There's something ... familiar ... about this ...

From Radio Free Europe's newswire (emphases mine):

Female Lawyer With No Judicial Experience Picked For Top Court Spot
The Federation Council confirmed on 5 October Yelena Valyavina for the post of first deputy chairman of the Higher Arbitration Court, "Kommersant-Daily" reported on 6 October. According to the daily, Valyavina graduated from President Putin's alma mater, the law school at Leningrad State University, and in 1994 she was a specialist for the housing committee of the St. Petersburg mayoral administration, where Putin was also working at the time. Valyavina is also a classmate of presidential-administration head Dmitrii Medvedev and worked with the current chairman of the court, Anton Ivanov, in St. Petersburg's Justice Department at the end of the 1990s. Like Ivanov, Valyavina also had no prior experience as a judge before being appointed to the Higher Arbitration Court. Dmitrii Fursov, deputy chairman of Moscow Oblast's Arbitration Court, is challenging Valyavina's appointment in court, arguing that he won a competition for the position. Fursov has 10 years' experience on the court and a Ph.D. in jurisprudence.

Huh. Well, I guess we know now who's mentoring Dubya in his presidential dooties. (Thanks to Laura for the link.)