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Managing partner

Dauren Iskakov

Advocate, managing partner of Defenders law firm

In law since 2008. Practising as an advocate since 2019.

Specialises in criminal defence, including complex, multi-episode and high-profile proceedings, cases of economic and public-office crime, the illicit trafficking of narcotics, offences against the person and against property, and cases heard by a jury.

Before entering practice as an advocate, he spent more than nine years in the pre-trial investigation authorities, rising from investigator at a district police department to senior investigator at the central office of the Economic Investigation Service.

That investigative background allows him to read a criminal case not only from the defence side, but with an understanding of how the prosecution case is put together, how an investigation is planned, how evidence is gathered and secured, and how procedural decisions are taken.

Education

Graduated with honours in 2008 from the Barimbek Beisenov Karaganda Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, with a degree in Law Enforcement.

Investigative experience

While serving in the law enforcement authorities, he investigated criminal cases involving:

tax evasion
the issuing of fictitious invoices
economic smuggling
smuggling of items prohibited or restricted in circulation
homicide and other offences against the person
armed robbery, robbery and other offences against property
sexual offences
breaches of safety rules in mining and construction work
other general criminal and economic offences

Career

2008-2010Investigator, investigation unit of the Borodulikha District Department of Internal Affairs, Department of Internal Affairs of East Kazakhstan Region.
2010-2014Inquiry officer, investigator, then senior investigator for particularly important cases, Financial Police Directorate for the Semey area, Department for Combating Economic and Corruption Crime, Financial Police of East Kazakhstan Region.
2014-2015Investigator for particularly important cases, internal security division, Department of Civil Service Affairs and Anti-Corruption, Anti-Corruption Service of East Kazakhstan Region.
2015-2016Senior investigator, pre-trial proceedings division for economic crime, Directorate for the Investigation of Offences in the Financial Sphere, Economic Investigation Service of East Kazakhstan Region.
2016-2017Senior investigator, Special Development Directorate, Operational Investigation Department of the Economic Investigation Service, State Revenue Committee of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Headed an investigation and operations team.
2017-2019Assistant to a deputy, Office of the Mazhilis of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
from 2019Practising advocate.
from 2022Managing partner of Defenders law firm.

Advocacy practice

Acts for the defence at every stage of criminal proceedings: from the first investigative steps through to the hearing of the case at first instance, on appeal and in cassation.

Has acted for the defence in criminal cases with files running to as many as 190 volumes, including for the head of a branch of Agrarian Credit Corporation JSC.

Has defended clients in cases concerning the organisation and running of financial pyramids, economic and public-office crime, homicide and other especially serious offences.

A distinct strand of the practice is defence in cases involving the illicit trafficking of narcotics, including charges of possession with intent to supply and of supply.

Also represents clients in property, non-property and corporate disputes, and acts in the resolution of corporate conflicts and the protection of businesses.

Selected outcomes

Acquittals by jury on charges under article 120 parts 2 and 4, and article 124 part 1, of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Acquittals on charges under articles 190 and 362 of the Criminal Code.
An acquittal on a charge under article 297 part 2 of the Criminal Code, concerning the supply of narcotics.
Discontinuance of a number of criminal cases at the pre-trial stage on exonerating grounds.
Reclassification of a charge from article 297 part 3 to article 296 part 2 of the Criminal Code: instead of an especially serious offence involving the supply of narcotics, the client was found guilty only of a criminal misdemeanour with no intent to supply.
Reclassification of a charge from article 297 part 2 to article 296 part 3 of the Criminal Code: a charge of a serious offence was reduced to a criminal misdemeanour with no intent to supply.

Approach to defence

He personally works out the strategy on every case he takes on and coordinates the team. The approach rests on a close reading of the case file, reconstructing the sequence of events, testing testimony against objective data, checking expert conclusions and finding the contradictions in the prosecution case.

The defence is built as a single system: from settling on the main and alternative accounts of events, through to motions, complaints, advocate’s requests, the questions put to participants in the proceedings, and the position for trial.

A charge is not proved merely because it is written down in a procedural document. Every conclusion must be supported by evidence that is admissible, reliable and consistent with the rest.

All lawyers

The team