From 10th to 11th of December 2013 law firm “Inmar” took part in the National Juridical Congress, which is one of the most effective discussion platforms

From 10th to 11th of December 2013 RIA Novosti news agency and one of the leading source of legal and judicial information Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI) held large law-oriented event called National Juridical Congress.

Juridical Congress was established in 2011 and has already become platform recognized by professional community. This congress traditionally brings together more than 250 representatives of Russian courts, law firms, governmental and public organizations, business-structures, as well as notable persons in law and jurisprudence.

In 2013 Congress was officially renamed the National Juridical Congress and became the legal successor to the International Juridical Congress, that had been supported by Russian Legal Information Agency and RIA Novosti news agency for two years. The new name reflects the fundamental principles and objectives of the event: thorough review and evaluation of the changes in the Russian jurisprudential market, promotion of legal culture, as well as openness and transparency of the judicial system and reforms in Russia.

One of the issues discussed during National Law Congress was “Integration of the Supreme Court and Superior Commercial Court: formation of unified legal practices. The Pros and Cons!”

Overwhelming majority of the participants did not agree with this legislative initiative. However, there were some supporters of the new law. For example Cyril Vozisov voted for the integration of two supreme judicial authorities. According to Mr. Vozisov this is the first step for the full-scale modernization of the court system.

According to the law firm partner first of all you need to form a positive attitude to these changes. We need to eliminate dualism and contradictions between arbitration decisions and general jurisdiction courts decisions. We also should remember that new law should concern similar situations and not be associated with a particular member structure.

In addition, new justice system should include all positive features of the existing system such as: experience, staff composition, fresh approaches and systems that are already operating, including “My referee” system, “E-justice” and so on.

It is also necessary to refine and improve existing working facilities in the courts. We cannot say that such facilities like video conferencing and others are successfully used everywhere.

According to Mr.Vozisov people who are expressing their negative opinion should avoid groundless criticism and judgments based on personal benefits.

It seems that the positive feedback received during conference will have a positive influence on the formation and operation of the new Supreme Court. This is particularly about increasing the number of meetings of the Presidium of Russian Armed Forces with the possibility of separation sessions for certain categories of disputes. This should be done in order to prevent delegating the formation of the judicial decision on the particular issue to the Ministries and departments, like it used to be earlier.

Another issue discussed during Congress was “Reformation of the Civil Code. Advocacy and notary services: improving quality and service standards”. Natalia Novikova commented about this issue. Natalia supported the legislator’s position about obligatory notarial form for contracts subject to state registration. According to Natalia Novikova it is way too early to introduce this form because this procedure is quite costly both in financial terms and in terms of time. She also mentioned that introducing obligatory notarial form is not a remedy against illegal transactions.