We recently caught up with Artin Shaverdian, Nossaman's Los Angeles Office Administrative Partner. We were interested in hearing about his experience at the 2023 Armenian National Lawyers Forum and ended up learning much more about what fuels Artin's tireless drive to give back.
Armenia is a relatively young country. Since breaking away from the Soviet Union and declaring independence in 1991, the country has steadily advanced on a number of fronts. Yet, rules and regulations have been slower to develop. The country does not yet have a legal code with the depth and breadth of other nations; however, Armenia has an advantage that has it poised to make a leap forward.
Enter the diaspora. With roughly 11 million Armenian people in the diaspora living outside of Armenia, itself a very small country of around 2.5 million people, the High Commissioner of Diaspora Affairs and the Ministry of Justice decided to draw upon the expertise of those eager to give back and see their homeland succeed. The diaspora’s collective legal expertise has a much wider breadth than is present within Armenia. Recognizing this opportunity, the Ministry of Justice and the High Commissioner of diaspora affairs of Armenia put together the Armenian National Lawyers Forum (Forum).
Artin has been involved with the Armenian Bar Association (ABA) for nearly two decades. Primarily local to the United States, there are numerous other Armenian bar associations throughout the world. The Forum’s organizers worked through the various Armenian bar associations to invite lawyers from different parts of the world with different areas of expertise to participate in a multiday conference and knowledge-sharing discussion. Artin was invited due to his extensive knowledge of real estate issues related to infrastructure development, land use and environmental law. Collectively, the speakers addressed a variety of issues they believe Armenia needs to tackle. In addition to providing input on real estate issues, Artin was asked to join two focused Forum subgroups: a legislative reform workshop and a group focused on creating an arbitration center in Armenia.
The Power of Perspective
It is easy to forget how lucky we are in the United States. When Federal rule making agencies put forth new or revised regulations, they are published and stakeholders and the public can comment and provide input. That opportunity does not exist or is limited in Armenia. Occasionally, new rules and regulations make it to the books without the country’s leadership and/or the regulatory agencies fully understanding all the potential impacts of a particular regulation – what long term good it can bring, and what negative impact might it have? Artin’s Forum subgroup offered guidance and discussed Armenia’s Parliament establishing legislation to provide agencies with not only the authority but procedures for creating rules. For instance, an online portal similar to the United States’ Federal Register where proposed rules may be published and the general public including those with expertise from different countries can review and provide comment.
For example, Artin noted that Armenia is struggling with respect to environmental laws. There's isn’t much regulatory oversight, leaving people to do as they please. From disposing of harmful substances to protecting vital natural resources like groundwater, the need is immense. Forum members discussed environmental laws from around the world. In offering his perspective, Artin addressed the regulatory landscape in the United States in reference to large-scale infrastructure projects and how those impact the environment. Currently, Armenia is on the other end of the spectrum with little to no regulation at all. Artin and the Forum members in his subgroup hope they can help foster more knowledge sharing and transparency to improve the lives of Armenian citizens.
Establishing Trust at Home
While in Armenia for the Forum, Artin saw first-hand the need for action. As one example, he met with local infrastructure attorneys who work on large private and public project procurements. Artin and the local attorneys visited the site of a large public-private partnership project where the government, alongside private entities, was involved in the construction. The contract governing that project included an arbitration clause stipulating that any disputes would end up at the Arbitration Center in Dubai. The project included an Italian construction firm, an Austrian program management firm and numerous companies within Armenia, with the local government as a stakeholder. In conversations with interested parties and local counsel, and with scores of cranes in the City skyline showing no end to infrastructure development, it was apparent Armenia needs an arbitration center where all parties can trust the system, and where disputes can be adjudicated efficiently without the often unnecessary delay involved with resolving a local dispute in Dubai.
The Forum subgroup discussed that one way to move forward would be for Armenia to have its own trusted arbitration center and including possibly enlisting arbitrators from different parts of the world with expertise in needed areas. Armenia recently created the Armenia Center for Dispute Resolution (ACDR) whose mission and purpose is to develop and promote the practice of arbitration and mediation in all aspects of Armenia’s legal community. The center is in its infancy at the moment but it represents progress and offers a signal of hope for the future. Artin, alongside attorneys from around the world, continues to work with ACDR on building capacity for ADR in Armenia, including amending relevant legislation, recruiting and training neutrals, training the legal community, educating the public, and marketing Armenia as a seat of arbitration so that both local and international disputes may be adjudicated in Armenia as opposed to abroad.
Seeking Justice
Armenia has a troubled history – breaking away from the Soviet Union, wars, conflicts and a host of regional concerns. After prioritizing social and economic investments, Armenia was caught largely defenseless when Azerbaijan attacked in 2020 to reclaim the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Recently, Azerbaijan took control of the region, resulting in an influx of displacees from the Artsakh region migrating into Armenia. As these events unfolded and certain humanitarian atrocities came to light, Nossaman volunteered to help. In addition to Artin’s work with the ABA and Armenia, our partner Shant Boyajian and associate Aleene Madikians took the lead, working with the Armenian Bar Association and on behalf of the government of Armenia and an NGO to prepare a formal submission to the U.S. Department of State recommending Sanctions against various organizations for Involvement in Human Rights Abuses and Corruption committed during the war.
Personal Impact
Finally, we asked Artin to describe what Armenia means to him.
I try to maintain perspective, in all aspects of my life. Seeking to understand all views are important. My grandparents, great grandparents, they all fled their home under the Ottoman Empire and its genocide. My parents were born in Iran. I was born in Iran. And more recently Armenia was under Soviet rule. So although we are Armenian, at least during my lifetime, we’ve not had a country of our own, until recently. As a result, I've always felt like a renter/lessee of the soil I occupy. I was missing my own homeland.
Now, we finally have our own country, somewhere where you feel at home. This is where my people are from. The next thought is, “how can I help this place grow?”. It’s hard to describe but there's just this connection. When I step onto that soil, I just feel like I'm home, and I have to give back and help this developing nation. Any chance I get to do that, I do it because the expertise I and others similarly situated can provide is invaluable to a developing nation who lacks such resources and expertise. That’s also why I went back in 2020, during the war, when one of our healthcare clients was sending medical supplies and doctors to the front lines. I was compelled to volunteer, to go, to do whatever I could. I spent a week in the hospitals, working alongside doctors, helping in any way I could.
To be willing is only half the job
– Armenian proverb
I’ve always said that no matter what it is that you're doing, whatever type of law you're practicing, there's always a smaller community that you can tap into, especially for those of us who come from a diverse background. Invariably, if I start talking to someone of Armenia decent, I'll make a connection. It’s like a social networking app, except it's not six or seven degrees of separation, it's almost always one or two. And, that other person will know another person I know and then it suddenly leads to a new opportunity to give back or a business development opportunity. Active participation keeps the community going and evolving.
And now, through the Forum, a new opportunity has arisen to help guide my homeland and make new connections, including from the international community abroad . It is thrilling to be able to watch this country flourish. I’m optimistic about what the future holds for Armenia and at the same time, I have had the opportunity to establish meaningful connections with dozens of contacts and attorneys across the globe and in the U.S.
I take some pride – and it's not only in being Armenian – in the fact that I'm contributing where I am able to the development of this nation. I want to give back. We all do it. We all give back, in some way, at some point in our lives. Participating in the Forum and volunteering is one of the ways that I've been giving back but it certainly won’t be the last. And it makes me even more proud that my work has encouraged my daughters to also give back, where for the last three summers they spent four weeks in a remote village in Armenia with other international volunteers serving as camp counselors and teaching English to over 200 orphans of the war.
– Artin Shaverdian, Partner