Today the Third Annual Conference The Resolution of CIS-Related Business Disputes organized by the American Bar Association (ABA) was held in Moscow. EPAM served as the strategic partner of the conference.
The conference brought together leading experts and world class specialists. The speakers included representatives of the Russian and US judiciaries, arbitrators from international arbitration courts, consultants from major Russian and overseas law firms, and in-house lawyers from leading Russian companies.
The following topics were offered for discussion:
- Corruption in Courts
- Insolvency Litigation
- Professional Responsibility Dilemmas in International Disputes
- Shareholder Rights: Protecting Minorities and Joint Venture Partners
- Third Party Funding of Litigation and Arbitration
- State Entities as Parties in Arbitration
- Choice of Law in Cross-Border Transactions
Ilya Nikiforov, Managing Partner of EPAM, St. Petersburg Office, chaired and moderated a session State and State Entities as Parties to Arbitration. States and state-owned enterprises are active players in international trade and finance and feature prominently in the caseloads of many arbitral institutions. An expert panel addressed some of the major issues, including immunity and vicarious liability of states for economic activities of state entities, the conduct of arbitration proceedings involving such parties, determining the identity of states and state entities, and binding a government through an arbitration clause signed by a public institution or state-owned corporation.
Evgeny Raschevsky, Partner at EPAM, delivered a report at the International Insolvency Proceedings in an Uncertain Financial World: Harmonizing the Rights and Obligations of Multinational Debtors, Creditors, Management and Equity Holders session. In his report Problems in Recovery of Assets from Insolvent Debtors in the Context of International Legal Assistance, Evgeny touched upon matters related to the use of foreign vehicles to siphon assets from corporate debtors, and drew the attention of the audience to the problems in using the discovery of evidence mechanisms in bankruptcy proceedings and the use of international legal assistance in bankruptcy cases tried by Russian courts.
Senior Lawyer Alexander Vaneev took part in the Shareholder Rights: Protecting Minorities and Joint Venture Partners session by delivering a report titled "Concurrent Processes in Corporate Conflicts". In his speech he raised the issue of arbitrability of corporate disputes and the problems related to concurrent proceedings in different jurisdictions in the course of corporate conflicts.
