Lawyer Sergei Dobrovinsky his family. “I persuaded Marina to sign a marriage contract

"GOLF HELPED ME BEAT THE ELEMENTS!"

If the famous lawyer Alexander Andreevich Dobrovinsky preferred literature to jurisprudence, he would certainly have won the fame of the modern Oscar Wilde. And all thanks to the refined ironic cynicism that can cheer up those around you, even if they are drowning or trying to overcome the most difficult golf course in rain and cold, knocking balls out of puddles ...

In my opinion, Alexander Andreevich is the most club person in the world, without whom it is simply impossible to imagine the high society of Moscow. In essence, a secular society is formed around it by itself, and at any point the globe because lawyer Dobrovinsky loves to travel. And even natural disasters retreat before his unshakable irony.

Adventures of the French in Siberia

“Personally, I think,” Alexander Andreevich remarked philosophically, “that travel is divided into several categories. You can travel just for the sake of relaxation, for love, for sports and ... for business. Although ideally, of course, one cannot exist without the other. And, of course, travel is a pleasure. But it's even nicer to come home...

– I know that you are a collector by nature, and have long wanted to know if you have a collection of things brought from your travels?

- Oh, what else! Strange, a little sad, but, in general, absolutely amazing. Many years ago, still in good Soviet time, French acquaintances came to visit me and asked me to go with them by car to Siberia. The French craved the exotic. It was inconvenient to refuse, and we went. On magical roads with monstrous potholes, I remember, I beat off the whole falcon for myself. In addition, gasoline was constantly running out, and it was almost impossible to get a new one.

Naturally, there were no gas stations, and it was necessary to look for local "switchmen" with pre-stored canisters. And to communicate with these wonderful people, of course, I had to. Despite the fact that the only convertible currency in those parts was considered a bottle of vodka. Although, to be honest, looking at these comrades, I just could not understand, but where else? Nevertheless, at some point, another such character appeared on the horizon, the owner of the coveted canister. True, judging by her appearance, she took mud baths in the century before last.

You understand how much you want to take it all in hand. Well, I timidly asked if there was a suitable rag somewhere on the farm ... After which I was offered to proceed to the barn, and there I saw a whole mass of strange rags folded into numerous tubes. The whole barn was literally crammed with these tubes. But, having unfolded one of them, I suddenly realized that it was something oriental and very beautiful, despite the creepy look. As it turned out later, these were not rags, but real Tibetan icons! And there were more than five hundred of them ...

- Unbelievable! But how did all this get into the barn of a man who is clearly far from culture?

– As it turned out, back in his foggy childhood, when he worked with his father. At that time, an exile route passed through those places. Either Kalmyks accompanied the Buryats in exile, or vice versa. In general, these settlers carried such icons with them, and since the path was long and difficult, many could not stand it and died along the road on which they were left, and it was supposed to put such icons next to them. Well, I, of course, asked if this means that even now these icons can still be found if you follow that exiled route. “Yes, as much as you like!” our new friend encouraged. And what do you think? We all unanimously decided to change the route, and as a result, I brought home two thousand of these icons, and how many other amazing things we found! It is impossible to convey, of course, how much effort and time went into the restoration, but as a result, I later made a huge exhibition at the Museum of the East on Gogol Boulevard. And the French, despite all the hardships of the journey, were completely delighted with those adventures. Moreover, we still communicate with them and always remember the trip, which they consider the best in their lives!

Get those lobsters out!

- I remember, Alexander Andreevich, you once told a wonderful story about how your mother made a skeptical remark about your serious passion for golf.

– Yes, there was such a thing. Mom remarked with concern: “Sashenka, I don’t understand why you need this golf course, it’s so windy there!” In the meantime, once golf, one might say, saved my life. Then my wife Marina and two children and I went to Thailand. We arrived at our favorite hotel and expected, as usual, to settle in a room on the first floor with direct access to the beach. Suddenly it turned out that for some reason my secretary forgot to send a fax, and as a result, the number was not reserved for us. God, what a scandal! My wife knows how in such situations to clearly explain to the staff what he is wrong about.

The case ended with the manager on his knees and swearing that as soon as the people who settled in our room left, we would immediately be moved there for free. Marina was a little comforted by this, however, she made a little more rustle for decency, but that was the end of the matter. As a result, we settled not on the first floor, but on the second. And the next day, which I will never forget - it was December 26, 2004 - at five o'clock in the morning, while it was still cool, I left to play golf. By the way, I want to note that the game was going well ... When suddenly I see a strange picture: Marina and her children are coming to me on a square in some incomprehensible form. Children in dirty T-shirts...

Needless to say, this story is not for the faint of heart. Marina said that in the morning her bed shook slightly, which at first she did not attach any importance to, because she was in a deep sleep. I think I even joked about it. And the wife continued. Opening her eyes and stepping out onto the balcony, she found herself surrounded by water. And I saw the first wave. Not very big, but incredibly strong. She brought to the surface literally everything that was on the beach. Umbrellas, sunbeds, people. She broke the windows on the first floor ... And then my family saw the second wave - the same huge one ...

- At that moment, Marina, probably mentally thanked your secretary a thousand times ...

- Yeah. And what do you think the wife of the lawyer did in that extreme situation in the first place?

- Rushed to the children?

- Exactly. But first, to the safe, because there were all our money and documents. And Marina, despite the stress, managed to think that without all this we would then be very uncomfortable. However, the electricity then turned off, and Marina could not open the safe. Thus, at the moment when my family arrived to me, I hardly realized that by some miracle everyone survived and that our capital at that time was one hundred dollars in local baht. The children, as if nothing had happened, said they wanted water and ice cream. After all this was bought for them, there was no money left at all, and we decided to return to the hotel. And even from afar they saw how he peacefully sways on stilts. However, it's worth it. Naturally, people gathered around, but no one was allowed inside. However, that didn't stop us. Marina demanded that they let us in immediately, because we had a safe there and we intend to take it at any cost. And since electricity was restored at that time, we seized all our wealth.

- And how did it happen that the hotel was almost not damaged, then, after all, half the coast was washed away clean?

The lagoon saved us. And we even slept in our room. And Marina for some reason guarded all night new wave. And the next day we consoled three Russian ladies mourning their diving husbands who had gone diving and never returned. But suddenly one of the spouses appeared, and completely drunk. The happy wife at first threw herself on his neck, but then stopped short. Because it became obvious that her dearest husband did not dive into the sea. However, he was not taken aback, noting: “Well, yes, he slightly refreshed the male essence, but he’s alive! And other men were washed away! And the wife had already sort of come to terms with her happiness, but then something incredible happened. The two other missing persons also returned - albeit slightly scratched, but alive and well. It turns out that by some miracle they were carried by a wave to small island, from where they were then taken by a rescue helicopter ... Well, at that moment we decided to move to another hotel, - Alexander Andreevich continued. – Huge and practically not affected by the tsunami. There I met a good friend - Garik Khan from TNK. There were no other guests in this hotel. And you know, Lena, if someone ever tells you that it's good to live in a palace, don't believe it. In fact, it's just monstrous!

Our two families were served by 60 people who did everything for us and constantly looked at us, because there was nowhere else. The tables were literally bursting with food. I have never seen so much food, and delicious, that it was simply physically impossible to eat. And so, one evening, Garik and I were sitting by the pool, admiring the sunset, and at that moment worried friends called and asked: “How are you? Alive? Shall we send humanitarian aid – water, food?” And at this time they hear how the waiter asks us in English: “Excuse me, would you like to water the lobster with cognac or champagne?”

To get an appointment with Alexander Andreevich Dobrovinsky, you need to go over the heads of the leaders. Literally: the way to the chambers of the most famous lawyer in Moscow is covered with carpets with portraits of Lenin, Stalin and Molotov. “It's funny to watch how indifferently the young people step on the carpets and the old guard shifts from one foot to the other in confusion,” smiles the owner of the office in the Last Lane. The office is a little more luxurious than its non-poor visitors have the right to expect. Art Deco is mixed with Sots Art: the contrast of beige and black lacquer, a lot of paintings and shelving, in which the collector Dobrovinsky settled porcelain trumpeters and Palekh Red Army soldiers who did not fit into the apartment for a long time. “You see, I am a complete hedonist. And since I spend most of my life at work, I want to feel good here. I generally do everything for pleasure. Including talking to you. But as soon as I get tired of it, I will tell you honestly about it. I hear these words at about the second minute of the conversation. As soon as you turn on the TV, you immediately understand: there is no lawyer more in demand today. A gentleman in a bow tie rescued Vladimir Nekrasov, the ex-owner of Arbat Prestige, from prison. In the case of the inheritance of the shot Shabtai von Kalmanovich, he defends the interests of his eldest daughter Liat and wife Anna. To this day, he defends the wallet of the Ural raw materials oligarch, whose betrayals the ex-wife estimates in the amount of nine zeros. But the cases of two fathers, who in all seriousness believe that it is harmful and even dangerous for their children to live with their mothers, received nationwide resonance. Ruslan Baisarov signed a peace agreement with Kristina Orbakaite, according to which the eleven-year-old Denis remains with him. Senator Vladimir Slutsker also received the right to live with Misha and Anya at the time of the issue. Now the spouses have to determine the order of communication with the children and divide the property. I was not given the opportunity to speak in court, - Valentin Yudashkin is surprised. The fashion designer is in a delicate position - his good friends and clients long years are both the lawyer himself and Olga Slutsker. “It’s terrible when children are isolated and put in a situation of choice. I would advocate that both the mother and the father have the opportunity to communicate with the children to begin with. I saw Dobrovinsky in the Baisarov case. Then a compromise was found. I think Alexander Andreevich will do his best even now.” Compromise is good, but in the eyes of many, lawyer Dobrovinsky will forever remain a man who takes children away from his mother. Does this stigma bother him? Not at all. “People who talk like that are not my clients. I do my job and I don't care who I represent. There are no emotions in business. If I see that I can help, I will. No - so no." As proof that he is not a pro-father's lawyer at all, Dobrovinsky says that he was on the side of the wife of the founder of Renaissance Capital, Tina Jennings, and the wife of the aluminum king Lev Chernoy, Lyudmila. And both ladies have everything in chocolate. And just yesterday, a doctor from the Sklifosovsky Institute turned to him with a salary of sixty thousand rubles: “The wife of a rich man left him, and he is fighting to ensure that two children stay with her. I found money only for a consultation and asked for useful advice to guide the process. I will protect him for free." I notice that, in theory, not a doctor, but an oligarch, should have rushed to Dobrovinsky. “And he will surely come. But one of the commandments of a lawyer is that if a person told me something, I have no right to even listen to the other side. But immediately after the process, Alexander Andreevich Slutskerov accepted a tempting offer from a certain businessman: “He will pay me a certain amount a month so that I never go against him.” Dobrovinsky can say as much as he likes that in this case he had no emotions, and his rivals were overwhelmed with emotions. But the friends of Olga Slutsker, Svetlana Bondarchuk, Albina Nazimova, Yulia Bordovskikh, who got to the closed meetings, unanimously claim that the court was turned into a farce. Both the senator and his defender were joking. For example, when the now deceased lawyer Olga Geralina Lyubarskaya asked to postpone the consideration of the case due to her going on vacation, Dobrovinsky noted that the vacation was probably on maternity leave, and the pause would drag on for nine months. Geralina Vladimirovna was sixty-nine years old. “The late Mrs. Lyubarskaya, right in court, addressed my client as nothing more than a horned senator. She wanted to piss him off,” explains Dobrovinsky. - On that day, the process was already over, and we were just discussing the date of the next meeting. Lyubarskaya said she was going on vacation. It was a tactical move - it was important for her to gain time. Well, of course, I couldn't resist. The joke was good, and I'm holding on to it. But the fact that Geralina Vladimirovna died is a tragedy. Some of my colleagues blame Dobrovinsky personally for this tragedy. But this does not bring him down: “I don't feel guilty. I think she knew she was going to lose." AT professional environment opinions about Alexander Andreevich are very contradictory. “The legal community primarily evaluates the formation of a legal position, the ability to argue a non-disclosure policy, and vice versa - Dobrovinsky has obvious gaps here,” one of the most famous Moscow lawyers comments on condition of anonymity. – But his ability to “pierce” the structure and willingness to go ahead is undeniable. Objectively, he achieves results. “The profession of a defense lawyer is full of temptations, but it must be remembered that there is a moral bar below which he has no right to fall,” says Sergei Vladimirovich Berezovsky, father of Olga Slutsker, a veteran of the bar with half a century of experience. “I have to admit that Alexander Dobrovinsky simply ignores the code of ethics.” It is unlikely that in the Slutsker case, Dobrovinsky's penetrating resource was more powerful than that of the senator, who came to court as if to his own home - the bailiff ran to open the gate to his official territory. But in public affairs, the framing, the smokescreen, is sometimes more important than the substance. And here Dobrovinsky spoke in all its glory. He took the fire on himself and brought the client out from under the blow. He shocked, scoffed, threw his phone, folded two fingers in the sign of Victory. Even, according to eyewitnesses, he deliberately picked his nose. Behind the emotions was a cold calculation. And it worked. “Nine lawyers acted against me and my assistant at some point. And they all focused not on winning the process, but on tearing apart Dobrovinsky's lawyer. These people wrote down my every word. Sometimes it reached the point of absurdity. Such an example: the judge forbade us to use mobile phone. I sit and send sms. At this moment, someone says: "Keep Dobrovinsky out of the hall, he is using the phone." My language is known, sharpness of thinking too. I answer: “I don’t use the phone. I'm counting the fee, it's a calculating machine." The opponents hesitated, a minute passes, and suddenly Olga Sergeevna's lawyer, Mr. Koblev, jumps up and for no reason shouts: “But I earn more than Dobrovinsky!” The judge looks at him, bulging eyes - what, where, why? You see, the whole team wanted to win against me and de facto against Volodya - for me this is the best compliment in my entire career. ” We meet on Friday evening, and Dobrovinsky is dressed in casual friday: a navy blue knitted vest, tweed jacket, a plaid shirt with personal initials embroidered on the cuffs. Even the motley butterfly, which he put on many years ago, so as not to stand out - for in America and France all the servants of Themis wore butterflies - and she flew away, making room for an equally beautiful silk scarf. “I never get tired of repeating the following to my subordinates. First, you must trade face at social events. Secondly, you must be remembered. Monogram, watch, butterfly - it doesn't matter. Thirdly, do not learn the codes by heart - better than a computer no one knows the law. And finally, don't make the situation legal, as ninety-nine percent of colleagues do. It is necessary to adjust the law to the situation, as Solomon taught me. Solomon Shvartsman is a New York lawyer of Odessa origin, for whom Dobrovinsky, having arrived in America, carried a briefcase for free. It was this old man who sent the persistent altruistic young man to law courses. And later he contributed to his admission to the authoritative Parisian business school INSEAD. Here, however, there is a certain gag: in the legal environment, Dobrovinsky is reputed to be a man without special education. Moreover, he is reproached almost for the fact that he added a Harvard diploma to himself. So was Harvard? “It was about 1994, and in an interview with a journalist I explained that I received an MBA from INSEAD. They asked me what it was, and for clarity, I answered: “It's like Harvard.” And since then it has been stuck in their heads, ”explains the lawyer. Education is not the only controversial point in his biography. Dobrovinsky is a mythologized personality. Why? He, of course, says that about all successful people make up legends, and envy is to blame. The undoubted acting abilities of Alexander Andreevich are rooted in the early seventies, when he studied four courses at the Faculty of Economics of VGIK. The young man went to cinematography in company with a friend and against the will of the family, who saw in him the hope of domestic biochemistry. “And I came to VGIK, met in the foyer the famous cameraman Boris Volchek and the legendary Chapaev, the actor Boris Babochkin. And the actress Alexandra Khokhlova, the wife of the founder of editing Lev Kuleshov, also went there. And I liked it so much that I took it and entered. Upon learning of this, my mother said: “You are hopeless, Sasha, I am leaving this country.” The ballerina mother left for France forever, leaving her son a luxurious two-room apartment on Gorky Street for use. And the everyday life of the golden youth began: a “penny” car, shoulder-length hair, a corduroy jacket, a bell-bottom, a clog, five hundred dollars a trimester from mom and a student card, according to which any young lady she liked could be taken to the Cinema House while watching “Cabaret ' put her on your lap. In the fourth year from Sasha mailbox two letters came out. One, from my mother, smelled of Chanel and invited me to permanent residence in Paris, the other called me to the draft board. “I went, and some major said to me: you have been honored - you were assigned to the navy. And that's three years of service. The argument that my Jewish mother believed that only those who know how to swim drown, and she didn’t teach me how to swim, didn’t make an impression. A month later, Dobrovinsky landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport. In Paris, he made acquaintance with the famous St. Petersburg lawyer Lev Adolfovich Aranson, who told him everything about who one should be. And at the same time, being a major collector, he introduced to antiques: “I began to speculate. I read a lot, slowly began to understand the subject. Since I am a born marketer, I bought things that were not in demand at that time. And then the fashion began on them. So the debut collection of opium pipes was collected and sold for fabulous money - they skyrocketed in price after the movie Once Upon a Time in America. There, in America, Dobrovinsky was drawn by two circumstances: love and the certainty that this was the promised land. Way to american dream, as usual, lay across the taxi rank in Manhattan. The turnover was two hundred dollars a day: seventy went to rent a car, thirty for gas and food. There was a hundred left, which Sasha folded for the future account :). I slept in the car, took a shower at the station and reminded myself of my childhood idol D'Artagnan: not a penny of money, but everything is fine. One day he opened the New York phone book. I found twelve Dobrovinskys: eight lawyers, three doctors and one rabbi. I called the first lawyer and said: “I also have the surname Dobrovinsky, but I don’t want money. I want to treat you to coffee". “He did not speak Russian at all. At first he treated me with apprehension, but gradually got inspired and, when he found out that I had relatives in Odessa, he said: there is one most serious lawyer with a building on some fifty-some street. He is also from Odessa and speaks Russian. After some time, I was introduced to this very bar guru. “I will make a man out of you, but you will earn money yourself,” Solomon promised. Dobrovinsky continued to drive a car in order to make ends meet and carry a briefcase for free for a patron. In the States, as you know, everyone is a narrow specialist in something. Alexander did not like the prisons: they smelled bad and they were far from New York. The prospect of sitting in hospitals and sticking business cards into the cast of the victims did not appeal either. Intrigued by the most difficult thing possible - maritime law: an explosive English-Portuguese-Dutch mixture of terms, which in nightmare will not dream. Soon the first case was won and the first hundred and fifty thousand dollars were earned. And Solomon Schwartzman called his protege to the carpet: “So, where do you live there? In Brooklyn? So that I don't hear it. Move to the Upper East Side, to the area of ​​the seventies, drive a BMW, wear a white or blue shirt, only a yellow tie, or preferably a bow tie with a yellow sparkle. There was a list of restaurants where you had to show your face regularly, and a list of shops like Ralph Lauren where you were supposed to dress up. The pen had to be Montblanc, the briefcase was allowed to be chosen by oneself - the main thing is not from crocodile skin, because it is bad manners. Solomon called him again. “You know, I was not disappointed in you. You are not an idiot. A man will grow out of you. But since you came from red Russia ( Soviet Union he couldn’t pronounce) and you don’t have business skills, you need to get an MBA.” In 1983, Alexander returned to Paris and entered INSEAD: “Uch:) was insanely expensive, at the end I didn’t even have money to buy pencils”. But the graduate was gladly hired by a large law firm. One of her clients was a Genevan billionaire, again of Odessa origin, the owner of Inter Maritime Bank - Bank of New York, Bruce Rappoport. It was he who, having worked with Alexander, uttered the fateful phrase: “I pay your lousy office ten thousand a day for the work that you do alone. Let me pay you three and you will move to Geneva.” Rappoport flew to Russia a lot: he said that you can always make good money in a mess. And Alexander under tears ex-wife Lena, with whom today she has a wonderful relationship, eventually moved from Switzerland to Moscow. In the capital, Dobrovinsky proudly announced that he was a corporate lawyer. Fellow lawyers with a salary of sixty rubles a month were very surprised and asked who it was. Indulging in explanations in the early nineties was useless. Alexander actively hung out, ate everything he earned with Rappoport, and packed his suitcase to return to his wife. “Once, a healthy uncle knocked on the door of the apartment, which I rented from the hockey player Fetisov. He asked if I knew what tolling was. I said I know. And then he asked: “Can you fly to Krasnoyarsk with me and tell the boys? How much does it cost? I figured out how much it should cost in the West. I didn't want to miss my first client. And for some reason he said in English: “Five, OK?” He asked, “Fifty thousand dollars? Fits." The "healthy guy" was called Mikhail Chernoy - together with his brother Leo, they controlled a significant part of the Russian aluminum sector. Dobrovinsky flew to Krasnoyarsk and that's how he met half of the current Forbes dozens. Things rained down on him louder than one another. For one and a half million dollars, he returned Purneftegaz to Rosneft: “When I named the amount of the fee, my colleagues gasped. But I didn't care. I thought that social status a lawyer in Russia is greatly underestimated. And it was I who lifted it." Dobrovinsky took the side of Mikhail Chernoy and Iskander Makhmudov against Alfa Group in the battle for Nizhnevartovskneftegaz (according to rumors, four hundred and fifty million dollars were at stake). Participated in the conflict around the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, where the issue price was equal to thirty percent of the shares of Magnitogorsk. Finally, he defended the owner of the oil company "Birkenholz" Yevgeny Rybin, who led a long lawsuit with the then all-powerful Yukos. “Once, in a public place, a very famous Moscow man approached me, took out a gun, put it to my head and said: “Consider Rybin is gone, and you will be next. Why do you need it?". I was scared for my two daughters. I came home - I will never forget that night - and told Marina that we would have to leave. Marina asked only one question: “How much time do I have to pack my suitcase?” No where, no why. On the first flight we flew to Bulgaria, then to Israel. I lived there until 1999 and got citizenship(another myth about Dobrovinsky - in the press they write that in addition to Russian he has two more citizenships - Greek and French). The poetess Zinaida Gippius once uttered a phrase that was brilliant in its simplicity: “If you need to explain, then ... you don’t need to explain.” This phrase tells everything about the relationship between Dobrovinsky and his third wife. “I doubted that I would be lucky to meet a woman who would not have to tell anything about herself. And suddenly - Marina. Seventeen years ago, their future mother-in-law introduced them: “She deceived Marina, called from Paris, said that some documents needed to be drawn up. My wife is like everyone else. normal people, hates being introduced to the scope. As soon as the deception was revealed, the mother-in-law, whom I adore, said: if you don’t like it, you will be friends. A month later, I already made an offer to Marina. “Our meeting was like the intersection of two parallel lines” Dobrovinsky continues. It turned out that they lived nearby not only in Moscow (he is on Tverskaya, she is in Stoleshnikov), but also in Paris and New York. Dobrovinsky was proud that after so many years of emigration he did not insert the words "shopping" and "parking" into his delicious Russian speech. And Marina, knowing six languages, has no habit of mixing them. “She went to the same school as me. This is how I imagined the woman next to me. She has an amazing sense of tact. If she walks into a restaurant and sees me with girls, she doesn't come up and doesn't even say hello. He knows that I'm working." A dentist by profession, Marina organized art history courses at the Phillips de Pury auction house a year ago. According to her husband, the company is brilliant in terms of marketing. TSUM, champagne, lectures after seven in the evening, when the main buyers of the store who? That's right, men ... Girls learn to distinguish Galliano from Saryan, do less nonsense, less drip on their brains. And the husbands are happy. "How much time do I have?" I ask after two hours of conversation. "Yes, as much as you like", - Dobrovinsky seems to have forgotten how he threatened to end our interview at the first sign of displeasure. And we're going to look at the collections. Former pride, Soviet agitation porcelain has now faded into the background: "I've got the biggest collection in the world and calmed down". Now all Dobrovinsky's thoughts are occupied by agitlak - Palekh caskets, on which, instead of icon-painting plots, for example, the life of Trotsky is depicted. And also agitation - just try to imagine an aircraft propeller made of mammoth bone: one end is carved in the form of a pilot Chkalov in a helmet, the other is Stalin in a cap, and on the blades is written "Stalin's falcons - the pride of the USSR." But that's not all. A new collection is on the way. The name has not been invented yet, but by analogy with the predecessors, I would suggest “agitation treasure”. For example, a marvelous gold powder box with enamel, on which a man and a woman are drawn in caps and with guns at the ready. And in Russian: "We will not give up Madrid!" - Nowhere to put it. Probably, I will have to buy a big dacha after Slutsker, the lawyer complains. - Does the fee allow? “Children allow everything. How much are you willing to pay for children?- Yes, everything that is, probably. “That’s what everyone who comes into my office says.- Well, given the number of court cases won, you could retire a long time ago and calmly collect your agit ... - You'll have to work more. I want my daughters and Marina not to cry at my funeral, but to smile while reading the will. ________________________________________________________________________ Source - magazine

Alexander Andreevich Dobrovinsky- Moscow lawyer.

Biography

Born September 25, 1954 in Moscow. From 1972 to 1975 he began to study at the Faculty of Economics of VGIKA, but did not get the opportunity to finish it. In 1976 he came to Paris to his mother Lucy Rubinovna. In Paris, he worked as a waiter, and then ran the Regal Russian restaurant. After 3 years, he left for the United States, where he trained as a lawyer. The first time I worked as an assistant to pay for my studies law firm and a taxi driver In the 1990s he returned to Russia, externally passed the exams to obtain a diploma in the specialty of a lawyer. And already in 1992 he opened the first law office. The bureau specialized in corporate law and divorce cases.

Career

He became famous after the scandal with the Swiss company Noga, which wanted to sue Russia's debts for food supplies and seize property. Then he defended the opponents of Yukos, who fought for the assets of the Eastern Oil Company. In 1999, he was involved in divorce proceedings and the division of property with the businessman Chernoy, and in 2001 in similar cases with the owner Severstal Mordashov. In 2003, he won the Best Lawyer of Russia contest according to the show jumping Leader of the Year. In 2007, he was a lawyer for the editor-in-chief of Forbes Russia Kashulinsky, against whom an accusation was brought by INTECO and its owner, Luzhkov's wife Elena Baturina. In 2009, he represented the interests of Baysarov, the ex-husband of Kristina Orbakaite and his son Denis. Represented the interests of Slutsker in a divorce from his wife Olga Slutsker. In 2010, he defended Philip Kirkorov in the case of a fight between him and director Yablokova. In July 2011, he defended a photojournalist Komsomolskaya Pravda Guseva in the case against Valery Meladze, who was accused of beating her. In 2010, he opened a branch of his office in London.

In 2014, he bought Lyubov Orlova's dacha and her personal archive. In 2002 he was the champion of Russia in golf. Speaks English and French. Wrote about 10 scientific works by legal law. He is a candidate of legal sciences. He was a member of the board of directors of Arbat-Prestige. Since 2012, he has been the host of the Brain Yoga program on Silver Rain radio. In March 2013, he became the chairman of the board of Potok, and in April 2013 he became a co-owner of Pushkino Bank and a 19% shareholder. But in September 2013, the bank's license was taken away for violating laws. He is the president of the Moscow Country Golf Club. He collects Soviet porcelain, with which he even organized an exhibition at the Pushkin Museum. The exhibition occupied 5 halls. He also collects lacquered boxes depicting miniatures of the revolution. He collected photographs and paintings from the first half of the 20th century, Tibetan icons and accessories for smoking cigars. Has his own column in Tatler magazine. He is recognized as the most stylishly dressed lawyer in Russia. His distinguishing features are in strength - glasses, a cigar and a butterfly. He always ties bow ties himself and does not wear them with an elastic band.

In his collection there is a cameo with the image of Trotsky, cufflinks with the image of Lenin, a pocket watch of the King of England Edward VIII, things of Stalin and Krupskaya, medals of Anatoly Tarasov . Is a nudist. Now he works in the Moscow Bar Association "Alexander Dobrovinsky and Partners", the head of which is at the same time. In 2015, he began teaching his courses on the legal issues of divorce. Until 1999 he lived in Bulgaria and had its citizenship. Defended the interests of Mikhail Chernoy and Iskander Makhmudov against Alfa Group and in the conflict over the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works.

Has a taboo to protect murderers, pedophiles and drug dealers. In favor of equalization civil marriage to the legal one and even organized a special website and project Civil marriage.rf.

Personal life

His mother introduced him to his wife.

He is married to a dentist and has 2 daughters. His wife Marina is fond of art history and teaches art courses.

Photo by Jan Coomans

Our first heroine

curator and art expert Marina Dobrovinskaya.

The wife of the famous lawyer Alexander Dobrovinsky, Marina preferred a career in the art world to the image of a secular lady. She realized in time that it was in the world of art that she was able to feel truly happy. And that means successful. Our meeting took place in the apartment of Marina and Alexander, where we were able to personally see their famous collection.

Marina, recent times I heard a lot about your art tours. Tell me, are they part of the educational program of the Phillips auction house, or are these your own ideas?

These are all my ideas. Educational program- also my idea, which I just proposed to the auction house. It seems to me that they were very happy and are still satisfied that such courses exist in Moscow. The idea of ​​trips is not new, they are already 7 years old, the same as my program. I call it educational, people who come to us are already quite educated in this regard. And we started riding from the first year. This is an integral part of the program, since hearing one theory is not enough. You always want to see everything with your own eyes. Agree, it’s nice, after listening to a series of lectures, to go to this city, country and see for yourself the masterpieces that you were told about.

So these trips are directly related to the courses? Is it pointless to go without preparation?

It happens to us, everything is possible. But I always try to warn people who haven't taken courses that they're going to have to face something they're not quite used to. For example, contemporary art, for which, I am convinced, you need to prepare.

And if a person is savvy, familiar with the era and the authors that he was told about, will he be interested? Why is it worth going specifically as part of your project, and not visiting the chosen city and museum on your own?

Of course, we also go to museums, but not to permanent exhibitions - you can really see it for yourself. The trips that I organize are aimed at places that you just can't get to. They include acquaintances with artists and their ateliers, trips to the storerooms of museums, some special exhibitions and galleries where you can communicate with people of art. If we go to the museum, then the curator or the director himself meets us there. We have a personal approach.

How do you develop a program for a year - do you know in advance which cities you will visit as part of the courses and taking into account exhibitions?

Everything is shaping up differently. I organize all the trips myself, there are only four of them a year, a maximum of five. I prepare something for three months, and there are those that take a year to prepare. We have two cycles in parallel in our courses: classical applied art, that is, the old masters, and the history of modern contemporary art. In any case, the trip "covers" those places, artists that the person has already heard about. It's always interesting.

I would like to hear about the organization of your courses: how many times a week they run or whether it is difficult to fit them into your schedule. And what period is discussed in the lectures on contemporary art?

Courses are designed for academic year from the beginning of October to the end of May. I try to make them comfortable for people with children. After the rest, September is a difficult month: you need to make a schedule, get organized and solve some everyday problems. It is better to start studying in October. During the school holidays, we also take a break: this is a week on the November holidays, two weeks on the New Year and then a rest on the May holidays. The cycle is for everyone. A total of 30 lectures per academic year on classical history and 30 on modern history. Lectures are held 2 times a week: Tuesday - classics, Wednesday - contemporary and contemporary art. We begin the cycle on classical art from antiquity to the middle of the 19th century, modern and contemporary art - from the middle of the 19th century to today, including the art of video art and performance, that is, what is especially relevant today. Everything has been accounted for. The lecturers who read with us change every 5 classes so that you can hear new topics, opinions, because each specialist has his own "horse". It is important to hear perfectly different people. Listening to one, even a beautiful one, is wrong. The classical part is arranged a little differently: there is my favorite lecturer who leads 15 classes at once, and then there are thematic lectures in blocks of 5 lessons.

And all 7 years it is in demand?

We started with a narrow circle, which at first included my friends and acquaintances. And until now, 90% are women, but now men are also interested, gradually we no longer fit in the small gallery where we started classes. So we moved to the lecture hall at the Central Department Store. Then it became crowded there, and now we are based on Ostozhenka in the hall for 130 seats in the Museum of Photography of Olga Sviblova.

So this is a serious school?

Yes, although I didn't expect it myself. Despite the fact that I understood how it was necessary and interesting. Seven years ago, when I started doing courses, there was nothing like this in Moscow. There were some courses at the Pushkin Museum and in the Tretyakov Gallery. But not about modern art, but only classics, and there was a lot of censorship. I do everything in a very Western way, I have no censorship. Artists, art critics can say any word and express any opinion, and I welcome this.

How did all this come about, how did this project of yours suddenly come to life?

It began with the fact that I left my profession - by my first education I am a dentist. After 18 years in dentistry, I left because youngest child hurt a lot. Since my husband and I are passionate about art and collecting, I decided to find some courses myself and do something. I found a program at the Museum of Arts and Crafts - it was pure classics, the courses lasted two years, and I went there 4 times a week. In the end, she wrote her thesis and received a diploma.

What topic?

I collect Soviet glass, I have a favorite artist - Vladimir Muratov from Gus-Khrustalny, he, unfortunately, has already died, but I knew him and bought several works from him. I believe that this is an absolutely brilliant artist with a very refined taste, and it was about him that my thesis was. Then I realized that courses should exist, but they should be different, not so boring, and I made my own program. At that time, I was very friendly with the Sotheby's auction house, they were building an office in Moscow and offered me to take a certain position with them.

Were you friends as a collector?

Yes, my husband and I are their customers. I didn’t like their offer then, I don’t see myself sitting in the office and writing reports. In response, I offered to organize courses in Moscow. They have courses in London, but they are for a slightly different target audience - for future employees, they nurture professionals there. And I offered to make lectures for amateurs and clients. But the decision was never made. It was then that I met Simon de Pury, at that time the owner of Phillips de Pury, a company that deals only with contemporary art. Simon was wildly delighted with my idea and immediately decided that such courses should be organized in Moscow. A week later, he sent me a financial director from New York, who signed a contract with me. And since then, I've been kind of at Phillips.

If we are talking about a full-scale educational course, then the choice of cities for trips is very large. How did you make a short list of places you often go to?

There is no such list, any city can attract with its culture. We even went to St. Petersburg. It is interesting, of course, to travel around Europe. Since I do everything myself, organizing a trip to some new town takes up to a year. For example, there will be New York soon, and I have been preparing this trip for a long time. It's not easy, because I always go for very few days: to Europe - for 3 and a half days, to New York - 5 days. Why? First, there is a lot of material to look at. Everything must be in right time and not too long, so that the person is not tired, not bored. Every 5 minutes - thought out and organized. For three and a half days we watch a lot, plus lunches and dinners, sometimes going to the opera or theater. The program is very rich. After these three days, it seems that you were on a trip for two months, but of course, it’s difficult to leave for such a long time - we all have little time, all our families. In addition, if a person sees and hears too much, then the information is difficult to remember and easy to get confused. Everything should be proportional. I tried a lot before I came up with this format, and now it seems perfect to me.

I understand it very well previous work. We need to make sure that everyone is happy, so that people have the opportunity to relax and exhale, change clothes before dinner. I understand the work behind it.

Yes, it's not that simple. But I really like it, I myself get great pleasure and never repeat anything. Although I have a favorite city - Brussels, which we will go to for the fourth time, but this is a real storehouse of art, culture, incredible tasty food, and each time the trip can be made completely new.

Tell us about your Brussels! I also love this city, but usually, having been there for one day, I go somewhere to Ghent or Bruges. And suddenly you tell me that you will be there for the fourth time...

Firstly, we always go there at the end of January to get to the BRAFA antique fair. I think this is one of the best art fairs in Europe. The prices are good and things are of high quality, excellent galleries participate - many are from Paris, and in Paris they have completely different prices. We usually come to the fair on the first day, for the vernissage, after which there is a dinner, which is sometimes visited by the queen. Society of collectors - it's very interesting! Then - Ghent, my favorite city, I never miss it. The drive is only 40 minutes, and you should definitely see the Ghent altar of the van Eyck brothers, I consider it one of the wonders of the world in art, you can look at it endlessly. Ghent also has a wonderful museum of modern art with an amazing director who met us last time and told us everything. He showed the exposition and even took it to the storeroom, took out the hidden Kabakov.

Ghent altarpiece by the van Eyck brothers

By the way, I was always interested to know: can you buy something from the storerooms of museums?

No, museums do not sell anything, they only buy for their collection. If you need to sell something, then - through an auction, but rarely. They keep everything in storerooms and gradually change the exposition, they can get some things for exhibitions, lend them to other countries and cities.

Ghent also has an excellent design museum. Sometimes we go to Antwerp - to the museum of modern art and the fashion museum, where there are always excellent exhibitions. This time we will definitely go to the Antwerp suburb to the studio of Wim Delvoye, a contemporary artist whose most famous work is tattoos on the backs of pigs. His things were recently exhibited in our Pushkin Museum, interspersed in the main collection, and his gothic sculptures looked great.

Works by Wim Delvoye

In Brussels, there is Villa Ampan, an unreal beauty building in the Art Deco style, built by the Count of Ampan. After his death, the villa was sold, and whoever lived there even had a Soviet embassy. As a result, it was bought by the Bogosyan family - jewelers from Geneva from the Bogart company. They restored the villa very beautifully and made an exhibition space: 3-4 exhibitions per year, one better than the other. It's impossible to miss.

Villa Empain

Also, everyone knows about the Rene Magritte Museum, but few people know that there is also his house-museum in Brussels. This artist was very modest, he lived with his wife on the outskirts of the city, his apartment and studio have been preserved in the original! What else? Museum Island in the center of Brussels - the Royal Museum with an amazing collection, the Museum of Music. Everything is nearby. We also visited the studio of the sculptor Isabelle Tilges, she is French but has been living in Belgium for a long time. Creates very exquisite sculptures. Then we were in the studio of the artist Isabelle de Borgrave, she makes costumes, dishes, furniture out of paper. In the studio, the works of artists can be purchased, or you will be given the address of the gallery where this can be done.

Works by Isabelle de Borchrave

Approximate cost of her work?

From 2-3 thousand euros, some things - up to 20 thousand ... We also dined at the house of Gerald Watlet, a famous decorator. He is also a television cook, he has his own program. I met Gerald at the Belgian embassy in Moscow, talked about the project, about the trip to Brussels, and he invited us to his house for dinner, said: “I will cook for you.” I clarified that there are 17 of us in the group! He did not raise an eyebrow: "No problem, I will cook for 17 people." He has an amazing apartment, eclectic and beautiful, and a great dinner. Chicken fricassee I will remember for a long time!

We also visited the comic book museum, without which it is impossible to imagine Brussels. And next year, we will definitely go to the arsenal building, where the Belgian bag factory Delvaux is located, which has existed since 1869. This is my favorite brand royal family. Dressing is not inferior to Hermes bags - beautiful work, exquisite models. The factory employs 200 people, each for 40-50 years. Plus - a museum of bags. They usually do not like to let visitors in there, but they will make an exception for us .. Also in the program is an old brewery, which was bought by a collector who also deals with interiors. He made a showroom of interiors and added his incomparable collection there. He collects everything: from antique statues and Chinese vases to Anish Kapoor, the collection contains only masterpieces.

Marina, many people are interested in you as a media person, you are known not just as a wife famous husband, namely as Marina Dobrovinsky. What is your attitude towards this?

I take it very calmly. And I do not at all strive to get into the gossip column. What I do is more important to me than what people say about me as a person.

Looking at you, you understand that you have reached some high level of self-consciousness, culture and attitude to life. Therefore, it is very interesting, what does the quality of life mean to you? Let's say a 5 star hotel? Is it primarily service or decor?

This is absolute convenience. For me, luxury is the right mattress, the right closet, the right bath with the right shower. For my taste, W hotels with open showers without partitions are uncomfortable - beautiful, but uncomfortable. In Brussels I love the former Conrad, now he is Steigenberger, in Paris I love Le Meurice, Hotel Georges V. It is important for me where the hotel is located so that it can be conveniently reached from there. If I'm traveling with a group, then I'll see if the bus can park near the hotel - narrow streets will not work, because then our ladies in stilettos will walk on the cobblestones.

The Prince de Galles is relatively new, door to door to Georges V. Both hotels are luxurious, but in different ways.

I have not been there, you need to see how modern and comfortable it is. Not so long ago we were in Israel, one day in Jerusalem at the Mamilla Hotel. It is very beautiful, with a chic restaurant on the roof and in the garden, but the rooms are terribly uncomfortable, open showers without partitions ...

Do you have your own chef?

There is an assistant who cooks when I'm away. But for my daughters and husband, I cook myself. But I don't like it for myself.

What are your food preferences? I have one daughter who eats meat, the other doesn't, my husband loves to eat, I'm always looking for new diets...

When traveling with a group, we just go to good restaurants so that everyone can enjoy. I myself have not eaten meat for 3 years, but I eat fish, and going to a restaurant is not a problem for me, I will always find what I like. But I never mix, say, protein with the wrong carbohydrate, I don't eat fish with rice or potatoes. And I try not to eat flour, I just don’t like sweets. I prefer salty. Pizza tastes better than sweets to me.

How do you feel about macrobiotics?

You need to donate blood and understand your individual characteristics. It does not suit someone, and on the contrary, you need to eat a lot of proteins. Ordinary milk can be replaced with milk from almonds, buckwheat, soy...

But the taste of soy milk is soy.

Yes, real taste will be missing. But I'm fine with soy. My friend Ira Azarova opened the Fresh restaurant, and this cuisine really suits everyone. There is milk and goat cheese, that is, the restaurant is still not vegan, but it is vegetarian. Huge selection, everything is fresh. I love yogurt, I make it myself in a yogurt maker. I buy Russian goat milk, take 1 goat yogurt as a starter and cook it.

In general, everyone laughs that sanctions contribute to the development of a philosophy of eating local products.

You know, it would be possible if we lived in Azerbaijan, where everything grows. It's unrealistic for us. Tomatoes do not grow, and cucumbers only in summer. And we need cucumbers and lettuce in winter. Do not eat only potatoes and apples. Apples, too, by the way, do not always grow.

What are your hobbies, for example, what do you read?

I love art magazines - I bring many from trips. I really like Beaux Arts. And travel magazines. In Russia, I read Conde Nast Traveler, Geo, the German collection of Merian magazines... By the way, I am currently working on my guidebooks, I think they will be ready next year.

How did the idea of ​​their creation come about?

Thanks to the trips, as I was always looking for unusual, semi-closed places. I did not come across anything similar, and I decided to make an art navigator myself: it will be galleries, hotels, and restaurants. So that a person can open a book and find out where, for example, to go in London, to connect his whole trip with art: museums, hotels, bookstores... If you come with children, I will tell you about thematic workshops for them.

When can we expect these guides to be released?

In February-March 2015 there will most likely be Paris and Brussels. They are written by journalists or art journalists, each about his city. I make guidebooks only in Russian and initially only for Russia. There will be only 500 of them - limited edition. Not much, but there are reasons for that. There will also be secret addresses in them, where you can get only with this guide as with a key!

If we take, for example, New York - what kind of places will they be?

Most likely Tiffany & Co. Or a storeroom of some museum. Something unusual, where you can not go on your own. In Paris, it will be the Cartier Museum and their ateliers. I will not reveal all the secrets yet. The guide will be without photos, but with drawings by the artist, he specially creates a series of illustrations for the city. So sign up for the waiting-list. It will cost about 10,000 rubles, a lot has already been booked, but you can still buy.

Marina, if I go back to you personally - you are considered a very elegant woman, did you specially work on the image?

It so happened that from the age of 13 I lived in Germany, then 8 years in Italy, then in France. Living in Italy, especially in Milan, it is impossible not to find something Italian. It seems to me that everything happened to me by itself. The taste was instilled in me by the countries where I lived.

What style do you prefer?

Italian. It is there, it seems to me, that the style is really visible, it is in everything and everywhere. There is no ugliness anywhere, at least I don't see it.

But in Russia?

In Russia, I pay attention to other things. As for my family - yes, in terms of taste, I can decide that this is how it should be, and not differently. I recommend something for my daughters. Although they already know everything themselves.

And are you satisfied with their taste?

Not always, they are young, and teenagers often want to get pink bangs - let them go through it, I think that this is normal. But I never try to change or correct anyone, and in no case will I impose anything if the person himself has not come for advice. It couldn't be worse. But even if they ask for recommendations, you also need to be careful: if they come to you for advice, this does not mean that they will like your answer.

This is wise, but in your diplomatic answer it is read that something can strain the environment.

- “Strain” is not the right word, I can just note to myself. Not everyone here knows yet what it means to be “out of place”, “to be in moderation”, there is a story about overdressed. Pompously and diligently dress, do or say. You can't get away from this. I prefer to be tolerant.

This is the key to harmony.

Yes, and it will be boring to live if everyone sees everything and does everything the same way. By standards.

If someone asks you for advice: I want to be like you, what should I do?

“Study, study and study.” Read, learn languages, get rich. This is real wealth. And that no one will ever take away from you. This is especially important for women. She is interesting to children, girlfriends, a man, when she is educated and busy with business.

Alexander Dobrovinsky is a lawyer, a specialist in difficult divorces, a collector, a radio host, a philanthropist ... One can list for a long time. Who are you, Alexander?

I? I am my own favorite. (Laughs.) This is mutual love. Having arisen once, it is constantly cultivated. One day, I thought about what my positive and negative qualities are, and concluded that my main negative quality is that I do not know all my positive qualities, and my main positive quality is that I know a couple of my negative qualities. So Alexander Andreevich and I live in perfect harmony, we understand each other, it’s easy and comfortable for us to be together, and, most importantly, it’s interesting! (Laughs.)

A man with a great sense of humor is a rarity these days!

With my last wife, we just died of laughter at the divorce. They looked at us like we were crazy, and we laughed, remembering something.

What did you remember?

Well, as the bed was broken, from laughter too. (Laughs.) In my family, first of all, a sense of humor was always valued, and a sense of self-irony was even higher than a sense of humor.

You can't live without self-irony.

People who take themselves too seriously are terrible boring people who are not fun to talk to. My people survived 5700 years only because they could smile at themselves.

How many wives did you have?

Yours or in general? Official, when did we go to the registry office? One two Three.

What about unofficial ones?

I will say that it has always been an amazing relationship, and even after breaking up.

Are you friends with everyone?

Do not spill water. There are exceptions, but this is generally the case.

This is another positive quality, but you breed a large number of people in this city?

And I breed, and I make peace.

What happens more often: divorce or reconciliation?

Of course, divorces happen more often, because there are aggravating circumstances. But when a couple manages to reconcile, it costs hundreds of divorces!

Do many clients remain your friends after that?

Yes, of course, because the moment when you reached out to give, not to take away, is very important for a person in trouble. And every divorce is a tragedy. After all, people got married in order to walk hand in hand along the thorny and winding road life, to be together until the very end, and suddenly the family collapses. At this time, a lot of people appear around who give advice there, give advice here, in the middle there are often children who must take some position, or adults try to get the children to take this position. Often parents come in and stick to their own line. Sea of ​​advisers! And suddenly there is a person who says: “Listen, let me try to reconcile you.” And when this happens, a completely shocking state sets in!

An unexpected story, especially when your job is to stay on the client side.

I remain on the client side, there is no other way. But trying to convince a person that you need to think and make peace is great. By the way, one of the biggest cases that I had happened thanks to such an event. A divorcing husband came to me, the son of a very wealthy man.

Others don't come to you!

Why? I have a lot of friends who need help. Yes, and there are simply people who come to get a business card, then to scare a husband or wife. This also happens. (Laughs.)

So, they came together with their father with a definite intention to “tear and trample” the woman. I listened and listened, and then I said: “Why are you doing this? She lived with you for so many years, when you walked down the aisle with her, you probably loved her. Why now it is necessary to throw it out into the street, explain to me? To end this once and for all, let's do marriage contract. Leave her an apartment, a car, a summer house on it and give her 200-300 thousand dollars. For you, this is nothing like taking the subway.” They were both surprised, but obeyed. And when they signed this contract, her husband said to her: “I can’t understand why I’m doing this, but I got a strange lawyer who insisted that you be given all this money. Send him a bottle of cognac." The woman remembered this and years later sent me one client. She came in tears - she was at odds with a phenomenally rich man, whom she was very afraid of, and all she wanted from him was that he leave her a boutique, a lease for a store in Moscow. The story ended with her receiving $620 million instead of a boutique.

Is it difficult to compete against people of this level? They then do not take revenge?

That is why they come here. Take, for example, the high-profile trial between Slutsker, which was widely covered in the media. When I was talking to a client who was unable to take the hit, I said, “Look, this story needs someone to focus all the hate on. I will be the one to call fire upon myself."

And it was done, 24 lawyers opposed me,
and I was alone.

And when the judge pronounced her decision, she said that in two decades of work she had not seen a case for the party to focus on proving that the lawyer was wrong, and not the defendant. For some time now it has become a certain calling card my work. I take all the negativity on myself, take the whole blow, and the danger passes by my client. The opposing side understands that I invented everything, and that I will go to the end, and its anger goes to me, not to my client. This happens both in the courtroom and outside its walls, from beginning to end.

Tell us about your passion for art. I know you collect paintings, watches, porcelain...

Yes, I have 22 collections. In total, as the museum workers say, there are 40,000 items.

Do you keep collections in Russia?

Yes, of course, I bring everything here. Now you are sitting next to Napoleon's purse. Touch it, he traveled all over Europe with it and got stuck here in Russia. (Laughs.)

What other weaknesses do you have besides love for beauty?

I don’t even know if this is a weakness, but I have never been able to hit or just raise my voice to a woman. And sometimes they do that. (Laughs.) I can't scream, I can't at all. A couple of years ago, there was a case on this carpet when my secretary, an assistant, did something stupid, and since I can’t scream, I started to hiss at her.

She fainted right there.

It seems to me that the quieter you speak, the more attention people pay to you, because they begin to listen. So the cry is not mine. True, sometimes I want to bark, but I can’t.

Do you travel a lot?

Oh yeah! I've been traveling all my life, but I haven't seen everything yet. One minus - I like to return to where I felt good.

And how often does this happen? I fell in love with Sardinia, I go there every summer. But best trip in my life is in Peru and I'm not sure I can go back there soon.

Differently. I was just in Sardinia and I didn't like it there. I liked Thailand! I bought a villa in Phuket, a car, and have been going there for 18 years. Every year I think about the fact that I should go somewhere else, but closer to the new year, thoughts always arise: “Where to? What for? It's so good in Thailand!”, and I fly there again. This is my distant dacha, it's so nice there in winter!

You can't forbid living beautifully. What did you dream about as a child and what do you dream about now? Have you fulfilled your aspirations? They say that successful men stop dreaming.

I haven't grown up yet to stop dreaming. (Laughs.) As a child, I knew very well what I wanted.

Perhaps these were goals, not dreams.

No, dreams. Because I wanted a Rolls-Royce. Who would have thought in Soviet times that I would have a Rolls-Royce. But my mother told me as a child that everything a person dreams about materializes.

I had crazy dreams, and gradually I realized them,
but they appear again and again.

I wanted to pee from the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris during the day - I did. I wanted to meet Brigitte Bardot, so she herself came to me by chance.

But seriously?

Probably make a film and try yourself as a director. I really love new things! All my collections are discoveries for myself and for the world. I collect what no one has collected, I love to do what no one else has done.

Will it be a feature film?

Probably yes. I almost despaired of finding a screenwriter and director for myself. I have come across the fact that writing books and being a playwright are completely different things. I succeed in writing, inducing a smile - the second book is already being published with a circulation twice as large as planned. But dramaturgy is a separate genre: you have to imagine a scene or film set with all the ensuing requirements. I tried to work with several screenwriters, but they are creative people, and they begin to advise me and offer me things that, for example, I do not want. I already have a couple of scripts that do not suit me, they need to be redone. I would like to make a film myself according to my ideas, and be responsible for it myself, and not make excuses, complaining that it turned out so badly, because the director was bad. I am always responsible for what I do.

This is a rare quality that distinguishes a successful man from an unsuccessful one - the ability to take responsibility for people, for situations.

Yes, rare, especially in Russian culture. No matter how many times a person is late, he will always find a reason and an excuse: traffic jams, stomach ache, menstruation. I can't stand it. It's rare that a person comes in and says, "Sorry, I'm late, my fault." Period. This is how I was brought up - to be responsible for my actions.

Have there been times when you regretted your actions and would like to change everything?

Of course. There is an anecdote that I often tell my clients. (Laughs.) On the eve of the 15th wedding anniversary, the wife wakes up and sees her husband sitting in the kitchen. In front of him is a glass of vodka, a cucumber ...

Honey, are you celebrating one?

Not really.

Why are you drinking?

If I had strangled you 15 years ago, today I would have been released. (Laughs.)

Of course, there are things that you regret, and which have settled in you and tormented by memories. But Jewish wisdom says that experience is your mistakes, and we never consider experience that we have done good. From time to time I think about what I would have done differently, what would have happened if I had come to Russia in 1992 and dealt with oil. Perhaps life would have turned out differently. (Laughs.)

Poor women would be left without an ideal lawyer, defender and intercessor! Are there more women than men among your clients?

No, it's about the same.

And who is more interesting to protect, women or men?

You know, the hardest things are the most interesting. With women it is more difficult, but more pleasant. Will explain. At a certain stage, a woman feels how a lawyer becomes, that is, I become, her brother, father, attorney ...

Strong male shoulder?

Yes, and the woman's subconscious wants to say thank you. She is looking for a person who sues her or goes to talk with the bandits, or shakes the rights with her husband, which is actually the same as talking to the bandits, who fenced her off from all troubles and promises a wonderful future, to thank. And how women say thank you, do I need to explain. And then the moment comes when you are invited to celebrate the victory in a restaurant, and I already know what will happen next.

Is it not pleasant for a man when a large number of women fall in love with him?

If we are talking about love, I will tell you, I am a great specialist in this field.

A person absolutely does not care whether they love him or not, it is more important for you that you love.

A person sincerely wants to prove his gratitude, so in no case can he be offended. It is best to come to dinner with a friend, with his wife, which dot the i's. After all, you came with your beloved, and that's it. But this comes with experience. I had very difficult cases when you lose a client. I was also warned by my grandfather's brother, Uncle Fima, a very famous lawyer in Leningrad. Never protect relatives, if you lose, everything will be bad: resentment, scandals, etc. And you can sleep with clients only after everything is over. Why? First, stop paying. (Laughs.) I had a case when I didn’t listen to Uncle Fima many, many years ago: we won, everything was great, but now I have a bill for her in front of me, and the girl comes and says: I want to go on vacation, please give me money ... This was not part of my plans when we got into the legal business.

Yes, perhaps it is a heavy burden to be your wife. Marina Dobrovinsky is a wise and beautiful woman.

Marina is beloved, there should not be another wife and never will be. Marina is a brilliant person. We are of the same breed, went through the same school of life, both were emigrants. She is the first woman in my life who was able to create a home where I am drawn and where I want to return. I'm interested in her, and she, I hope, with me too.

Are you helping her?

Tomorrow I will give a lecture at her Phillips art history course. Her teacher is ill and I will have to give a lecture on photography. About Rodchenko and Helmut Newton, about two photographers whom I love and collect. At lectures, I always talk about my impressions, about my vision of these people. When a person gives a lecture in general, without passing through the prism of his perception, it is very boring to listen.

Tell me, do you always get what you want?

Almost yes. But it happens that I started to do, and how to continue, but I'm too lazy to go further.

You have so much time for everything, you have laziness!?

I want to have time for everything: both here and there. I'm doing a radio program "Yoga for the Brains" on Silver Rain. The program has been running for four years now with a phenomenal rating, it is listened to by both schoolchildren and pensioners. I remember you and Vitaly Kozak were visiting me. I have fun on the program! But I'm already thinking to come up with something new, you remember that I'm a lover of novelty!

Perhaps it will be a TV program?

Very likely.

Well then big ship- great swimming!