On 9–10 April 2009 the Fifth Annual Conference Legal Business in Russia sponsored by EPAM Law took place in Moscow. The two days conference was attended by EPA&P partners Dimitry Afanasiev, Grigory Chernyshov and Dmitry Stepanov.

Day One of the forum hosted by Vedomosti newspaper traditionally focused on issues of management of law firms, evolution of the legal services market, prospects of relations with clients and regulation of the legal profession.

The hottest topics with the most serious impact on the evolution of the Russian legal system were put on agenda at the Session Dialogue between Legal Business and Government: How to Increase Effectiveness of Legal Institutions, presided by Dimitry Afanasiev, the member of the Partners’ Committee of EPAM.

Introducing the session Dimitry Afanasiev noted: “In my view, the key issue of cooperation between business lawyers and the government is how the legal business community can help the government to promote the rule of law. The questions we are currently facing are, first, how can we reinforce the judiciary? Second, how can we improve our civil law regulations so that the clients stop sheltering under laws of other jurisdictions? Third, how can we help the government to develop a legal basis to overcome the crisis and to instill confidence in our country in investors (both Russian and non-Russian)? Forth, how can we establish an efficient scheme of self-regulation to ensure that all the lawyers who render legal services for money abide by the professional ethical standards, while preserving our independence from the iron fist of the government? Fifth, what are we doing to help training professionals committed to a practical approach? Sixth, finally, how can we protect the interests of the national players in the legal business at the time of joining the WTO?”

The participants of the discussion included Chairman of the Supreme Arbitrazh Court of the Russian Federation Anton Ivanov, First Vice Chairman of the Council of Federation Alexander Torshin, First Vice Chairman of the Security Committee of the Russian State Duma Mikhail Grishankov and well-known legal practitioners.

As part of the session, Grigory Chernyshov, a Partner at Law Offices EPAM shared his view of the role of the Bar in reinforcement of the Russian judiciary. “I am firmly convinced that only the Bar may develop a radical change in terms of corruption of the judiciary. Neither statutory nor regulatory safeguards put in place by the government may solve this problem. The roots of corruption rest in the society and only the society itself can eradicate them by using the Bar as an eminent tool of the civil society,” Grigory Chernyshov said in his report.

Traditional conclusion of Day One was the Corporate Lawyer awards ceremony rewarding law firms for their contribution in social and educational initiatives. EPAM was awarded for the contribution in Development of Legal Science and Education.

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Day Two of the conference was dedicated to the most relevant issues of law and law practice.

Session Current Issues of Legal Basis of the Economy Advance hosted government officials and legal practitioners who discussed the most recent changes of the corporate regulations and the measures promoted by the government to enhance the Russian economy and overcome the impact of the global economic crisis at the financial markets and in the real economy sector.

Dmitry Stepanov, Partner of EPAM and moderator of the session, offered a presentation on the Reform of the Limited Liability Companies Regulations. “It is a radical reform of the most popular form of organization of business in Russia, which is the LLC. The most important change of the law is, definitely, greater discretion allowing establishment of corporate relations within the LLC by an agreement: it is the first time that a Russian statute has legally established the LLC Members’ Agreements (a contract similar to the shareholders’ agreements); discretionary severance of the LLC has been restrained, two constitutions pattern has been repealed (with only the Articles of Association remaining) and some tools similar to options for purchase of interests have been established. This reform will make Russian law a more attractive and actually efficient tool,” Dmitry Stepanov stated in his presentation (Download the presentation - in Russian).

The Fifth Annual Conference Legal Business in Russia gathered together over 200 delegates, including government officials, managing partners of Russian and international law firms, general counsel of real economy companies, business media reporters.

The General Sponsor of the conference was EPAM.