On 18–21 May St. Petersburg hosted Sixth St. Petersburg International Legal Forum (SPILF).
The Forum annually brings together Ministers of Justice, Presidents of Supreme Courts, general secretaries of international organizations, partners of leading law firms, heads of legal departments of major companies, representatives of state authorities and law schools from over 80 countries.
Partners of S&K Vertical regularly appear on the SPILF's business program as speakers.
The year 2016 was no exception, and S&K Vertical participated actively in both business and cultural programs of the SPILF, as well as in some of the Forum's satellite events.
On 18 May Mikhail Ilin, partner at S&K Vertical commented for RBC TV Channel on Dmitry Medvedev's speech at the SPILF's plenary session that was devoted to the trust in the law.
Moreover, Mikhail Ilin also gave interview to Business FM radio station on 18 May.
Russia has demonstrated its legal courage, when it said that some ECHR decisions will not be enforced if they are contrary to the Constitution. Some participants of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum also share this opinion.
The reform of the judicial system may encourage foreign states to apply the rules of Russian law in their contracts without the fears that they have today. The experts at the International Legal Forum in St. Petersburg have expressed such hopes. On elimination of "pocket" arbitral tribunals and the reforms of arbitration – this is the topic of the interview by Maxim Morozov of Business FM St. Petersburg with Mikhail Ilin, partner a S&K Vertical.
On 19 May, within the business program of the SPILF, Sergey Slagoda, partner at S&K Vertical, spoke at the roundtable called “Russia and China: Rights to investments”.
Sergey Slagoda's report called "Russia and China: Commercial Debt Collection" was mainly dedicated to the comparative analysis of the legislation of Russia and Mainland China in terms of the recognition and enforcement of judgments of foreign state courts and arbitral tribunals.
The purpose of the roundtable was to discuss the ways of further cooperation between Russia and China, the development of mutual investment opportunities, as well as the obstacles to the active development of such relations.
Those who participated in the discussion stated that most obstacles to Chinese investment in Russia flow from non-developed investment laws in the regions and significant administrative barriers that can lead to the unforeseen costs in large amounts. © China Radio International
Legal Street
As part of the cultural program of the St. Petersburg International Legal Forum, a series of unique themed events called “Legal Street” have taken place in the heart of Saint-Petersburg, on Rubinstein street.
The party organized by S&K Vertical together with the Russia-China Law Society and RBC was closing the concert program on the street and has become one of the most popular one. In particular, the visitors and the organizers were pleased to watch the concert gig by SEREBRO band.
Among the guests of the event were numerous well-known lawyers, as well as Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov, businessmen Dmitry Morozov, Mikhail Bazhenov and Igor Vodopyanov, actress Katerina Spitsa and Polina Tolstun, Animal Jazz band frontman Alexander Krasovitsky, Dmitry Puchkov, and others.
The party received a spectacular ending when Liubov Duyko, chair of the board of partners of S&K Vertical, appeared on stage together with SEREBRO band performing hot "Mama Liuba" single.
Legal Run
Legal Run, the international charity run for lawyers, has become the final part of the SPILF events.
The team of S&K Vertical took part in the run in the both Russian capitals, in Moscow and in St. Petersburg, on the distances of 5 km and 10 km.
Andrey Kornitsky, Head of Projects:
"First of all, I would like to thank the entire team of organizers of the run for the opportunity to support the Legal Run. It is even more pleasant that such a large-scale charity project is arranged with the involvement of the legal community.”
Participants of the 2016 Legal Run have managed to raise a record amount of money that will be donated to the charity foundation Podari Zhizn (Gift of Life), which is undoubtedly the main achievement of the project.