As WNBA star Brittney Griner fights for leniency in a courtroom outside of Moscow after pleading guilty to drug charges, she’s relying on a legal team with solid grounding inside and out of Russia.

She’s represented by Maria Blagovolina, a former Allen & Overy associate who’s now a partner at Moscow-based Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin, a firm founded four years ago by two former Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld partners.