Dan Bilak

Dan Bilak applies his expertise in government and regulatory affairs to assist global businesses with mitigating emerging market risk in infrastructure, energy, agribusiness and technology sectors. As partner at CMS Cameron McKenna’s Ukraine office and former leader of UkraineInvest (the country’s investment promotion agency).

Everyone in Ukraine contributes their time and talent to aiding the military – from housewives making camouflage nets for battalions to babushkas providing food for battalions – making this conflict one that relies heavily on crowdfunded support.

Early Life and Education

Daniel Bilak is senior counsel of Kinstellar, one of the premier international law firms in Central and Eastern Europe. With 30 years of professional experience in Central and Eastern Europe, Daniel brings invaluable experience.

Bilak’s work includes supporting the governments of Bulgaria and Lithuania with administrative justice reform to help strengthen their EU accession programmes. He has also collaborated with Ukraine on anti-corruption law drafting as well as legal reform.

He is married with multiple children but prefers to keep details of his personal life private for privacy reasons. He follows Jewish religion. Additionally, he is an accomplished lawyer known for possessing an immense net worth; although, for reasons of privacy he has yet to make this information public.

Professional Career

Bilak has built up extensive expertise in Central and Eastern European law over his long career. After graduating from McGill University’s law school in 1986, he served as an attorney at Fasken in Toronto.

He then moved to Ukraine, where he is currently located. His responsibilities include serving as Director of the newly-established Ukraine Investment Promotion Office and Chief Investment Advisor to Prime Minister of Ukraine – both positions being fulfilled on secondment from CMS Cameron McKenna Kyiv office.

He provides advice to major international and Ukrainian businesses operating in energy, agribusiness, infrastructure and technology sectors. In addition, he serves as counsel to the Business Ombudsman Institution and as an UNDP governance expert; moreover he is also part of Territorial Defence Forces to assist army and police with local patrolling activities.

Achievement and Honors

Daniel Bilak served as Chief Investment Advisor to Ukraine’s Prime Minister and led its foreign investment promotion agency UkraineInvest. He has also served as counsel to the Ukrainian Business Ombudsman Institution and as a senior United Nations Development Programme governance expert to governments of Bulgaria and Lithuania. Additionally, he has represented leading international investors in Ukraine for their agribusiness, infrastructure and energy projects. Furthermore, he is a Partner at Kinstellar international law firm and oversees their Kyiv office. Bilak serves on the National Commission on Strengthening Democracy and Rule of Law and supports Ukraine’s bid to join NATO. As a proud Canadian, Bilak emulates his parents’ accomplishments when they immigrated from Saskatchewan during the Great Depression and created the Prairies through hard work ethic, commitment to their nation, and love of home.

Personal Life

Daniel Bilak has kept his personal life out of the spotlight. He lives with his family in Ukraine, has two children whom he does not disclose information about publicly to protect their privacy.

Bilak held an executive position at ELKIND, LIPTON & JACOBS before joining CMS Cameron McKenna as a partner. Additionally, from 1995-2006 he served as senior governance expert at UNDP.

As Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, Bilak donned army fatigues and joined a territorial defence unit. His unit takes on patrol duties that allow the army and police to focus on more urgent work; additionally it was also the world’s first crowdfunded war, with individual units raising funds through Twitter and Facebook for equipment and food needs.

Net Worth

Dan Bilzerian is an astonishingly wealthy individual who boasts of his playboy image to his 32 million social media followers. He claims his wealth comes from two sources – poker and his cannabis retail company called ‘Ignite’.

However, his financial background remains dubious. According to a Form 4 filing he made over 8 trades of Advent Convertible and Income Fund stock since 2007.

He owns a mansion with an expansive pool that can comfortably seat over 60 people, which reportedly belongs to Ignite and requires frequent upkeep costs; perhaps accounting for some discrepancies between his claimed wealth and reality. Furthermore, there have been several lawsuits brought against him in the past.