On the 4th February the BRLA held its ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING, drinks reception and dinner at the Garrick Club in Covent Garden.

The following were elected to the Executive body and the Committee of the BRLA for 2009.

Committee:

The Chairman – Professor Bill Bowring

The Vice-Chairman – Michael Swainston QC

The Secretary – Rupert D’Cruz

The Treasurer – Pavel Klimov

The Social Secretary – Ksenia Putilina

Executive body:

(1) Robert Brown (Corker Binning)

(2) Katerina Haslam-Jones (Pavda, Haslam-Jones & Partners)

(3) Andrew Tobin (Clyde & Co)

(4) Arthur Abdulin (Almaty Chamber of Commerce)

(5) Ludmila Lipskaya (Pavda, Haslam-Jones & Partners)

(6) Tamar Halevy (Lewis Silkin)

(7) Nellie Alexandrova (Denton Wilde Sapte)

(8) Stephen Wiggs (Winkworth Sherwood)

(9) Pavel Klimov (Unisys)

(10) Ksenia Putilina (Peter Hamro Mining)

(11) Bill Bowring (Birkbeck College, Field Court Chambers)

(12) Michael Swainston QC (Brick Court Chambers

(13) Rupert D’Cruz (10 Old Square Chambers)

The AGM also reviewed and approved the BRLA accounts for the period 1st January to 31st December 2008 which were presented to the AGM by the Secretary (in the absence of the outgoing Treasurer). All expenses for last year’s events were met by the relevant sponsors and a fraction of the membership subscriptions was used to set up the BRLA website leaving a healthy closing balance on the account.

The AGM was followed by a drinks reception and a dinner at which Valery Popritkin, Vice President of Private Banking at Credit Suisse gave an after dinner speech on “THE EFFECT OF THE CREDIT CRUNCH ON THE RUSSIAN ECONOMY – THE PROGNOSIS FOR 2009 AND BEYOND”. Valery’s presentation was both informative and engaging and sparked a lively and thoughtful debate about the position of the Russian economy.