Svitlana Kheda

Practice Areas

Svitlana Kheda is an internationally recognised expert in labour and employment, privacy and data protection, anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, and mediation Dr Kheda has vast experience in advising leading multinational companies on a wide range of sophisticated and complex issues in all of the above areas.

Svitlana Kheda also has been extensively engaged for over 10 years in many international projects on creating an enabling environment and regulatory framework for developing public-private partnerships (PPP) in infrastructure in Ukraine, including chairing the parliamentary working group and being a member of several governmental working groups on developing the Ukrainian PPP legislation.

In particular, Dr Kheda focuses on adjusting the labour policies and procedures of multinational groups to Ukrainian legislation, including adapting corporate policies of foreign companies, developed according to the FCPA and the UKBA, to Ukrainian anti-corruption legislation, and developing standard anti-corruption contract clauses and other corporate documentation in the anti-corruption area. Dr Kheda is experienced in conducting FCPA and the UKBA compliance due diligence reviews of Ukrainian targets and internal investigations of compliance violations. Dr Kheda regularly prepares legal opinions on various instances of gift/charity/grant-in-aid giving and providing entertainment/hospitality to government officials and other subjects of liability for corruption offences.

Svitlana Kheda is a certified mediator with 15-year experience in the successful use of mediation and quasi-mediation procedures to settle labour and workplace disputes and conflicts, including those connected with compliance violations. Dr Kheda is renowned for her remarkable track record of complicated employment disputes settled amicably and on the clients’ terms. In addition, Svitlana Kheda is well-regarded for developing preventive mechanisms and risk mitigation solutions in the areas of her expertise.

Dr Kheda is a co-author of the first in Ukraine textbook on mediation for law school students, as well as the author of a monograph, book chapters, and over 100 articles and commentaries, published in the USA, the UK, Ukraine, Turkey, India, and Canada.

Career

Before joining Sayenko Kharenko, Dr Kheda headed the Programs Department of the International Law Institute (Washington, DC, USA), where, in particular, she developed and taught the training seminars “Anti-Corruption Regulation”, “Arbitration and Mediation”, “Public-Private Partnership in Infrastructure”, and “Legislative Drafting” for senior governmental officials and members of parliaments of developing countries and emerging economies. Dr Kheda’s professional experience also includes working for a leading Western law firm operating in Ukraine, where she was in charge of labour and employment practice for eight years, and supervising (at the client’s request) for over a year the HR department of one of Ukraine’s biggest garment factories.

Professional Memberships

Board Member of the National Association of Mediators of Ukraine for 2019-2021

International Bar Association, Anti-Corruption, Employment and Industrial Relations Law Committees

National Association of Mediators of Ukraine

Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics (USA)

Ukrainian Bar Association, Board Member of the Labor Law Committee

American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine

European Business Association

Education