NOTES ON PEOPLE (11/25/01)

NOTES ON PEOPLE

Joins Carnegie Endowment to research rule of law issues

WASHINGTON - Jessica T. Mathews, president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, announced that John Hewko has joined the endowment to research rule of law issues in Russia and other post-Communist countries. Mr. Hewko, a managing partner at the law firm of Baker & McKenzie, has a joint appointment as a visiting scholar with the endowment's Global Policy Program and Russian and Eurasian program in Washington. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School.

"John Hewko is a practitioner who has spent a great deal of time and effort on the details of rule-of-law issues in Ukraine, Russia and other post-Communist societies," said Ms. Mathews. "His research will help give real-world guidance to a region still in transition and crucial to international peace and stability."

"Mr. Hewko started at the endowment in September as a visiting scholar in the Democracy and Rule of Law Project while on sabbatical from Baker & McKenzie. His research focuses on rule-of-law issues relating to post-Communist transitions, including the role of foreign investment in facilitating legal reform, macro versus micro reform issues, and the impact of rule-of-law aid programs. For the past 12 years Mr. Hewko has practiced corporate law for Baker & McKenzie, most recently in the Czech Republic and previously in Ukraine and Russia. He also served as an advisor to the Ukrainian Parliament.

As managing partner at Baker & McKenzie's Prague office, Mr. Hewko was responsible for overseeing 13 attorneys and over 500 multinational and Czech clients. From 1992 to 1996 he established Baker & McKenzie's office in Ukraine and worked on mergers and acquisitions, joint venture negotiations, technology transfer, privatization and other issues.

In 1991-1992 he served as executive secretary to the International Advisory Council to the Verkhovna Rada. In that post, he advised various parliamentary commissions on drafting the initial Ukrainian laws on corporations, anti-competition and foreign investment, and assisted the working group preparing the initial draft of the Constitution of Ukraine.

Mr. Hewko's vast international experience also includes assignments with U.S. and foreign law firms in Washington, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Ecuador. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, his master's degree in modern history (Soviet studies) from Oxford University in England, and his bachelor's degree in government and Soviet studies from Hamilton College in New York.

Mr. Hewko is a member of Ukrainian National Association Branch 174. He was a charter member of the Kyiv Rotary Club and as a youth was active in the Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization.

Mr. Hewko lectures frequently on doing business in Central and Eastern Europe. He has published legal articles in The International Lawyer, The Economist Publications and several South American law journals.

He has also written numerous social and political commentaries for Argentine, Brazilian and Bolivian publications, as well as op-ed pieces on South America and the former Soviet Union in The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Christian Science Monitor, The Ukrainian Weekly and other U.S. newspapers.

Receives Order of St. Michael from Kyivan Patriarch Filaret

PHILADELPHIA - Ulana Baluch Mazurkevich, chairperson of the Ukrainian Human Rights Committee, was honored by Ukrainian Orthodox Patriarch Filaret of Kyiv and all Rus' for her work on behalf of Ukrainian human rights and Ukrainian independence.

Ms. Mazurkevich was in Ukraine for the third World Forum of Ukrainians and the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence.

She was in Kyiv also in conjunction with the exhibit "The Road to Freedom; Philadelphia - Kyiv" prepared by the Ukrainian Human Rights Committee. The exhibit depicted, through photographs and documents, the work of the Philadelphia-based committee prior to Ukrainian independence.

Ms Mazurkevich was presented with the white cross, the highest order of St. Michael the Archangel, in Kyiv on August 23 at the official residence of Patriarch Filaret. The official presentation of medals was followed by a reception.

Ms. Mazurkevich is a member of Ukrainian National Association Branch 375.

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