Sergei Vataev practices law through the Legit Advocates’ Bureau as an advocate with the Almaty City Bar Association. He specialises in litigation and arbitration, corporate law, and project finance. He has advised financial institutions, major oil and gas corporations, and oil service companies on contractual and regulatory litigations and arbitrations. Additionally, he has represented foreign investors in arbitration proceedings concerning expropriation issues arising from investment disputes, including those filed by Kazakhstan regulatory authorities. He has served as an arbitrator in cases at the IAC, the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, the ICC International Court of Arbitration, CIETAC, and cases under the UNCITRAL Rules (administered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration).
He was Chairman of the International Arbitration Court in Kazakhstan and is an arbitrator at many domestic arbitral institutions, including the International Arbitration Court “IUS” and Kazakhstan International Arbitrage. In 2024, he was appointed a member of the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce from Kazakhstan.