Innovations and investments on the agenda of the Swiss-Russian Forum

The annual conference of the Swiss-Russian Forum dedicated to the new investments opportunities in Switzerland and Russia was held on March 23. The event was split up into two parts. The first part was a round table, where the representatives of the Federal Chamber of Advocates of the Russian Federation, presidents of the regional chambers of advocates and Russian practicing advocates met with their Swiss colleagues. Yury Pilipenko, Managing Partner at the Law Firm "YUST", Alexey Popov, Partner at the Firm, and Evgeny Zhilin, Associated Partner at the Firm, represented the Firm.

The representatives of the advocates’ community of the two countries were able to discuss some of the most topical issues of their practice – resolving conflicts of interests, keeping the attorney-client privilege and ethical norms of advocacy. The examples of the work of the national disciplinary committees, the cases of violation of professional ethics and incorrect behavior by the law enforcement agencies, causing violation of the attorney-client privilege, were widely discussed.

The second part of the event centered on the innovations and investments, practical work with innovations and creation of new high-tech start-ups. The conference participants exchanged their opinions on the risks and opportunities of the investors, tendencies and methods of investing into national economies. The presentation by Evgeny Zhilin, Associated Partner at the Firm, was of a special interest to the listeners. He told the assembled investors, entrepreneurs, bankers and advocates about the measures aimed at improving the investment climate taken in Russia last year and to be taken in the nearest future. In particular, he spoke on the following issues:

• Legal aspects of the Russian Federation’s entry into the WTO;
• First results of the foundation of the Skolkovo innovations center;
• Measures aimed at the increase of transparency and predictability of legal regulation, namely the introduction of changes to the CCRF, creation of specialized patent courts etc.;
• Legal consequences of forming of the Customs Union and perspectives of creation of the Eurasian Economic Union.

After the official speeches were over, the participants were able to informally discuss the professional successes of the Russian and Swiss colleagues, to exchange fresh ideas of business cooperation, including on the participation in joint investment projects.