(Philadelphia, PA, April 19, 2001) What do you call 11 Russian lawyers eager to learn transparent business practices from some of the best legal minds in Philadelphia? The San Francisco-based Center for Citizen Initiatives (CCI) calls it an excellent beginning to its new training initiative Conducting Business Ethically and Transparently.” The program’s acronym, “CBET”, is the Russian word for “light.”
David C. Auten, a partner at Reed Smith LLP is the head of the local Lawyer’s Committee for this delegation, and took responsibility for structuring the training and selecting the faculty. Auten reports that a major focus of the 3-week program will be to help delegates devise strategies for implementing ethical business operations and achieving transparency in transactions between the private and public sectors in their homeland.
“Clear ethical standards are important to Russian economic progress,” said Auten, whose practice fields include international law. “The country’s attorneys can play a vital role in promoting the development of ethical business practices upon which a democratic society and free-market economy can be based; and they can greatly benefit from programs with U.S. lawyers such as this to help overcome the formidable obstacles that presently exist.”
The Russian lawyers, along with a facilitator and an interpreter, will be in Philadelphia from April 20 through May 12. The lawyers will take part in an intensive training program organized by the local Reed Smith office and sponsored by Philadelphia attorneys from Reed Smith and several other firms, members of the judiciary, law enforcement officials, and faculty from the University of Pennsylvania’s Law School and The Wharton School of Business.
A trip to Washington, D.C. is also on the trainees’ itinerary, including meetings with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section, the Ethics Resource Center, and the National Whistleblowers Center.
When not in training sessions or visiting with U.S. government representatives, each Russian lawyer will be hosted in a private home in the Washington area, and while in Philadelphia, by volunteers from churches in Society Hill and Old City, and other volunteers.
“Our firm is pleased we’ve been able to assist CCI in structuring this experience,” Auten said. “We believe the interchange will help our Russia guests take a big step toward improving the business climate that currently makes it difficult for most private businesses to succeed in their nation. The committee members as well as my colleagues at Reed Smith expect the sessions, we have put together, coupled with the experiences the lawyers will have with public officials and private citizens during their stay, will translate into a substantial benefit for the Russian economy. Also, we think that, conversely, we American lawyers can benefit from the experiences of our Russian counterparts.”
CCI expects the initiative to enable the visiting lawyers to better represent business owners in their home communities. Delegates were nominated by CCI officials in the seven Russian cities where the organization currently maintains offices: St. Petersburg, Voronezh, Dubna, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Ekaterinburg and Vladivostok.
The Center for Citizen Initiatives is a San Francisco-based non-profit organization dedicated to empowering Russian citizens to take responsibility for their personal futures and assisting Russia in its transition to a market-based economy and a civil society.
CCI has trained some 3,000 owners of mid-sized businesses in Russia since 1994, with the support of more than 15,000 American volunteers from 44 states. The organization’s business training programs are based on a Marshall-Plan model rooted in the belief that private citizens should share with the federal government responsibility for relations with other nations.
The CCI grassroots model for improving the Russian economy has been endorsed recently in the “Cox Report,” prepared at the request of Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. CCI was also recently praised by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. CCI receives support from the U.S. Department of State and U.S.-based private foundations, in-kind contributions from volunteers, and cost-sharing by the Russian delegates.
Program participants include: Enid H. Adler, Esq.; Carter R. Buller, Esq. of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads LLP; John H. Davies, Esq. of Rutgers Law School; Lawrence J. Fox, Esq. of Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP; Robert LaRocca, Esq. of Kohn Swift & Graf, P.C.; Murray S. Levin, Esq. of Pepper Hamilton LLP; Bruce S. Marks, Esq. of Egorov, Puginsky, Asanasiez & Marks; Honorable Sherman S. Poland; Professor Kim Lane Scheppele of the University of Pennsylvania Law School; Thomas R. Schmulh, Esq. of Duane, Morris & Heckscher LLP; Michael E. Scullin, Esq. of Duane Morris & Heckscher; Robert C. Seiger, III, Esq. of Reed Smith LLP; Jerome J. Shestack, Esq. of Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen; Michael Sklaroff, Esq. of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP; Peter J. Tucci of Reed Smith LLP; and from The University of Pennsylvania Wharton School: William Tyson and Philip Nichols. From the Penn Law School: Steve Burbank, Leo Levin, Ed Rubin and Doug Frenkel.