BRG Continues Growth in Eastern Europe with New Hire

Recruitment further bolsters firm’s Disputes team in region

Berkeley Research Group (BRG) today announces the appointment of Almira Kuzutbayeva as a director in the firm’s Disputes & Investigations practice. Based in London, she will split her time between the United Kingdom and Eurasia, where she will be responsible for developing the firm’s practice using her local and international contacts in government, the public sector, industry and non-governmental organizations. 

Almira will focus on helping clients to find solutions to high-value international disputes, drawing on her experience across industries including mining, energy, natural resources, infrastructure, construction and technology. 

Almira joins from a Big Four firm, where she was a senior manager leading the Eurasia Forensics practice, based in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. During this time, she worked on large investment and commercial disputes and non-contentious infrastructure projects while developing her team into the highest-performing advisory team within the firm for the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region. Previously, she worked on a World Bank project, together with the Ministry of Justice to strengthen the justice sector of Kazakhstan. 

Commenting on the announcement, Greg Harman, a managing director and leader of BRG’s EMEA Disputes practice, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Almira to the firm. Alongside our recent appointment of Anastasia Malyugina, the addition of Almira reflects our success in the former Soviet Union space and supports our strategy to further expand our presence in the region. Her proven success in leading and developing a high-performing team, coupled with her expert local knowledge, will be of great value to our business.” 

The appointment forms part of BRG’s growth strategy for the region, which includes the recent appointment of Malyugina as a managing director responsible for developing the business across Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Central Asia. More widely, BRG recently opened an Africa practice based in Johannesburg and has added senior hires in the APAC region.