025), and founding member of the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk. Kirsty was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts for her service to human rights. 

Kateryna Busol is the Head of Ukraine Programme of the International Center for Transitional Justice and Professor of Law at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. As a practicing lawyer and scholar, Kateryna has worked on conflict-related sexual violence, crimes affecting cultural heritage, incitement to genocide, reparations and Ukraine's transitional justice process.

She has worked with UN Women, Global Rights Compliance, and Truth Hounds and has advised Ukrainian prosecutors and judges on armed conflict-related proceedings. Kateryna was a fellow at Chatham House and a visiting professional at the International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor.

Andrew Cayley CMG KC has served as Trial Counsel, Senior Trial Counsel and Principal Trial Counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court. He was Chief International Co-Prosecutor of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia (2009–2013). He later served as the United Kingdom’s Director of Service Prosecutions—the Chief Military Prosecutor—from 2013 to 2020, and as His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service from 2021 to 2024.

Appointed King’s Counsel in 2012, he was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 2014 by Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for services to human rights and international criminal law. He has advised on, prosecuted and defended cases involving genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes across multiple jurisdictions, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Uganda, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Ukraine and Syria, with experience spanning international tribunals and domestic prosecutorial systems.

He speaks widely on international criminal law, public international law, international humanitarian law and human rights, with a particular focus on the investigation and prosecution of war crimes in both international and national jurisdictions, including the practical challenges of accountability in ongoing conflicts. His lectures include the Annual Roscoe Lecture, Liverpool (2018), “Prosecuting Genocide: The Crime of Crimes,” and the Bruce Klatsky Endowed Distinguished Lecture at Case Western Reserve University (2024), where he was also awarded the Frederick K. Cox International Law Centre Humanitarian Award for his lifetime contribution to global justice.

Rt. Hon. Alex Chalk KC is an English-qualified senior trial lawyer and former Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. He advises on complex, cross-border disputes and appears as lead advocate in high-value arbitrations in multiple jurisdictions. After a successful career at the Bar, Alex served as a Member of Parliament for nearly a decade. In addition to sitting in Cabinet as Lord Chancellor, Alex held the posts of Minister of State for Defence Procurement and His Majesty's (HM) Solicitor General for England and Wales.

Before entering public life, Alex had a successful and diverse career at the Bar, where he advised and defended corporate clients in proceedings arising from criminal investigations and acted for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), among others. Alex has privately prosecuted a matter involving the criminal misappropriation of online metadata, acted on behalf of company directors accused of offences under the Insolvency Act 1986, and recently finished prosecuting one of the United Kingdom's highest-profile criminal trials of 2024.

In government, Alex was involved in the promotion of the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, which introduced the "failure to prevent fraud" offence, with a direct impact on companies' compliance programs for the prevention of fraud by associated persons, and reformed the United Kingdom's test for attributing criminal liability to corporates for economic crimes. As HM Solicitor General, Alex superintended the Law Officers' Departments, including the Crown Prosecution Service and SFO, as well as the Government Legal Department.

Olexander Droug is a partner at Sayenko Kharenko, heading the firm’s arbitration and cross-border litigation practice. He has significant experience in both commercial and investment treaty arbitration, as well as complex cross-border court proceedings, in various sectors. Olexander is an ICC Court Member for Ukraine and a board member of the Ukrainian Arbitration Association.

Eduard Fesko has served in the diplomatic service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government of Ukraine for over 20 years.

Since 2022, he has been the Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, London, and has also served as Chargé d’affaires for a period in 2023-2024. Previous appointments have included: Deputy Director General at the Political Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv; Counsellor and Political Coordinator at the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the United Nations in New York; First Secretary and Head of the OSCE Section of the Department of International Organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Second and Third Secretary at the Embassy of Ukraine in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Amman.

He holds an MA in International Policy Studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California. 

David Josse KC is a vice-chair of the Bar Council International Committee and Head of 5SAH Chambers. His practice encompasses domestic and international Criminal work as well as Extradition Law. He spent 5 years in The Hague defending in two lengthy trials at the ICTY.

Chairwoman of the Ukrainian Women Lawyers Association “JurFem”, co-chair of the sub-pillar group “Access to Justice and responsibility” Inter-Agency Working Group on Combating Sexual Violence Related to Russia’s Armed Aggression against Ukraine and Assistance to the Survivors (IWG). Khrystyna is a lawyer, attorney at law and Ph.D. in law.

For more than fifteen years, Khrystyna has been working in the field of women’s rights advocacy. In 2017, she was one of the initiators and co-founder of the Ukrainian Lawyers Women Association “JurFem”. Khrystyna has experience analysing problems women face in accessing justice and protecting their rights, as well as the imperfections of legislation, its improper implementation, and gender-based discriminatory practices.

She is actively involved in developing and implementing legislation and policies; training social services, police, judges, and lawyers on violence against women and women’s rights; monitoring and research on various aspects of violence against women; human rights education; and publications development. Strategic litigation and training for attorneys at law, prosecutors, investigators, judges, and police. She focuses on the application of a survivor-centred approach to violence against women cases, using the European Convention, CEDAW, and European standards in court practice and investigations. Khrystyna strengthens the capacity of the legal community, in particular, attorneys at law, prosecutors, investigators, etc., to respond to sexual violence, including conflict-related sexual violence.

Markiyan Kliuchkovskyi has been the Executive Director of the Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine since his appointment on 1 July 2023.

He manages the Secretariat's operations, providing essential support for the Conference of Participants and the Board. His role includes liaising with national and international organisations, forwarding claims, and preparing the Register’s annual budget.

With over 20 years of expertise in international law and dispute resolution, Markiyan is recognised as a leading Ukrainian lawyer and holds degrees from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and an LL.M. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Maksym Kodunov is a Solicitor Advocate (England and Wales, Civil) and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, with over 15 years’ experience in high‑value, cross‑border disputes across the energy, infrastructure, and financial sectors.  He has acted for corporates and state entities in the High Court of England and Wales and LCIA, ICC, SCC, ICSID, and UNCITRAL arbitrations.

Maksym is currently a Senior Associate in the disputes practice of DWF in London.  His recent experience in energy disputes and advisory work includes thermal power plants, renewables, power transmission systems, oil and gas, often involving project finance.

From 2015 to 2020, Maksym served as Director of the International Disputes Department at the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, where he led the defence of multiple investment treaty claims and oversaw the conduct of foreign litigation involving Ukraine, including the successful defence of a USD 6 billion Energy Charter Treaty claim brought by minority shareholders of Ukrnafta in Stockholm arbitration.

Dr Ievgeniia Kopytsia is a legal scholar specialising in climate, energy, and environmental law, with a particular focus on Ukraine’s energy transition and post-war reconstruction. She is an Associate Professor at Yaroslav Mudryi National Law University and an MSCA4Ukraine Fellow at the University of Genoa. She was as well an Associate of Oxford Net Zero at the University of Oxford.

Her work sits at the intersection of energy security, international law, and climate governance, with extensive experience advising on Ukraine’s alignment with the EU energy acquis, the development of carbon markets, and regulatory frameworks for resilient energy systems.

She has contributed to international policy discussions at UNFCCC COPs and has published widely on climate law, environmental damage in armed conflict, and legal pathways for sustainable reconstruction.

Her current research explores the role of law in enabling secure, decentralised, and net-zero aligned energy systems, including legal instruments to de-risk investment and strengthen accountability in the rebuilding of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Oleh specialises in Dispute Resolution, Insolvency, Investment protection and Arbitration. Has extensive professional experience in bankruptcy and restructuring, intellectual property, and corporate law. Oleg has actively developed the practice of Damages compensation inflicted during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.

Oleh successfully handles numerous complex transactions and high-profile court disputes, in particular the dispute between UKRSIBBANK and AIS Corporation, as well as disputes involving Sky Mall, defending the interests of a Ukrainian businessman, and disputes aimed at putting the insolvent Ukrinbank PJSC out of the market. Oleg’s client portfolio includes: representing the interests of prominent clients such as Coca-Cola, Regal Petroleum, Ferrexpo, Okean BV, Azovmash, Concorde Capital, National Bank of Ukraine, Finance and Credit Bank, a famous footballer, ex-Mayor of Kyiv and others.

Oleh is a Senior Fellow at the Academy of Science of Ukraine (Institute of State and Law). Oleh is also a lecturer and member of the Advisory Board of Litigation School and Restructuring and Bankruptcy at Legal High School, and the Vice President and Head of Litigation Committee at the Ukrainian Advocates' Association.

Anna Melnychuk is Principal Counsel in the Office of the General Counsel at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, specialising in international financing transactions with a primary focus on project finance across EBRD countries of operations. Anna works extensively on renewables projects in Ukraine and Central and Eastern Europe more broadly. She is also providing legal support with respect to environmental and social policy matters at EBRD.

Tetyana is a barrister and arbitrator at Fountain Court Chambers specialising in public international law and international commercial arbitration and litigation.

Formerly a lecturer at Oxford University and a judicial assistant in the Supreme Court, she regularly acts in high profile, complex and sensitive cases, for and against governments and high net worth individuals. Tetyana is the author of the Confiscation of State Assets in Support of Ukraine Bill in the UK Parliament and the principal author of the White Paper on amendments to the Canadian Special Economic Measures Act enabling the transfer of Russian state assets.

Tetyana is consistently recognised by directories and other legal publications for her innovative work and was chosen as one of the Top 100 lawyers in the UK in 2024 by The Lawyer.

Lord Neuberger graduated with a degree in natural science from Oxford and worked at a merchant bank until he entered Lincoln's Inn and was called to the English Bar in 1974. He specialised in property law and was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1987 and became a Bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1993.  

From 1996 to 2004, he served as a Judge of the Chancery Division of the High Court. He was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in 2004 and a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary in 2007. He became Master of the Rolls in 2009, and in 2012 he was appointed President of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. He retired from that post in September 2017.  

He has since been practising as an arbitrator, mediator and legal expert from One Essex Court. He became a Non-Permanent Judge of the Court of Final Appeal in 2009 and a Judge of the Singapore International Commercial Court in 2018, and continues to sit in both courts.

In recent years, Tim’s public international law work has focused on investor-state arbitration, economic sanctions, and all aspects of state immunity. He has acted as Counsel in a number of multi-billion-dollar State arbitration claims relating to the energy and mining sectors, and accepts arbitral appointments. He also has particular and long-established expertise in state and diplomatic immunity, human rights, humanitarian law and constitutional law. 

Since 1996, Tim has appeared in more than 60 cases before the European Court of Human Rights and three cases before the US Supreme Court. He has particular experience of cases involving internal conflict and secession claims, having acted in cases concerning the Kurdish conflict in South East Turkey, the Chechen conflict in the Russian Federation, and the Russian incursion into South Ossetia. He is currently Lead Counsel for Ukraine in Ukraine v Russia, the ECHR inter-state proceedings relating to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In 2023, he won the Lawyer magazine’s Barrister of the Year award. 

On 26 February 2026, Tim was awarded the Presidential Order of Merit by President Zelensky of Ukraine for his leadership of Ukraine’s team in its interstate case against Russia relating to Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

Tim is speaking on the session Domestic and international civil law mechanisms for addressing war-related losses.

Dr Olena Perepelynska is Partner and Head of International Arbitration at Impacta Law, Kyiv, Ukraine. With over 20 years of experience, she has acted in over 240 arbitrations across CEE and Central Asia as an arbitrator, counsel, and legal expert. She served as a Member of the ICC Court (2018–2024) and TIAC Court (2019–2022). Olena is Liaison Officer of the IBA Arbitration Committee’s European Regional Forum, Chair of the ADR Committee of the Ukrainian National Bar Association, Board Member of UAA, TAA, and ArbCEE, Fellow of CIArb.

Olena is the moderator on the session Disputes in the Defence sector: legal and strategic components.

Victoria Prentis is currently part of a programme which trains Ukrainian lawyers both to prosecute and defend war crimes. She has close family ties to Ukraine. 

She has worked as a barrister for over 30 years, for most of which she was employed by the Government Legal Service, specialising in judicial review, security and the law of war. She served as MP for Banbury 2015 -2024 and was Attorney General in the Sunak administration. She now sits in the House of Lords. 

Professor Riley is a Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, Natolin. A member of the Advisory Committee of the Energy Community, Vienna, and a Senior Fellow. Atlantic Council, Washington DC. He specialises in antitrust, trade and energy law, and EU policy issues.

Professor Riley runs the EU Economic Security course at the College of Europe. He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of the Energy Community, which acts as its judicial panel, and has its seat in Vienna. It applies EU energy law under the ECT Treaty to Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and the non-EU Balkan states. He was the founding chair of the Competition Law Scholars Forum and is co-editor of the Competition Law Review. He is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Washington DC.

Professor Riley is currently serving as an EU energy security advisor to the Prime Minister of Moldova. In addition, he has advised several EU states and energy companies, as well as the European Union institutions, on EU energy law issues and related strategic questions. This has included advising on the legal and strategic options surrounding Nord Stream 2. Professor Riley has also been advising states and enterprises on economic security issues in relation to European foreign direct investment rules.

From 2007 to 2015, he held a chair in international commercial law at the City Law School, Gray’s Inn, part of City, University of London. Prior to that, he held a number of academic appointments in London, Nottingham, and Edinburgh. He holds a PhD from the Europa Institute, Edinburgh University, and qualified as an English solicitor in 1991. He has written over 50 academic papers and numerous articles and op-eds for the New York Times, The Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal.

Sarah Sackman KC MP was appointed Minister of State in the Ministry of Justice on 2 December 2024. She was Solicitor General from the 9 July 2024 to 2 December 2024. She was elected as the MP for Finchley and Golders Green in July 2024.

She was called to the Bar in 2008 and worked as a barrister at Francis Taylor Building and Matrix Chambers, focusing on public, election, planning, environment and rating law.

Oleg Shaulko is a partner and the head of the arbitration practice at Kennedys in London. His practice spans sectors including oil and gas, commodities, financial services and digital assets, alongside advising on arbitration-related court proceedings. He also leads the Ukrainian desk at the firm and is a founding member of SPILKA.

Claire is a specialist in international dispute resolution, with a particular focus on international commercial and investor-state arbitration.  Much of her work takes place in the energy sector, in technologies ranging from traditional oil and gas to solar, onshore and offshore wind, battery storage and geothermal projects.

Her energy sector matters have touched on jurisdictions as diverse as Kazakhstan, Brazil and Madagascar, under arbitration rules including ICC, LCIA and ICSID.

Svitlana Teush is a projects lawyer with extensive experience in cross-border energy, construction and infrastructure transactions. Having worked at major international law firms in Ukraine and the UK, she advised developers, financiers and public sector entities on a variety of projects in Ukraine and continental Europe, the UK, Middle East, Asia and Africa.

Svitlana specialises in project development and construction with a focus on renewables and power generation and supply.

Nataliia Tuzheliak is a triple-qualified disputes lawyer admitted in Ukraine, England and Wales and France and a senior associate in the disputes group of White & Case in London.  Her practice encompasses international dispute resolution, including both litigation and arbitration, with a particular focus on cross-border enforcement.

She serves as one of the associate leaders of White & Case’s Sovereigns and Public Sector practice group and leads the firm’s pro bono initiatives relating to Ukraine.  Most recently, she led a team in collaboration with the Public International Law & Policy Group in preparing a memorandum on the legal framework for bilateral and multilateral security guarantees for Ukraine.

Oleksandra Yanovska was appointed as a judge of the Criminal Cassation Court of the Supreme Court of Ukraine in 2017. Since 2012, she has held the position of Professor of the Department of Justice of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. From 1994 to 2017, she practised law, specialising in criminal cases.

Since 2015, she has been an ad hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights. Since 2022, she has represented Ukraine in the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) of the Council of Europe.

Mykola Yurlov is a Counsellor in the Directorate General for International Law at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, where he advises Ukraine’s leadership on complex issues of international law and policy and works on the international compensation mechanism, the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, and the transfer of immobilised Russian assets.