Attorney Howard Coker (right, with Chicago attorney Joe Bellows) acted as a leader in a U.S./Russia joint conference on the Rule of Law last month in St. Petersburg, Russia. The conference was co-sponsored by People to People Ambassador Programs and the law faculty at Russia’s St. Petersburg State University. President Dwight D. Eisenhower founded the program in 1956.
The conference was attended by approximately 300 Russian lawyers and law students, along with American co-leaders and delegates. Coker’s role in the seven-day experience included co-chairing meetings with Svetlana Izotova, Russia’s Chief Justice of the Court of Arbitration. It also included representing the American delegation at formal banquets and accompanying the group on field site visits and other cultural activities.
“This was an absolutely fantastic experience, both professionally and culturally,” said Coker. “St. Petersburg is, in a word, stunning — a city rich in history and beauty. I also had the opportunity to observe modern-day Russia firsthand. This is a country marching toward globalization and a free market economy. As this evolves, consistency as to the Rule of Law in Russia becomes ever more essential.”