Business programme
30.06.2022
16:30–18:00

The Professionalization of Judicial Proceedings

Congress Centre, conference hall D1
Justice and Litigation
Broadcast
Article 48 of the Russian constitution enshrines the right to receive professional legal aid, including free legal aid in cases provided for by law. However, due to a number of reasons, it has become difficult to ensure this right. This is primarily reflected in the low quality of legal services, particularly when it comes to representing the client’s interests in court. As a result, requirements for judicial representatives have recently been raised. Now, representatives at civil, arbitration and administrative cases must have a higher legal education or a degree in law. However, practice has shown that having a higher legal education alone is not a sufficient guarantee that a judicial representative is properly qualified. Most lawyers are unregulated – they are not bound by rules of professional ethics, and cannot be struck off due to providing poor-quality legal services. The lack of clear criteria for assessing lawyers enables them – in the case of providing poor legal assistance – to avoid liability and continue their bad practice. This also applies to lawyers who have lost their status by disciplinary procedure. The current procedure for representation does not encourage public confidence in the Russian state and its guarantees as set out in the constitution. What requirements should be applied to court representatives? Who should assess whether they meet the requirements? How should the mechanism allowing lawyers to act as judicial representatives be designed?

Moderator

Mikhail Barshchevsky
Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of the Russian Federation at the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation

Panellists

Maxim Beskhmelnitsyn
Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation
Alla Generalova
Head of Tax Practice, SIBUR
Dmitry Dubenetsky
Managing Director, DOM.RF; Vice President, DOM.RF Bank
Stepan Zaitsev
Legal Director, Siemens
Yuri Ivanenko
Judge, The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation
Sergey Pepelyaev
Managing Partner, Pepeliaev Group
Yury Pilipenko
President, Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation

Front row participants

Elena Avakyan
Vice President, The Russian Federal Bar Association
Gennady Sharov
Vice President, Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation; Representative of the Council of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation in the Southern Federal District

Broadcast

Mikhail Barshchevsky
Plenipotentiary Representative of the Government of the Russian Federation at the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation
Maxim Beskhmelnitsyn
Deputy Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation
Alla Generalova
Head of Tax Practice, SIBUR
Dmitry Dubenetsky
Managing Director, DOM.RF; Vice President, DOM.RF Bank
Stepan Zaitsev
Legal Director, Siemens
Yuri Ivanenko
Judge, The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation
Sergey Pepelyaev
Managing Partner, Pepeliaev Group
Yury Pilipenko
President, Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation
Elena Avakyan
Vice President, The Russian Federal Bar Association
Elena Avakyan is the Executive Director of the Non-Profit Partnership for Advancement of Corporate Law.
Since 2019, Elena has been a member of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers Council. Since 2018, she served on the Expert Council on Legislative Support for the Development of the Securities Market and Derivative Financial Instruments under the Committee of the State Duma for Financial Markets.
From 2006 to 2014, Elena served as the head of Control and Analytic Directorate at the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation. She was one of the ideologists of the e-justice project in Russia and one of its managers.
In 2004–2005, Elena was the chairwoman of the board of the National Association of Securities Market Participants. In 1999–2004, she was the head of Legal Control Service and vice president of Renaissance-Capital. Before that, she worked as a general counsel of the board of the St Petersburg Stock Exchange.
At various times, Elena served as a financial market legislation expert for the FAS of Russia and Ministry of Finance, corporate governance expert for the Ministry of Economic Development, expert for the State Duma Committee on Credit Organizations and Financial Markets and Council of the Federation Committee on Financial Markets and Money Circulation as well as an expert of the Property Committee of the RF State Duma, an assistant to the Committee chairperson and assistant to a deputy of the State Duma Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State-Building. Since 2011, she is a member of the working group on multi-purpose centers. She took part in the drafting of a concept of new civil legislation.
Elena is a member of all working groups at the Skolkovo competence centres in each of the focus areas of the Digital Economy national programme; she leads a small working group on the concept of an ‘electronic document’ within the Skolkovo working groups.
Gennady Sharov
Vice President, Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation; Representative of the Council of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation in the Southern Federal District
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