Participation of lawyers and advocates of the Law Firm “YUST” in a Swiss-Russian forum held in Zurich on 27 October – 1 November 2008.

Representatives of judicatory, advocates, professors, scientists, postgraduates and students took part in the forum on the part of Switzerland and Lichtenstein.

On the part of Russia the forum was attended by bar chambers’ representatives, advocates and lawyers of major law firms and bar associations, and by scientists from various regions of Russia. The Law Firm “YUST” was represented at the forum by Anna KOTOVA-SMOLENSKAYA, Associated Partner of the Firm, and by lawyers Nikita KNYAZEV, Victoria NAZAROVA and Irina CHARKOVA.

The first part of the forum consisted of a workshop which was opened by a speech of welcome delivered by Yury PILIPENKO, Vice-President of the Federal Chamber of Advocates of the Russian Federation and Managing Partner of the Law Firm “YUST”. The workshop was dedicated to the topical issues on banking and advocacy in Switzerland and Lichtenstein, in particular to the bank and advocate secrecy. There were lectures delivered by judges and advocates from Switzerland and Lichtenstein.

In the course of the workshop, the participants considered issues of the opening and maintenance of bank accounts in Switzerland and Lichtenstein, and on mechanism of bank secrecy preservation. The most rigorous discussions were dedicated to the problems arising in relations between tax bodies of Russia, residents of Russia and banks of Switzerland and Lichtenstein in regard to the opening and maintenance of bank accounts; the topic of bank secrecy disclosure was also widely discussed.

Besides, basic issues of advocacy in Russia, Switzerland and Lichtenstein in the comparative legal aspect were examined.

At the end of the workshop, the Russian advocates and lawyers prepared reports on the main conclusions of the discussions held during the workshop. In particular, Nikita KNYAZEV and Victoria NAZAROVA, lawyers of the Law Firm “YUST”, made a report on the “Comparative Aspects of Advocate Secrecy in Switzerland and Russia”; Irina Charkova, lawyer of the Firm, delivered a report on the “Legal status of lawyers at Swiss and Russian enterprises”.

A large audience was attracted by the conference held in the second part of the Swiss-Russian forum, with participation of Prof. Victor BLAZHEEV, J.D., Honored Lawyer of the RF, Rector of the Moscow State Academy of Law, who delivered a report on topical issues of civil and arbitration proceedings in Russia. A discussion between the conference participants has demonstrated a considerable interest of the foreign colleagues towards the topical issues of application in Russia of international and national rules of law in this area.