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16.05.23

Advocates Bureau Yug successfully defended large-scale entrepreneurship in a dispute on loss recovery of 209M rubles as part of a corporate conflict.

The client was a director and a participant in a large drilling company until 2015. While operating in Europe, the company purchased expensive equipment there. A few years later, a corporate conflict broke out between the shareholders.

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A bankruptcy case was initiated against our client. Moreover, under the claim, he was required to recover losses incurred due to the purchase of drilling equipment at an inflated price while he was a director. Upon termination of the bankruptcy case, the claim was assigned to an individual creditor, who filed into a court of general jurisdiction on loss recovery.

We achieved the case to be transferred under the arbitration court s jurisdiction. During its consideration there, we managed to justify the lack of proof of losses, make the court apply the statute of limitations and cancel interim protection measures under the claim. The court refused to satisfy the plaintiff s claims in full.

ABYs lawyer Zakhar Khrebtov represented the client in court.


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11.05.23

Pravo.ru stated in the 2022 market review of the best litigation lawyers that Advocates Bureau Yug once again confirmed its leadership in Band 1.

The Russian legal market is still developing, changing to accommodate the global situation and getting new participants. Thus, the legal web portal Pravo.ru conducts annual research to identify new leaders and worthy players.

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Some areas of law are so extensive that they start requiring a separate assessment over time. Today, on 11 May 2023, the 2022 litigation ranking was released. It consists of the Federal and Regional rankings as Pravo.ru has to consider the difference in the work scope, clients, staff number and other working aspects of metropolitan and regional law firms. All participants are divided into groups based on the average amount of the claim.

Advocates Bureau Yug, which took part in the ranking from its earliest days, re-entered the TOP of regional leaders and took place in Band 1.

To see the ranking results, please, follow the link: Regional Litigation Leaders


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04.05.23

Advocates Bureau Yug successfully defended the owner of a land plot in Sochi in a dispute with the Sochi Administration on demolishing an unauthorized building.

In 2019 our client, the owner of a land plot in the Khostinsky district of Sochi, planned to build a residential building. He sent three applications to the Sochi Administration about his intentions, but Sochi Administration refused all of them.

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In 2020 – 2021 the client built a three-storey house on the land plot and registered the ownership right under

the "dacha amnesty" procedure. In 2022 the Sochi administration conducted an inspection and, upon establishing that the construction was not agreed upon, filed into the court demanding to demolish the house as it was an unauthorized construction. Since our client, as a member of the Russian sailing team, participated in international competitions at that time, he could not receive notifications from the court about the start of the proceedings.

The court considered the case in one hearing and delivered a judgment in absentia to satisfy the Sochi Administrations claim.

ABY filed an application to cancel the absentee decision with reference to the fact that our client was a legal owner of the house according to Part 12, Art. 70 of the Federal Law "On State Registration of Real Estate". We also pointed out that Sochi Administration provided no proof of an unauthorized construction as stated in Article 222 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. However, the first instance court considered our arguments not worthy.

We filed an appeal claim to the Krasnodar Regional Court against this decision. On 4 May 2023, the Court annulled the absentee decision and dismissed the Sochi Administrations claim.

ABYs partner Sergey Radchenko represented the client in the Krasnodar Regional Court.


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04.04.23

Lawyers of Advocates Bureau Yug proved in court that dismissing an agricultural company s director was legal

A minority shareholder has been working as a director of an agricultural company for a long time. After appointing a new CEO, he became Deputy CEO under the fixed-term employment contract, which terminated upon expiring.

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The former employee disagreed with the dismissal and appealed to the court demanding to recognize a fixed-term employment contract to be an indefinite one and reinstate the employee at work.

During the trial, ABY proved that the employment contract was concluded legally for a definite period, and there is no evidence that a fixed-term contract was concluded by force. We pointed out to the court that the employee is the company s shareholder, actively participates in its management, and gets a profit. While concluding a fixed-term employment contract, the employee was aware of its nature and termination upon expiring by virtue of his position and qualifications. At the same time, previous employment of the company s director does not give grounds to consider an employment contract as an indefinite one.

Despite the negative opinion of a labor authority, the court decided that the employer performed the dismissal procedure correctly.

As a result, the decision of the Crimean District Court dated 4/4/2023 dismissed the claim.

ABY s lawyer Alexey Demekhin was a representative of the client s interests.


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21.02.23

Managing Partner Yuri Pustovit and Partner Sergey Radchenko were included in the Pravo-300 individual ranking of top legal consultants

The Pravo-300 published the 4th annual individual ranking of lawyers after releasing the results of their main study.

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This year, 1812 top legal consultants, including representatives from new Russian law firms created after international companies left the market, were included in this ranking.

ABY s Managing Partner Yuri Pustovit and Partner Sergey Radchenko were ranked in Band 1 among the best arbitration lawyers (large-scale disputes - high market) and legal experts of dispute resolution in courts of general jurisdiction.

To see the ranking follow the link: PRAVO-300 ranking of legal companies (pravo.ru)


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13.02.23

Hop topics of the annual Winter Legal Week Forum in Radisson Rosa Khutor.

What legal challenges await Russian business in 2023? The Russian legal system faced several challenges due to the current geopolitical situation and many imposed sanctions. Possible way-outs and necessary decisions, already adopted and to be adopted in the future, were the main topic of discussion in the highlands of Sochi at the Winter Legal Week Forum hosted by Radisson Rosa Khutor this year.

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The event s organizers were legal web-portal Pravo.ru and Advocates Bureau Yug, and Yug Times Weekly was its information partner.

"The Winter Legal Week event has evolved from the Legal Forum of Southern Russia, which usually takes place in Sochi," said Yuri Pustovit, Managing Partner of Advocates Bureau Yug, "Our legal community needs to gather more often to discuss pressing issues. During winter, we meet in the mountains to show Sochi s advantages to our colleagues from different regions of Russia. This year over 130 legal professionals participated in the Forum. They came from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Novosibirsk and other cities. There even were participants from the United Kingdom and Israel, so the Forum has acquired an international status."

For three days, the legal experts have been discussing pressing issues, but the main topic was legal problems that business faces in 2023 and how to overcome them. The overview is as follows: the most crucial thing nowadays is to be creative and apply non-standard solutions. There are quite a number of them. One of the most famous is relocation. In the current economic and political situation, this is the essential option for Russian entrepreneurs if they want to preserve and develop businesses. Now they need additional opportunities to conduct banking operations and form logistics chains ensuring international cooperation.

It is necessary to approach the relocation issue comprehensively, said Anna Krovyakova, Managing Partner of the international consulting company FINCOM Group, "You cannot make decisions solely based on your tax preferences. It was one of the main mistakes during the first relocation. Moreover, many companies had no working financial models and workloads, no connections to their business partners, and no logistics. As practice has shown, there was no need to "rush away" anywhere in the first months. One needed to stay calm and evaluate all possibilities. When choosing a place of relocation, it is necessary to pay attention to the cost and terms of incorporating a company, bank accounts, tax burden, logistics chains, characteristics of goods concerning end users, and whether you have to travel to other countries. The best options for relocating companies nowadays are Serbia and Kyrgyzstan. These are Russia-friendly countries with no language barrier, the possibility to open a bank account in any currency and obtain a residence permit when opening a company."

Favourable environment

Thus, the lowest tax rates in Europe are the main advantage if you want to incorporate a company in Serbia. At the same time, non-residents are taxed only on income received in this country, which complies with international accounting standards. Those who consider Kyrgyzstan as a place to produce or trade after relocation should remember that there are five free economic zones here. There are several essential advantages of Kyrgyzstan, such as no tax on imported raw materials, a few inspections by supervisory authorities, and a closed and protected area. The companies incorporated in Kyrgyzstan are excused from double taxation, 10% income tax, 12%VAT, and 1-5% sales tax, depending on their activity. Moreover, the country has a favourable location between the CIS and APEC, which provides access to new markets.

Thus, the lowest tax rates in Europe are the main advantage if you want to incorporate a company in Serbia. At the same time, non-residents are taxed only on income received in this country, which complies with international accounting standards. Those who consider Kyrgyzstan as a place to produce or trade after relocation should remember that there are five free economic zones here. There are several essential advantages of Kyrgyzstan, such as no tax on imported raw materials, a few inspections by supervisory authorities, and a closed and protected area. The companies incorporated in Kyrgyzstan are excused from double taxation, 10% income tax, 12%VAT, and 1-5% sales tax, depending on their activity. Moreover, the country has a favourable location between the CIS and APEC, which provides access to new markets.

"Currently, the business and its clients are at a crossroads thinking about what they should do," said Elena Chasovskikh, Development Director of Portfolio Investments Management Company (Region Group), "Should they stay in unfriendly countries, move to friendly ones, or search in Russia for solutions to integrate into their business? Among other non-standard corporate tools, I want to point out the closed-end mutual funds and explain today s nature of such a market. These are over 5,000 funds, and over 2,000 of them are active. The market is 6.4 trillion rubles, while 5 trillion rubles are the combinations of closed-end and net asset value mutual funds. 2.7 trillion rubles include Russian stocks, bonds, investment units, promissory notes and LLCs shares in the mutual funds. These tools allow you to structure markets and invest in totally different assets. Funds may include corporate structures, debt instruments, fixed assets, production sites, real estate and any assets other than cash."

These tools help you solve many tasks. Firstly, taxation. The closed-end mutual funds do not pay an income tax on transactions and transactions with the fund s property. Their crucial quality is confidentiality: data on shareholders are not disclosed in the Unified State Registers of Legal Entities and Immovable Property, and entities within the funds become officials in the management company. At the same time, shareholders reserve their right to control by participating in the general meeting on main agendas or in the investment committee on transaction approvals. The Central Bank and a specialized depository also have regulatory control there. The closed-end mutual funds allow you to isolate assets and transform them into a security (a unit). Units are in free circulation and do not depend on shareholders or the management company. It is also possible to allocate property in kind. Only closed-end mutual funds may become the tools to protect your business in case of future sanctions, separation of Russian and foreign companies or their preservation in Russia by a foreign owner or soon-to-be relocated owner.

Avoiding sanctions

Intellectual property law is one of the main problems for Russian businesses nowadays. Due to the sanctions imposed, many Western companies stopped working with Russian customers. The restrictions cover the user software and non-user hardware. At the same time, companies from any jurisdiction can fall under secondary US sanctions because almost all the said products usually contain 25% of American components or were manufactured using US technologies. As a result, software updates, new license purchases and customer support services are now unavailable to Russian companies. They have to develop their solutions for software support or look for Russian analogues. At the same time, state authorities and governmental customers are forbidden to use foreign software at critical information infrastructure facilities.

"The most difficult thing we have encountered is that the copyright holders, with whom we have been working for many years, stop communicating and getting in touch," said Anna Voitsekhovich, Director of the Legal Risk Management Department, MTS Corporate and Legal Affairs Unit, "Even though you would like to solve all the issues, but you don t understand how to do it. How to overcome this situation? Perhaps, for Russia, it would be better to start developing its software, equipment and technologies."

Import substitution

Developing your own software products is not a quick thing. Even though Russia already has domestic analogues equal to Western ones, there are still many problems. Among them are perpetual license agreements, limited by Russian law for five years only, the impossibility of transferring products to third parties (including companies existing in the same group), equipment licenses and the unavailability of updates. The parallel importing made it possible to purchase some products for now. However, copyright holders from unfriendly countries will not get their lawful compensation. Russia s Government implemented requirements for opening "O bank accounts" to settle with counterparties from unfriendly countries. You can make payments after getting approval from a special state commission. Still, there are more questions than answers.

There are also many issues regarding dispute resolutions between Russian and Western companies in commercial courts. Thus the Russian legislation has two amendments, 248.1 and 248.2, in effect.

"These articles of the Arbitration Procedural Code allow cancelling the arbitration clause that provides an opportunity to consider disputes abroad, in courts of foreign jurisdictions, due to the company being under sanctions or unable to hire advisors and transfer dispute consideration into Russia s courts and take restrictive measures," explained Yuri Pustovit, Managing Partner of Advocates Bureau Yug, "If a dispute has been initiated outside of the Russian Federation, in an unfriendly country, you can issue a judicial act that ban or continue it in the jurisdiction of an unfriendly country."

According to Sergey Radchenko, Partner of Advocates Bureau Yug, after 2020, out of 54 cases under Article 248.1, 25 must be considered only in Russian courts. Out of 13 under Article 248.2, forbidding the consideration in a foreign jurisdiction, 8 cases were satisfied.

"A striking example of the article being applied and the court decision being implemented was the lawsuit of Tsargrad Media against Google after the latter blocked their Youtube channel. As a result, a court decided that Google must pay Tsargrad compensation of about 1 billion rubles. It was possible to implement the decision because Google had assets in Russia at that time," Sergey Radchenko noted.

The main problem with applying new rules is whether foreign defendants will obey or ignore them. As a result, the business is wondering whether it is even worth starting disputes as it requires a lot of time and resources.

"Is it worth starting proceedings abroad in the current conditions? First of all, you need to answer some questions. Are there any obstacles to initiating proceedings abroad? Does a defendant have assets in Russia that can become a recovery compensation? Is it possible to execute the court s decision in the jurisdictions of the assets location? Are there other grounds for refusing to recognize the court s decision in the relevant jurisdiction?" stated Anton Maltsev, Partner of Melling, Voitishkin & Partners.

Mutual loyalty

It is worth noting that now 44 countries of the world have agreed to recognize the judicial decisions of Russian courts. The list includes Bulgaria, Cyprus, Argentina, Italy, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Spain, and Ukraine. Recognizing the decisions of Russian courts is possible even without a corresponding agreement. For example, in 2022, the Limoges court in France recognized the judgment of the Krasnogorsk District Court. In March 2022, the Supreme Court of New York made a similar decision.

"One of the most obvious solutions is to execute decisions rendered by a Russian court in the jurisdiction of a friendly country. For example, now such regulation operates in Turkey without an agreement and based on "anticipatory reciprocity". The Turkish judicial system has no negative experience of non-recognizing the decisions of Turkish courts in Russia," Anton Maltsev noted, "Thus, we may assume decisions of Turkish courts to be executed in our country. We know of lawsuits that were filed in the courts of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region, and the decisions were executed in Turkey."

All participants of the Winter Legal Week Forum came to one conclusion. Despite all the difficulties, it is still worth defending your rights in international courts. Mainly we are talking not solely about financial costs but the reputation and the rights to work in foreign markets. Moreover, international judges have stated that, when resolving disputes, they will try to consider them objectively without minding sanctions and restrictions. There are such confirmations as the experience of the state corporation Rosatom.

"We have not experienced prejudice against our company," said Olga Monchenko, Chief Lawyer of the Department for Legal and Corporate Work in Rusatom Energy International JSC, "There is a practice when international judges rule in our favour if they see a proven legal position. The main problem is that foreign consultants refuse to fulfill contracts, and there are some barriers when hiring them. For example, our specialized consultants terminated all communication and legal support during the execution of the EPC contract. As a possible solution, we offer to change the approach and use creativity during team-building, i.e. to involve Russian consultants in the team and strengthen it with international specialists, to hire freelance barristers, and to include in-house teams to the maximum. Monitoring companies and individuals public activity helps greatly to select specialists. Strangely enough, American law firms turned out to be the most loyal towards Russia."

Mutual process

Summing up the discussion of the Russian legal system facing several challenges, Yuri Pustovit, Managing Partner of Advocates Bureau Yug, noted that amending Russian legislation will not solve all issues.

"The problem involves the domestic market and its interaction with foreign markets and Western countries. The latter ones have either stopped this cooperation or put it on pause. Over the past year, we have found some solutions that are not 100% effective. But we will continue working. We hope the situation will be resolved, and we will have normal business relationships with Western countries," Yuri Pustovit stated.

The three-day Winter Legal Week Forum in the mountains of Sochi finished with skiing competitions for all participants. This unusual combination of business and cultural programs and a casual environment for communication makes this Forum organized by Pravo.ru and Advocates Bureau Yug very popular within the legal community of Russia.


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12.01.23

Advocates Bureau Yug successfully defended the interests of the major network company in Southern Russia in a dispute with the Tariff Service of the Astrakhan region for the amount of 1.5 billion RUB

In 2020 our client, the largest grid company in the South of Russia, filed into the Tariff Service of the Astrakhan region an application of tariffs, requesting to include a number of expenses in the required gross revenue and to calculate the new tariff for electricity transmission services.

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The highest costs were the costs of paying interest on bank loans. The Tariff Service refused the application. It considered the expenses to be economically unjustified and set the tariff at a significantly lower rate than the client requested.

We have filed an administrative claim against the Tariff Service in the Astrakhan Regional Court to recognize the resolution on the required gross revenue and tariff invalid. In the lawsuit, we proved that the client took bank loans to eliminate cash gaps and spent them on the needs of the client s branch in the Astrakhan region. We also proved that there are legal grounds to accept these expenses provided for by regulatory acts of the electric power industry.

The decision of the Astrakhan Regional Court dated 26/4/2022 and the appellate ruling of the Judicial Board for Administrative Cases of the Third Appellate Court of General Jurisdiction dated 31/8/2022 denied the client s request to include interest on loans in the tariff. We filed a cassation complaint.

On 29 December 2022 Fourth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction decided to make changes to the above said judicial acts. Thus, the conclusions that planned expenses for the year 2021 were economically unreasonable and cannot be confirmed by the documents, as stated in the article "Loan Interest (Loan Servicing Costs)" in the amount of 824,037,000 RUB, were excluded from their motivational part. The adjustments of uncontrolled expenses based on actual values for the year 2019, as stated in the article "Loan Interest (Loan Servicing Costs)" in the amount of 663,339,240 RUB, also were made.

ABY s Managing Partner Yuri Pustovit and Partner Sergey Radchenko represented the client s interests in the Fourth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction.


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09.01.23

Sergey Radchenko was appointed Partner of Advocates Bureau Yug.

Since January 9, 2023, Sergey Radchenko, ABYs Senior Associate of the litigation and arbitration department, was appointed Partner of the company.

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Sergey Radchenko has been working at ABY since 2010 and smoothly moving on the career ladder from Senior Associate to Partner. He is a recognized expert in corporate dispute resolution and electric power litigations. Sergey has a Ph.D. in Law and recommendations from leading ranking agencies Pravo-300, Kommersant Publishing House, and Best Lawyers. They pointed out his deep analytical skills, ability to find non-standard solutions and knowledge of local specifics. During his career in Advocates Bureau Yug, Sergey has represented Russian and international clients in major precedented disputes in the electric power industry and corporate conflicts, including the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. He is fluent in English.

"Litigation and arbitration are central legal practices in our company. The number, values, and complexity of cases and claims constantly increase. It is a challenge, and as ABYs Partner, my essential goal is to achieve high results while representing the interests of our clients. I am sure with my new position, Advocates Bureau Yug will provide more efficient services for our clients and continue to develop its business," said Sergey Radchenko, Partner and Head of the litigation and arbitration of Advocates Bureau Yug.

"Sergey is a well-known lawyer in the Russian legal market. I believe there is no need to re-list all his advantages. I will say only one thing. I am very pleased with how our working relations have developed. And I see the results that he achieves in favor of our clients. So Sergey becoming ABYs Partner is a natural development. It will urge Sergey to evolve his skills and abilities to a greater extent in the interests of our clients," said Yuri Pustovit, ABYs Managing Partner.

Advocates Bureau Yug was founded on September 29 1995, to provide comprehensive legal services with high professionalism to domestic and international companies on Russian law.


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22.12.22

Advocates Bureau Yug successfully defended the interests of the business Media against the defamation claim of the agricultural corporation.

The agricultural corporation and its management filed a defamation claim against the Media and a number of famous bloggers. The plaintiffs decided that the articles, interviews and videos posted on the Internet do not correspond to reality and form a negative public image of the corporation activities and its management.

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ABY s client under the case was the leading business Media of the southern region. The Media published a critical article about the corporation s activities and their impact on the local economy.

ABY provided the following legal position: the disputable article did not contain the author opinion, since it included data from the Round Table of officials and leading agricultural enterprises. Therefore, the Media is exempt from responsibility for disseminating information from official speeches by virtue of the law.

We illustrated to the court that the article s data was not a subject of judicial protection as, substantially and semantically, it was the renditions of the Round Table s official speeches. The said speeches reflected participants subjective opinions on specific events and prospects for local development. The speeches corresponded to reality, and there was no mentioning on the professional qualities of the plaintiffs and their business reputation.

Moreover, ABY pointed out that the limitation period on requirements for the Media s publications has expired.

The case has been under consideration for 2.5 years. The results of the forensic linguistic examination confirmed that the article contained negative information.

However, on 17 November 2022, the Kushchevsky District Court decided to dismiss the defamation claim against ABY s client.

Associate Alexey Demekhin represented the interests of the client.


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17.12.22

Advocates Bureau Yug assisted the major German investor in privatising a property complex that he failed to privatise for 20 years.

The largest German construction enterprise in the Krasnodar region was founded in the 1990s by way of privatisation and with the involvement of foreign investments.

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According to the privatisation plan, the new owner got the production complex that used to be a part of the former state enterprise. However, some objects involved in the technological process and located on the enterprises territory remained in state ownership by mistake.

For more than 20 years, the client has unsuccessfully tried to redeem the property as a matter of priority. But in 2022, the territorial authority Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) refused the client again.

The court of the first instance made a decision in favour of Rosimushchestvo since the judge saw no grounds to apply the norm on the exclusive rules for privatisation without bidding, which became invalid in 2015.

We managed to convince the court of appeal that the client failed to implement the privatisation plan due to the misfeasance of the state authority. We proved that there were no regulatory and factual obstacles for the client to privatise the property. The facilities subject to privatisation remained, initially and continuously, in ownership and usage of the client. No third party can privatise them. The facilities did not change their purposes or lose their connections to the property complex owned by the client. Thus, the client retained their primary right to acquire the disputed property.

Therefore, the 15th Commercial Appeal Court decided to satisfy the clients claim.

Managing Partner Yuri Pustovit and associate Alexey Demekhin represented the clients interests.


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15.12.22

Advocates Bureau Yug is among the leading law firms in the Pravo-300 ranking.

The end of 2022 marked a long-awaited event for the legal community. Legal Oscar Awards for participants in Pravo-300 , the ranking of law firms. At the beginning of the year, the prestigious global rankings "Chambers & Partners" and "Legal500" stopped evaluating Russian law firms. Thus, Pravo-300 became the leading ranking for law firms in our country.

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On this day, the gathered participants looked especially grand in tuxedos and cocktail dresses because the event became something more than an award ceremony. It is a cultural and secular event for those who have reached a certain level in their career. Actors, singers, writers, and celebrities give awards to the winners of each nomination.

Despite all the challenges, 471 law companies placed in the 2022 ranking. This year Pravo.ru established two new nominations: "Anti-crisis Business Support" and "Anti-crisis Customer Support".

This year Pravo.ru divided nominations into legal practices and industries and added two new sections - "Agro-Industrial Complex and Agriculture" and "Retail, FMCG, Catering" were added. This time the "bankruptcy" was divided into two sections: "Restructuring" and "Consulting and Litigation" (high-market and mid-market). "Arbitration proceedings" were divided into two blocks: "Commercial disputes" (high-market and mid-market) and "Corporate disputes".

According to practices in the regional ranking, Advocates Burea Yug got awards in two nominations:

arbitration disputes - 1 Band (high-market) ;

dispute resolution in courts of general jurisdiction - 1 Band.

ABY also took 3rdplace among leading law firms in the regional revenue ranking.

To get more information and see a photo report of the ceremony, go to Pravo-300 s website


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15.11.22

The Head of the Krasnodar region Administration (Governor) awarded the Letter of Gratitude to Yuri Pustovit, Managing partner of Advocates Bureau Yug.

The Head of the Krasnodar region Administration (Governor) awarded the Letter of Gratitude to Yuri Pustovit, Managing partner of Advocates Bureau Yug, for being conscientious at work, an active participant and contributer in improving investment climate and development of Krasnodar Region for many years.

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The Head of the Krasnodar region Administration (Governor) awarded the Letter of Gratitude to Yuri Pustovit, Managing partner of Advocates Bureau Yug, for being conscientious at work, an active participant and contributer in improving investment climate and development of Krasnodar Region for many years.


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15.11.22

The Advocates Bureau Yug successfully defended the interests of the largest network company in Southern Russia in the 700 million ruble dispute with the Regional Tariff Service of the Republic of Kalmykia

Our client is the largest grid company in Southern Russia. In 2020 the client filed a tariff application to the Regional Tariff Service of the Republic of Kalmykia. The client requested to include certain costs in the required gross revenue to calculate the new tariff on electricity transmission services. The largest of them were payments of interest on bank loans. The Regional Tariff Service dismissed the application. The authority considered these costs economically unreasonable and set significantly lower tariffs than the client has requested.

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We filed an administrative lawsuit against the Regional Tariff Service in the Supreme Court of the Republic of Kalmykia. We requested the Court to recognize the authoritys decision to establish the required gross revenue and tariff as invalid. We provided reasons in the lawsuit that the client had taken bank loans to eliminate cash gaps and spent them on the companys branch in the Republic of Kalmykia. We proved that certain regulatory acts in the electric power industry provide legal grounds to accept the costs.

The Supreme Court of the Republic of Kalmykia (Decision dd. 20.12.2021) and the Judicial Board for Administrative Cases of the Third Appeal Court of General Jurisdiction (Appellate Ruling dd. 05.04.2022) refused to include loan interest in the clients tariff. Our lawyers had to file a cassation complaint.

The Fourth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction ruled to change the previous judicial decisions. It eliminated the conclusion from their motivational parts stating that the planned costs for 2021 of 131,328,870 rubles were economically unreasonable and not proved by documents under the article "On Loan Interests (Loan Expenses)". It also dismissed adjustments to uncontrolled expenses of 563,936,270 rubles based on the actual values for the year 2019 under the Article "On Loan Interest (Loan Expenses)".

Managing Partner Yuri Pustovit, Senior associate Sergey Radchenko and Associate Zakhar Khrebtov represented the clients interests in the Fourth Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction.


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03.10.22

300 best practicing lawyers attended the XIV Legal Forum of the Southern Russia, organized by Advocates Bureau Yug and Pravo.ru

The tiresome hot summer have come to an end, but the velvet season is still bringing warm weather. On September 8-10 Sochi hosted XIV Legal Forum of the Southern Russia, organized by Advocates Bureau Yug and Pravo.ru.

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The welcoming party took place at sunset in Sochi Grand Marina near seaport. All guests could either enjoy live music and magnificent views or participate in intellectual game “What?Where?When?” with legendary Alexander Drouz as a host.

The official program of the forum was rich and relevant to current events in the business world: sanctions restrictions, judicial practice, bankruptcy and subsidiary liability, legal risks of businesses and criminal liability of their owners.

The official part started with a business breakfast moderated by Yuri Pustovit, Managing partner of Advocates Bureau Yug, who suggested to discuss business problems during sanctions. Everyone at the breakfast shared their ways to protect assets during the sanctions period, learned about the legal risks of parallel imports, summarized current customs and criminal risks for businesses, as well opportunity of citizenship through investment: government programs in other countries that are still open to Russian residents.

The 1st session “Main judicial events 2022” covered a wide range of legal practices. All participants discussed opportunities and trends in asset management of foreign companies; new trends in judicial practice during

sanctions; problems and prospects of class suits against foreign companies that have left Russia; risks, preferences and prospects related to taxes in business; current IP litigations: trademarks, challenging decisions of Rospatent and the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia.

ABY’s Senior associate Sergey Radchenko spoke about the current judicial practice of the Supreme Court on damage recoveries.

The bankruptcy topic is so wide in new realities that the second session was completely devoted to it. Practicing lawyers shared their opinions on trends in requirement subordination in bankruptcy, gave practical advice on mediation in bankruptcy, talked about current cases on challenging transactions on bankruptcy grounds, advised to monitor activities of liquidators, to protect market conditions for services rendered in criminal prosecution and bankruptcy disputes. They also found out what should be done when foreclosing on the only housing of the debtor during bankruptcy, as stated by the Supreme and the Constitutional Courts of the Russian Federation.

During the 3rd session “Business responsibility: administrative, subsidiary and criminal” speakers considered trends in judicial practice, cases of subsidiary liability outside bankruptcy, liability insurance of directors and officials. They also shared how to save management from a criminal case by creating a prejudice if you lose arbitration dispute, in accordance with Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. They disclosed ins and outs of responsibility for off-the-meter electricity consumption and how to protect a client in case of tax crimes.

The final 4th session “The future of legal business and new challenges in working with clients” was held in the aquarium format that allows speakers to discuss both “controversial” topics by involving different parties and their possible solutions. Among the speakers were Yuri Pustovit (Managing Partner of Advocates Bureau Yug), Oleg Grishunin (Director of Legal and Corporate Affairs at BEL Development), Elena Krupskaya (Director of Legal Affairs at X5), etc. Speakers and participants united in an effort to find solutions to controversial issues, using recommendations from in-houses experts and consultants, to predict which industries, practices and directions will be in demand in 2022-2023, to build eco-friendly communications in a professional environment in 2022 realities. The final topic involved law firm management, peculiarities of pricing in the legal market in current economic situation and attempts to find something new in the legal team management to inspire employees to new achievements.

One who works well deserves to rest well, especially when the former involves outdoor activities. Thus, the Legal Forum of the Southern Russia chose the traditional sailing regatta to close official program in 2022. Bright sun, salty sea and speed competition create right mood for future work. The forum ended with award ceremony of the regatta’s winners and promises to welcome its guests next year.


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27.09.22

The lawyers of Advocates Bureau Yug prevented transactions from being recognized as invalid and refunds received by the Principal from the bankrupt.

The financial manager filed into the court an application to invalidate transactions on transfer of funds from the debtor to a bank card of our client.

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The applicant insisted that both parties aimed at withdrawing assets while there were signs of the debtors insolvency.

A mandatory condition to recognize a suspicious transaction as invalid one, in accordance with clause 2, Article 61.2 of the Bankruptcy Law, is the inflicted damage to the property rights of creditors. When establishing this circumstance, one must determine that a purpose to cause harm exists, and that the counterparty was aware of this purpose.

During consideration of the case, we were able to prove that the transactions had been made by the debtor in order to fulfill real contractual legal relations, which had been confirmed by the parties, and that at the time of the transfer the recipient was not aware and could not be aware that the debtor had unfulfilled obligations to third parties.

Thus, on September 12, 2022, the Krasnodar Region Commercial Court decided to dismiss the applicants claims.

The clients interest were represented by ABYs lawyer Alexey Demekhin.


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17.09.22

Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended the major Russian plant in a dispute on loss recovery, amounts to 2,5 billion rubles, caused by a corporate conflict

The client was involved in a court dispute on the loss recovery from his management Board and a contractors management for deed, considered unprofitable and invalid by one of the clients shareholders 8 years after the said transactions were concluded and executed.

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The client was involved in the court proceedings as a third party from the side of the management board. According to the clients shareholder, the losses amounted to approximately 2.5 billion. However, for 3 years, the shareholder has been failing to prove any evidence of negative consequences to the client caused by the actions management board and contractors management, including through the conclusion and execution of the disputed transactions. By his actions, the shareholder put the client in a risky position. In the absence of the sole executive body the shareholders demand may lead to significant risks for the client with losing the management board, reputation and the important counterparty, issues settlement related to additional tax base, and may also lead to the clients involvement in an endless litigation, causing financial and economic condition of the client to be questioned, and the suspension of activity.

The Commercial Court of Bashkortostan agreed with our arguments and declined the shareholder’s lawsuit.

ABYs associate Ekaterina Fedenko represented the clients interests.


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29.07.22

Sergey Radchenko, a senior associate of Advocates Bureau «Yug», took second place at the II Chess Championship among lawyers of the Krasnodar region.

On June 18, 2022, the II Chess Championship among lawyers of the Krasnodar region was held at the Krasnodar Region Bar Association. The organizers were the Bar Association itself and the Chess Federation of Krasnodar.

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The competitions were held according to the Swiss system in 6 rounds with a time control of 10 minutes, plus 5 seconds for each move made. 13 lawyers took part in the Championship. Svetlana Mustafina became the winner and scored 5.5 points in 6 games. The second place was taken by Sergey Radchenko, and the and third place — by Alexey Takhovsky, respectively.

Championship had warm and friendly atmosphere. All participants got merit certificates, prize–winners — medals, and the main winner — the Cup. According to Svetlana Vladimirovna Vasilyeva, President of the Krasnodar Region Bar Association, such events help to distract lawyers from their daily work and keep their “brains in good shape” at the same time. The Bar Association will continue to hold similar events, which are aimed primarily at colleagues rallying on each other within the law community.


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21.06.22

Advocates Bureau Yug Ranked on Top of Regional Litigation Ranking

We are proud to announce that, according to the 2021 market research of the regional conducted by Pravo.ru, Advocates Bureau Yug entered Band 1 and took top place of the ranking. https://pravo.ru/news/241140/

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To identify regional leaders, an analytical group of Pravo.ru examined more than 8 thousand decisions of Russian commercial courts adopted in 2021. To divide companies into bands, Pravo.ru took into account such indicators as: total value of the claim, number of cases in the proceedings, number of decisions in the final instances in 2021, result in the court trials, average value of the claim. Each indicator was considered alongside with its defining nuances.

We have to admit that political and economic changes in our country and the unprecedented number of sanctions have greatly affected disputes considered by the courts. Over the next few years we may predict an increasing number of disputes with foreign companies due to their withdrawal from Russian. Against this background, new disputes that used to be rare appear, such as, lawsuits on obligation to fulfill a contract, consumers’ class actions, lawsuits related to discussion on presumptive protection of companies’ rights from unfriendly jurisdictions. The number of corporate cases will increase due to foreign companies transferring their assets to Russian owners, the market redistribution and raider seizures.

You can get more information on forecasts in litigation area in the article by following the : link


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21.06.22

The Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended the Largest Grid Operator of the Southern Russia in Dispute with a Customer on Connection to the Power Grid

Our client, the largest grid company in the Southern Russia, has signed a contract with the customer on connecting to the power grid in the Temryuk district of the Krasnodar region. The company fulfilled its obligations under the contract and built networks and substations. However, the company was unable to complete the work, as the customer did not fulfill their obligations. The customer referred to termination of budget financing and, as a result, their inability to perform the contract.

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In order to make the customer fulfill the contract, we filed a lawsuit on recovery of penalty for the delay in the performance of their obligations into the Krasnodar Region Commercial Court. We justified as follows: financing of the project was not terminated, the contract is still valid, which means the customer must execute it, as the customer fails to prove absence of their guilt in breaching the contract. Moreover, we have justified that the penalty was economically reasonable and accurately accrued with 20% VAT. We also justified that it was possible to accrue the penalty for entire price of the contract without the previously paid advance payment. While objecting to the arguments of the customer, we also justified that the case was under jurisdiction of the Krasnodar Region Commercial Court.

Upon considering the case, on June 6th, 2022, the Krasnodar Region Commercial Court satisfied the clients lawsuit and recovered 311 766 484 RUB from the customer for less than three months.

ABYs Managing partner Yuri Pustovit and Senior associate Sergey Radchenko represented the clients in the court of first instance.


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31.05.22

Advocates Bureau Yug became an event partner of the International Legal Week Forum in Tashkent, Uzbekistan

On April 28-29, 2022, the Advocates Bureau Yug acted as a partner of Pravo.ru in co-organizing the International Legal Week Forum. For the first time, Uzbekistan was chosen as the host with the Hyatt Hotel as one of the best venues in Tashkent. About 200 representatives of the regional, domestic and international legal community, business, public authorities of Uzbekistan and specialized higher educational institutions took part in the Forum.

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Following the spring romantic mood, it was decided to start the event with a trip to the winery through a beautiful park. The buffet provided the guests with several varieties of local wine, letting them appreciate the youngest agricultural branch in Russia.

The official program named "Cross-Border Legal Issues" was influenced by an unexpected and abrupt upheaval of the global economy, which now creates unprecedented challenges for Russian and international companies.

The Forum was divided into three themed sessions on significant changes in business practices.

The first session was organized as a discussion of "Legal Instruments for Business in Foreign Jurisdictions". It was moderated by Anton Konnov, a partner and head of the CIS/Russia practice in Allen & Overy. The participants were able to discuss the following topics:

- Legal Framework for Cooperating in the CIS Countries: Business Opportunities;

- Transition to a New Level of Integration: Harmonization of Law in the CIS Countries;

- Dialogue Between International and National Courts: Influence of International Judicial Bodies on Each Others Practice.

During the second session “Support of Global Projects in the Age of Sanctions and Restrictions” moderated by Anton Avazhansky, Managing Director of “Alvarez & Marsal”, the guests discussed

- Legal Framework for Cooperating in the CIS Countries: Business Opportunities;

- Current Issues of Russian Anti-Sanction Legislation;

- Roadmap to Asset Tracing and Cross-Border Investigations;

- Migration Structure: Business, Taxes and Personal Assets During Turbulent Periods;

- Citizenship by Investment Trends: Government Programs in other Countries.

Yuri Pustovit, Managing Partner of the Advocates Bureau Yug, spoke at the third session “Litigation and Acute Issues in 2022”. The topic of the speech was “Revision of the contract provisions. Is it possible to terminate the contract, refuse delivery, change the terms due to changes in economic and political realities?”

Yuri Pustovit highlighted the following issues: how do the "special military operation" and sanctions affect contracts execution, whether they can be considered, firstly, as grounds to be exempt from liability on breaching the contract, secondly, as grounds to terminate a contract as it is impossible to perform it, and thirdly, as significant circumstances giving a party the right to demand a contract to be terminated or changed?

Other discussion topics at the third session were as follows:

- Sanction Disputes: Forecast for 2022-2023;

- The Effect of Decisions on Imposing Sanctions on Possible Performance of a Contract in Accordance with English law;

- New Difficulties in Implementing International Legal Orders of Courts and Law Enforcement Agencies, Execution of Court Decisions;

- Subsidiary Liability of Foreign Investors that Russian Companies Go Bankrupt: Risks, Opportunities and Consequences.

An outside cocktail reception, accompanied by a duet of electronic music and live Uzbek band performing on folk instruments, became a wonderful way to finish the official part. Tashkent struck all guests as a beautiful city, with clean and wide streets, shady parks and fountains.

Moreover, all guests were able to meet both legal community of Uzbekistan and its rich cultural and historical heritage, as well as nature and authentic cuisine. For everyone who wanted to get a closer look at the country, event hosts organized a tour through its cities Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, the Kyzyl-Kum desert and Khiva. The guests were able to see the beautiful antique monuments and architecture protected by UNESCO, visit a ski resort, buy national clothes, ceramics and wooden souvenirs with the finest carved ornaments.

Uzbekistan is a country with an ancient history and traditions, rich in historical artifacts, trade and crafts since the days of the Great Silk Road. It is the country with actively developing business and tourism, oil and gas reserves It was globally ranked globally third in export area, sixth — in cotton production, seventh — in uranium reserves, fourth — in terms of reserves, and seventh — in gold production. Without a doubt, it was one of the most interesting venues where Pravo.ru organized the International Legal Week Forum. All guests will remember it for both its acute official program and originality


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01.03.22

The Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended the Largest Grid Operator of the Southern Russia in Dispute with a Customer on Construction of Network Equipment

Our client, the largest grid company in the Southern Russia, has signed a contract with the customer on reconstruction of electrical networks and substations in the Temryuk district of the Krasnodar region. The works were carried out on the basis of the customers requests, and their phased performance was formalized by statements. However, when it came to payment, the customer refused to pay, arguing that the contract, annexes and statements were forged by the client.

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We filed a lawsuit against the customer in the Krasnodar Region Commercial Court to recover the costs of works paid and penalties for overdue payment. In addition, we referred to the fact that upon completing the works, parties had a partial settlement, including the disputed contract, accepted by the customer without a word. In court the customer claimed that the evidence provided by ABYs lawyers was falsified, However, the examination appointed by the court confirmed that the signatures and seals of the customer to be authentic.

On September 6, 2021, the Krasnodar Region Commercial Court satisfied the clients claim fully, and recovered work costs of 36 562 304.15 RUB (taking into account previous settlement) and a penalty of 35 418 214.65 RUB.

The Fifteenth Commercial Appeal Court upheld the decision of the first instance court on February 19, 2022.

Senior associate Sergey Radchenko represented the clients in the court of first and appeal instances.


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01.03.22

Advocates Bureau Yug Defended the Client by Ensuring that over 150 False and Irrelevant Search Results was Blocked by Search Engines on the Internet.

Search engines Google and Yandex have been publishing unreliable and irrelevant data about the client on the Internet, which lost its meaning to the client. We have prepared and sent messages to search engine operators requesting to block search results about index of webpages on the Internet due to the data inaccuracy, as search engine operators refused to satisfy voluntarily.

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According to Part 7, Art. 10.3, Federal Law No. 149-FZ dated 27.07.2006 "On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection", if a search engine operator fails to justify its refusal, a person has right to file into the court a claim on blocking search results about information specified in the applicants request.

The client did not agree with the refusal of the search engine operators, since the posted data was irrelevant and lost its meaning due to subsequent events, as well as photos were posted illegally, without the clients consent. In particular, it breached Art. 152.1 (the Russian Civil Code “Protection of the citizens image”), which violated the rights and legitimate interests of the client. The unreliable information was verified by the documents collected and provided by us.

On February 22, 2022, the Krasnodar Oktyabrsky District Court decided to satisfy the claim in full. This court decision will allow to block the search results of unreliable and irrelevant data about the ABYs client in search engines on the Internet.

Yuri Pustovit, ABYs Managing partner, represented the clients interests in the court


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01.03.22

The Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended a Major entrepreneur in a Dispute on 500 Million RUB Recovery Under a Forged Surety Bond Agreement.

A company filed a claim against ABYs client into the Krasnodar Leninsky District Court on recovery of 560 million rubles under the loan agreement. ABYs lawyer stated that surety bonds agreement was falsified by the plaintiff in order to subsequently bring the defendant to bankruptcy and seize his assets.

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During the case two forensic examinations were conducted. According to the first expert, the contract was signed by the defendant, however, ABY managed to achieve that the court appointed the second complex examination. The second expert discovered that the signature was executed by another person and the contract was made four years later than it was dated. These conclusions, as well as a number of other inconsistencies and indirect signs indicated by ABY, allowed us to convince the court that the main evidence was falsified. The court refused to satisfy the plaintiffs claims in full.

ABYs lawyer Zakhar Khrebtov represented the client’s interests in the court.


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17.02.22

Yuri Pustovit and Sergey Radchenko Ranked in the Individual Legal Ranking “Pravo.ru-300”

On February 11, 2021, Pravo.ru-300 published an individual ranking of Russian lawyers. This year, the number of participants in the ranking has increased – it is 1,048 vs. 717 from last year. It is not a surprise, as the number of participants and branches of the main ranking has also increased.

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The ranking evaluated three significant projects in which lawyers took part from September 2020 to September 2021, their legal experience, employment period in a company, special achievements and awards (for example, participation in other rankings). Advocates Bureau Yug is represented in Pravo.ru-300 by two lawyers.

Yuri Pustovit, ABY’s Managing partner:

- Arbitration proceedings (major disputes) - 1 band;

- Dispute resolution in courts of general jurisdiction – 2 band.

Sergey Radchenko, ABY’s Head of Judicial and arbitration practice:

- Arbitration proceedings (major disputes) - 1 band;

- Dispute resolution in courts of general jurisdiction – 2 band.

The Individual Legal Ranking “Pravo.ru-300”


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16.02.22

On February 10 – 12, 2022, Advocates Bureau Yug and Legal Media Pravo.ru Held a Legal Forum "WINTER LEGAL WEEK 2022"

As general, Advocates Bureau Yug and Legal Media Pravo.ru became organizers of a new legal forum WINTER LEGAL WEEK 2022, with information support from Yug Times, social and political weekly newspapers. Over 200 lawyers and advocates from Moscow, St. Petersburg and many Russian regions took part in it. Representatives of major international companies also attended the forum.

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The event was held in Radisson Rosa Khutor Hotel – the place was not chosen by chance. According to the organizers, the Sochi ski resort, located in Krasnaya Polyana, is an ideal place for such events, since it allows you to organize both fruitful work and enjoy quality rest. While welcoming the participants, Yuri Pustovit, Managing Partner of the Advocates Bureau Yug, noted that such meetings in Sochi, during the ski season, are becoming a tradition. And despite charms of online events, live communication remains the most effective way of interaction.

By the way, "interaction" was the main concept of the both informal and business parts of the forum. The main agenda involved topics on interaction within a companies, among themselves and relations between business and the state.

Financial transparency and attorney-client privilege

Speech by Vladimir Efremov, partner of the company "Arbitration.ru", about "Forced financial transparency of lawyers and business" aroused great interest and became the subject of lively discussions. The speaker highlighted the trends of "anti-laundering" regulations, stipulated by the Central Bank and Rosfinmonitoring in 2022.

Now, in order to stimulate more effective legalization of crime profits, all entrepreneurs and organizations providing legal services are required to identify their clients, monitor transactions and report any cases of suspicions payments to Rosfinmonitoring. These actions are not recognized as a violation of attorney-client privilege.

The data is to be transmitted under certain procedure, and managements of law firms are obliged to develop internal control regulations for their employees, which shall stipulate the said procedure, deadlines for data providing, forms of documents, etc. The following sanctions will be applied to organizations that do not comply with the new requirements: a fine of 400.000 RUB and banking restrictions (blocked accounts, refusal to conduct transactions).

"Traffic light" from the Central Bank

Another innovation is expected in the summer. This federal law comes into force on July 1, which launches the KYC (Know Your Customer) platform from the Central Bank. A program is based on daily data on all questionable transactions conducted in the country (collected data on all current bank accounts), will divide Russian business into three risk levels: green, yellow, red.

Customers of the red zone will be completely cut off from the banking system. They will not be able to open accounts, conduct transactions, transfer funds. Moreover, they will be deprived of the right to use funds from their current bank account.

Similar, albeit smaller, sanctions are expected by customers of the yellow zone.

Upon receiving information from the Central Bank, banks will be required to consider the degree of risks determined by Rosfinmonitoring and respond accordingly. The system is already working in test mode, and Russian lawyers will have to identify there each potential client, preferably, before signing the contract.

If we talk about how these innovations can affect the activities of law firms in real life, then, in addition to the increased flow of documents and new job responsibilities for employees, as well as the risk of 0.5 million rubles fine, the relations with clients, who can no longer count on attorney-client confidentiality, will likely deteriorate significantly. Moreover, Vladimir Efremov stressed in his speech that there is a risk for law firms to be in the "red zone" themselves.

“Rosfinmonitoring and the Central Bank have an internal data exchange, informing banks about companies to which they must pay attention and additionally check their activities,” Efremov said. “If a law firm has many clients from yellow and red zones, and if Rosfinmonitoring sends a recommendation to the bank, saying to pay extra attention the said firm, then general measures will be applied to the law firm in accordance with the law “On countering the legalization (laundering) of crime profits ...”. To put it simply, even one client from the "red zone" will drag down their lawyer or law firm. Thus, the company may face with a refusal to conduct transactions on the current bank account, to use the funds on the account. There is also a possibility that the bank unilaterally terminates service agreement with the company or even bans it from opening new bank accounts.

The personal data “worth”

Mikhail Khokholkov, the leading lawyer of the Law Firm INTELLECT, spoke about changes in the law "On Personal Data", which will adjust the activities of all lawyers and advocates, as well as most modern digital projects, including startups. One of these changes will involve biometric data, including photos.

Previously Roskomnadzor’s explanation stated that a photo can be considered biometrics only when certain conditions (GOST, angle, requirements) are met. Last year in Decembe this explanation officially lost its relevance. So far, lawyers do not fully understand how to act in new conditions. However, it is clear that it will not be possible to use photographic materials as before. This is especially true for small and medium-sized projects that simply will not be able to pass the necessary accreditation, as one of the requirements for its successful completion is the authorized capital of 50 million rubles for an operator who plans to use biometrics processing for authentication in their activities. Regarding identification, the financial security should already amount to 100 million rubles.

Only major players will be able to comply with the new requirements, while representatives of medium and small businesses must either find opportunities for multimillion-dollar support to implement their projects, or otherwise develop business processes, excluding the use of biometrics.

At risk: media, lawyers, notaries

The risks under new conditions are that the number of complaints received by Roskomnadzor from citizens may increase, particularly, due to the Citizens Legal Protection Center in the digital environment created by Roskomnadzor. Over the past year alone, the center has prepared over a thousand applications to the courts. Now it may happen more often.

If previously, upon receiving a complaint, Roskomnadzor carried out a lengthy procedure before drawing up a protocol, now the documents are immediately sent to the court. Accordingly, lawyers should be ready to protect interests of companies. “The innovation can become a means of unfair competition,” noted Mikhail Khokholkov, a leading lawyer at Law Firm INTELLECT, a member of the Roskomnadzor working group on Personal Data, a member of the expert council on advertising legislation of the FAS of the Russian Federation.

“We are already seeing such a problem, especially in the cases of our clients, the media, who, by virtue of their professional activities, somehow operate with personal data,” said Khokholkov. “And we see how the number of appeals keeps increasing, no matter reasons.

The problem is that if the request is made within the framework of the law on personal data, each operator must respond to it. The lack of an answer is an independent part of an administrative offense, very painful one. This is also relevant for liquidators, for lawyers who operate with evidence, personal data of witnesses and other participants in the process. We have already met such cases, too.”

International experience

The speech of a Siemens representative aroused a great interest. Anastasia Fomicheva, Director of the Legal and Ethical Compliance Department of Siemens Healthcare, spoke about the working specifics of a large international company.

“In 2007, I came to work at Siemen and as a Russian lawyer I was surprised that the contract necessarily provides for a provision on limited liability,” Anastasia Fomicheva said. “For me it was something new, incomprehensible, unusual. But over time, I got an interesting answer. If we hypothetically imagine a situation when there is a sudden breach of obligations under all the contracts that Siemens has concluded, and the liability will not be limited, then this will force the company to pay unlimited amounts to all its counterparties. As a result, this can lead to the companys bankruptcy. Of course, such a situation is unlikely, but this is the peculiar view of a foreign companies. If there is a risk (even if it is theoretical and, most likely, from the field of fiction), it should be excluded.”

Non-fulfillment of technical conditions equals termination of the contract

During his speech Sergey Radchenko, Senior associate at the Advocates Bureau Yug, suggested considering a common case: the customer fails to fulfill obligations under the contract with the network company on technological connection. In this situation, how can the network company terminate the contract and reimburse its expenses?

“There is a huge amount of judicial practice,” said Sergey Radchenko. “Over the past 10 years I have studied it all and I can say that this is an absolutely typical situation when a network company fulfills its obligations, spends a lot of money, then comes to its senses, but the tariff has already been exceeded, and the customer is in no hurry to pay. This is where the litigation begins.”

According to his own experience, Sergey Radchenko further explained that the company had managed to build a substation, laid cable lines, built air networks (with enormous costs), but payment was not received. Logically, the performer wanted to terminate relationship with a negligent client and reimburse the expenses. Sergey Radchenko offered practical guidance on how to get out of this situation.

One can terminate the contract for several reasons:

- Part 2, Article 328, the Russian Civil Code (the so-called foreseeable violation) with the recovery of losses calculated according to the model of negative contractual interest;

- Article 450, the Russian Civil (essential breach of the contract with the recovery of all expenses incurred as losses);

- Article 451, the Russian Civil Code on significant change in circumstances (expenses are collected on the basis of a courts decision, according to which the costs are fairly divided by the parties).

Regarding what exactly can be recovered the speaker also offered here several options:

- costs (for the preparation and issuance of technical conditions, their approval by the system operator, as well as for the preparation of necessary documentation and execution of design and construction works);

- VAT (20% regardless of the time of signing the contract);

- penalty (within the term of the contract and technical conditions).

As evidence, one can submit any accounting documentation, works performance contract, and, if necessary, the results of the examination.

Sergey Radchenko also noted that judicial practice established a rule that is not in the law, but nevertheless it is relevant.

“It is impossible to collect expenses more than the tariff for technical connection”, the speaker noted. “But what if the amount of expenses is higher? Practice shows that it is still impossible to recover, no matter how much the costs exceed the tariffs. But recently, a new practice has been very cautiously emerging, according to which the network company can add this difference to the tariff for electricity transmission services.

The experts of the forum highlighted the maximum number of questions from various branches of law. During the working sessions, the legal risks of business, including those related to such a large-scale area as bankruptcy, were discussed. The participants of the sessions discussed proposals for making business decisions, gave recommendations on determining the insolvency of counterparties. They also considered an algorithm for assessing risks and profits when deciding on the involvement of a company in litigation.

At the end of the working sessions, the forum participants noted how effective the business program of the event was, as well as its informal part. Thanks to this combination, the delegates had the opportunity to relax and share their experiences at the same time.

The Winter Legal Forum of the Southern Russia was held in Sochi for the second time, however, for many years the web-portal Pravo.ru and Advocates Bureau Yug have been the organizers of similar autumn event, which takes place in September in the coastal part of the resort. In 2022, the forum in autumn will gather guests and participants for the 14th time.

Sergey Kovalev, Managing Partner of the Bar Association “Kovalev, Tugushi and Partners”:

“All speakers were interesting. The business program is a concentrated squeeze of red lines in favour of business and lawyerrs. The organizers managed to find the right format and the right speakers. As for the informal part, the atmosphere is very pleasing. There are many lawyers at the forum who can communicate with each other in a comfortable environment, find common ground. Usually we encounter, as a rule, only when we have joint problems. And we often find ourselves on different sides of the barricades. And here, the meeting with opponents takes place in a comfortable atmosphere, you can talk about abstract topics without touching everyday problems and get to know a person from the other side. Its always good and pleasant experience

Yuri Pustovit, Managing Partner of Advocates Bureau Yug:»

“As one of the organizer, I can note that the current agenda of the forum is vivid discussions, which means that the topics resonate with experience of participants and speakers.

If we compare the current forum with the last years one, then in 2021 it was more intimate, and the atmosphere was almost family-like. However, I am glad that the number of participants is increasing. If last year we received about 70 guests, now it is almost three times more. The geography of the event has also expanded, and lawyers not only from Moscow and St. Petersburg, but also from various regions of Russia, including Vladivostok and Siberia, came to Sochi. This year we deliberately made the business part capacious and expanded the informal program, giving our guests the opportunity to take part in winter sports competitions and get enjoyment on the mountain slopes. Lawyers usually work a lot and have little rest, so the balance is shifted towards informal communication, which proved to be important and effective.”

Alexey Otradnov, Commercial Director of the web-portal “Pravo.ru”:

“Last year brought together about 70 participants, now there are more than two hundred, such growth is certainly pleasing. The event has become larger, still intense and, I believe, will continue to develop and grow in the future. We see that the delegates really like the format, everyone is actively working. If we talk about the practical benefits of the event, I note that we are uniting the market. This is a unique and useful opportunity to communicate. Plus, we try to highlight the relevant: the agenda in the area of bankruptcy and litigation, everything that happens on the market in general, and give our participants the most saturated information.”


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12.02.22

Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended a Major Russian Supplier of Agriculture Seeds Against Unreasonable Claims of the Buyer

The ABYs client, a major Russian supplier of agriculture seeds, made a shipment of winter rye to a buyer – the farmer from the Bryansk region. The farmer sowed it, but the rye did not rise well. The farmer got an expert examination at the Bryansk State Agrarian University that the poor germination was caused by discrepancy between GOST standards and the seeds supplied. Therefore, the buyer filed a claim against ABYs client to recover loss of 101.000.000 RUB due to poor quality of the seed supplied.

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Loss includes costs of sowing and loss of profit, i.e. the profit that the buyer failed to gain due to poor quality of the seed supplied. The client filed counterclaim against the buyer to recover the debt on payment of the disputed seeds and a loan for the use of funds in the amount of 15.000.000 RUB.

The Krasnodar Region Commercial Court satisfied the farmers claim fully and dismissed the clients counterclaim.

ABYs lawyers took on the case after the Court had made a decision. We analyzed the case and prepared an appeal claim. We pointed out that the Krasnodar Region Commercial Court had no proofs of poor quality of the seed supplied, since Rosselkhoznadzor conducted two inspections and confirmed that the seeds comply with GOST standards. Thus, the Court had no reasons to believe the pre-trial examination, as it was not actually carried out, and the quality claim was filed beyond the contracts time limit, and the farmer provided no proof of losss amount and violated rules for its calculation.

The 15th Commercial Appeal court agreed with ABYs arguments, canceled the previous decision. Dismissed the buyers claim and satisfied the clients counterclaim fully.

The clients interests were represented by ABYs Senior Associate Sergey Radchenko.

Please, follow the link to watch video news of Kuban24 TV channel.


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08.02.22

Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended a Major Russian Plant in a dispute over the invalidity of transactions and losses of 1.4 billion rubles, which caused a corporate conflict

ABYs client, the major supplier of KAMAZ and Russian Railways, was involved in a court dispute on recovery of losses from his counterparty on transactions that one of the clients shareholders considered unprofitable and invalid, 8 years after their conclusion and execution.

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The client was involved in the trial as a third party, but subsequently became a defendant. The clients shareholder estimated the losses of 1.4 billion rubles. However, within 2.5 years the shareholder failed to provide any convincing evidence that controversial transactions had caused negative consequences to the client. The shareholders claim created significant risks for the client, as the client would have to return raw materials (received under the transaction) to the counterparty. Taking into account the market prices, it would cost about 1.4 billion RUB, which might would call into question financial and economic state of the client and caused to cease his business.

The Commercial Court of the Bashkortostan Republic agreed with our argument and dismissed the shareholders claim. The motivation of the decision on our appeal claim was adjusted by the 18th Commercial Appeal Court. The Ural District Arbitration Court upheld the said decisions.

ABYs lawyer Ekaterina Fedenko represented interests of the client in trial.

The Commercial Court of the Bashkortostan Republic agreed with our argument and dismissed the shareholders claim. The motivation of the decision on our appeal claim was adjusted by the 18th Commercial Appeal Court. The Ural District Arbitration Court upheld the said decisions.

ABYs lawyer Ekaterina Fedenko represented interests of the client in trial.

represented interests of the client in trial.


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24.01.22

Advocates Bureau Yug Has Proved the Viability of Deals Between the Newspaper Publisher with the Debtor Company.

The insolvency representative of the debtor company filed a claim on challenging transactions and recovering an ‘unreasonably received’ money from the newspaper publisher for advertising services and charitable subscriptions.

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The case has been hearing in the Krasnodar Region Commercial court for almost two years. Despite the evidence presented, the court concluded that transactions damage property rights of creditors. The court recognized the deals to be imaginary and used as a cover-up of payment for defamatory publications. Thus, the court fully satisfied the claim.

However, the board of judges of the 15th Commercial Appeal court canceled the ruling of the Krasnodar Region Commercial court and dismissed claims of insolvency representative.

During the appeal consideration it was possible to prove that the disputed deals had a reimbursable and real nature, and were concluded under normal market conditions and in favour of the debtor. The Appeal court recognized that exhaustive evidence of the parties’ legal relations was left unassessed properly. The court recognized no collusion between the parties, no intentions to cause damage to the debtor, no unfair behavior (abuse of law).

As a result, the initial decision was canceled, the insolvency representative claims were refused. The client’s interests were represented by a lawyer Alexey Demekhin.


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24.01.22

Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended a Major Russian Businessman in his Own Bankruptcy Case

ABYs client is a major Russian businessman, residing in Krasnodar region and managing contractor activity at repairing petroleum pipelines and relevant infrastructure. In 2015 the client got into the corporate conflict with his former business partner which caused him to leave Russia. Later the tax inspection took place and revealed a number of unprofitable transactions, carried out by the client and his business partner. Meanwhile, the client’s business partner filed a claim into the Krasnodar Region Commercial Court on behalf of the company in order to recognize the client as a bankrupt and recover loss of 5.4 billion RUB, which the company, allegedly, suffered due to the clients management.

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The Krasnodar Region Commercial Court fully satisfied the claim.

We took the case during appeal proceedings. We managed to prove an appeal court that the Company was managed jointly by the client and his business partner and, therefore, both shareholder can recover no losses of the Company from each other. The appeal court agreed with our arguments and reduced the amount of the clients liability from 5.4 billion RUB to 300.000 RUB.

Our opponents filed a cassation appeal against the appeal courts ruling. We participated in the court hearings in the Commercial Court of the North Caucasus District. The District Court agreed with ABYs legal position and upheld the appeal decision.

Managing partner Yuri Pustovit and Senior associate Sergey Radchenko represented the clients interests in the court of cassation.


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10.12.21

Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended a Mineral Water Exporter Against Claim on Reputational Loss and Damage

Our client exports mineral water, which he buys from suppliers in Caucasian mineral waters. Rostov customs detained several shipments due to strange protected designations of origin (PDO) water labels. According to the customs statements, the Rostov Region Commercial Court found the client guilty of 10 case, where POD rights were violated, and imposed a fine on the client.

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The client filed an appeal to the Stavropol Region Commercial Court against the water supplier. The client claimed to recover the fines imposed as damages. The supplier filed a counterclaim against the client, asking to recover reputational damage, caused, allegedly, by the fact that the client did not involve the supplier in the cases considered by the Stavropol Region Commercial Court. The court declined the clients claim and satisfied the suppliers one. Upon making the decision, and at the suppliers request, the court took measures to ensure the decisions enforcement and seized the clients property in the amount of recovered damages.

We took the case after the court made the decision. We prepared appeals against the decision and enforcement measures. The Sixteenth Commercial Appeal Court canceled enforcement measures at first hearing and proceeded to consider the case under regulations of first instance courts. On November 24, 2021, the court made a resolution canceling the decision of first instance court, canceling the initial claim and counterclaim.

Senior associate Sergey Radchenko and associate Ekaterina Fedenko represented the clients interests in the appeal court.


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10.12.21

Advocates Bureau Yug Ranked in Three Categories of the “Pravo.ru-300” Ranking

The ranking “Pravo.ru-300”, hosted by the web portal of the same name, has been known as “legal Oscar” for years. For 12 years in a row, despite the difficulties caused by COVID19, the best law firms in the country from 37 law areas has been awarded. The theme of the 12th award ceremony, hosted on December 2 in Moscow, was inspired by its unofficial name.

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The ranking keeps evolving every year, making its research more complex and deeper, meanwhile new participants and nominations appear. This year innovation of the ranking was to divide some law areas into subgroups: large disputes and medium disputes. The Arbitration proceedings — major focus of Advocates Bureau Yug —underwent the change.

According to the ranking, the ABY was nominated as follows:

Arbitration proceedings (High market) - 1 band;

-Dispute resolution in courts of general jurisdiction – 2 band;

- Revenue volume - 8th place.

Despite the increasing competition and worthy players in the legal market, this year Advocates Bureau Yug proved reputation of high level law firm. Of course, every ABY’s employee made a contribution to a well-deserved victory and a rightful place in the ranking.

To see other results of the ranking, please, follow the link: https://300.pravo.ru/award/search/?AwardSearch%5Bawardee%5D=1&AwardSearch%5Bquery%5D=Юг


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14.10.21

Senior Associate Sergey Radchenko Became Speaker at the Legal Forum “Business Law 2021”

Senior associate Sergey Radchenko became a speaker at the legal forum “Business Law 2021”, co-hosted by Advocates Bureau YUG. The forum was designed to bring together both in-house lawyers and private-practice attorneys to exchange practical experience and promotional tools, network and cooperate in the future.

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The guests discussed various trends in jurisprudence: trends in judicial practice on bringing to criminal responsibility for losses caused in bankruptcy; criminal prosecution of lawyers and attorneys; development of business mediation in Russia; benefits of family disputes for lawyers; offline vs online court trials; working legal marketing tools and so on.

Sergey Radchenkos speech aroused animated discussion among the participants. It covered specifics of the southern region such as court cases related to the electric power industry, fine charging for marine pollution, personal bankruptcies, unauthorized construction, land seizure from foreigners, business seizure, and consumer extremism.


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10.10.21

Advocates Bureau YUG Ranked Among the Best Law Firms Focusing on Insolvency (Bankruptcy) Cases, As Said the Legal Portal “Pravo.Ru”

On September 28, 2021, the legal portal “Pravo.Ru” published the rating results of law firms dealing with bankruptcy cases. While the rate of insolvency case keeps increasing due to the pandemic, the legal portal “Pravo.Ru” decided to highlight companies that are successfully engaged in law area.

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The analysis was carried out on the basis of questionnaires sent by companies. The data reflects the total amount recovered as a result of the dispute, the number of decisions in the final instances, the trial result and the average amount of the dispute. The analysis was also based on data upon examining several thousand court decisions adopted by commercial courts during 2020.

Thus, analysts divided the leading firms into two groups: law firms with long-standing (more than 30 cases per year) and boutique practices (10-30 cases per year).

Advocates Bureau YUG also took part of the examination and was included into the third band of federal ranking of companies with boutique practice.

For further information, please, follow the link to “Pravo.Ru” website: сайте «Право.Ru» https://pravo.ru/story/235078/


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10.10.21

XIII Annual Legal Forum of the Southern Russia Took Place in Sochi on September 9-11, 2021

Law in action The XIII Annual Legal Forum of the Southern Russia 2021, organized by Pravo.ru, Advocates Bureau YUG and global law firm Dentons, traditionally took place in Sochi. For three days lawyers had been enthusiastically participating in expert networking and an impressive sailing regatta — constant feature of the Forum. They shared their experience of successful and precedent cases and specificity of southern regions. Major part of the discussion covered bankruptcy cases, and even touched on topics such as why it is important for representatives of the legal community to build their own brands.

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platforms. Moreover, such cases affect millions of citizens who are users of the data blocked by the court.

“Such disputes are peculiar due to parties involved. Under the law the authority acts as the plaintiff is the authority, and the website owner acts as the defendant, but only if the owner can be identified. Usually the authorities prefer to not waste time. Therefore, there are the following parties in such cases in real trial — the prosecutor as the plaintiff and Rospotrebnadzor as the defendant. The latter does not respond to the claim, and on this basis the court satisfies the claim on blocking the data,” Mr. Zaytsev explained, “but recently such cases are increasing in number. And the cause is prosecutors creating positive statistics for themselves.

Roman Zaitsev pointed out that nowadays many Internet websites were unprotected from blocking. While considering such cases the courts focus on whether there is administrative responsibility for actions described in website data. If so, the website can be blocked. “People use gaps in the law to block their competitors. Therefore, if you encounter such a case, I remind you that during proceedings the court shall not mix cases on blocking information and blocking activities of publishing houses,” Mr. Zaitsev said, “Data on the Internet shall not be subjected to unjustified restrictions.”

Business protection

If the first part of the official program covered such topics as how to competently protect the business, the second part was dedicated to how companies shall conduct their activities so as to not cross borders and to not be subject to liability under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Anton Gusev, Head of the Criminal Defense Practice at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (Russia) LLP, spoke about how current business issues can lead to serious consequences using a well-known company as the example.

“To attract foreign partners the company opened a subsidiary in Cyprus in the mid-90s. At that time, it was quite a common practice. Nowadays it is a whole holding company which owns various properties. The management remembers about the foreign subsidiaries and decides to buy the shares back. These transactions lead to FSB checking. A case was initiated on performing currency operations of transferring funds in foreign currency to non-resident accounts using forged documents. At the same time, fraud was incriminated on a particularly large scale,” Anton Gusev said.

He also urged his colleagues to be careful when making such transactions and to prepare documents thoroughly. “In such a situation,” Mr. Gusev said, “companies can also be imputed to tax evasion and withdrawal of money to foreign accounts.

Maria Korchagina, partner of the Advocates Bureau ZKS, advised on how to protect the company from illegal or untimely seizure of documents by law enforcement agencies.

According to Maria, nowadays law enforcement officers are actively working in this direction, but they are not always driven by the law. They are often involved by competitors or contractors who need to initiate a criminal case against an entrepreneur in order to use it in civil proceedings.

“Practice shows that it is better to not store important documents in the office at all. It prevents such situations when law enforcement officers seize all the documents paralyzing activity of the company,” the expert recommended.

According to Maria Korchagina, large companies should store documents in a remote archive and pay for it from the companys accounts. Moreover, the expert is sure that only two or three employees of the company shall know the location of the documents.

“Upon seizure, investigative and other authorities may store documents up to 10 years. During this time, entrepreneurs may need certain documents, but they will not be available. Therefore, it is better to keep in the office only current documents and reports on the unclosed tax period,” Maria Korchagina said.

The expert also recommended that small and medium-sized businesses shall not forget to protect the documents and organize appropriate staff training so that employees would know how to act in situations when documents might be seized.

The expert pointed out the significance of storing electronic documentation. She noted that it is very important to have a secure server, to save files on foreign clouds, as well as to establish remote access to the said server at any time. It may help you to stop data downloading, even if authorities have already started copying it.

Predictive protection

Upon discussing possible threat scenarios for business, the forum guests smoothly moved to minimizing them. Olga Zhdanova, a partner at INTELLECT, gave some tips on how to protect yourself from challenging transactions in the event of a counterpartys bankruptcy. According to the expert, the most important thing is to make sure that the transaction is real. Moreover, it is important to fill out the primary documents correctly, to avoid offsets and payments to third parties.

In his turn, Sergey Shorin, Head of M&A department of Pepeliaev Group, focused on one universal mechanism which ensured the interests of both parties in the transaction. The expert explained that it was wrong to reduce such a tool as an escrow account exclusively to shared-equity construction. “It has a much wider scope of application,” Mr. Shorin said.

“When the seller and the buyer do not trust each other, there is a suspended state when one of them shall take the first step. Escrow just allows one to solve this "first step" problem,” Sergey Shorin added. Moreover, if initially only a bank could act as an escrow agent, now Russian legislation does not contain such a restriction. Particularly, an independent third party may be a lawyer, an attorney, a law firm, a notary public. In Germany, for example, the escrow agent is a bank only in half of the cases, in the remaining 50 % — lawyers and notaries. In Russia, lawyers could also provide an additional service to their clients and act as a guarantor of transactions.

The name defines

Upon discussing all the tools and mechanisms for helping entrepreneurs and other clients, the lawyers moved on to a discussion on how to attract a principal. In particular, the topic of the final session covered a topic of building a lawyers personal brand.

“Building a personal brand resembles the building of communism: many people wanted, but only few succeeded,” Ruslan Ibragimov, MTS Vice president for communication with state authorities, drew an analogy. Moreover, a personal brand is based on two pillars – reputation and scope. The workplace, personal and professional qualities, ideas with which a lawyer goes out to the public are important. One can talk about a lawyers personal brand when the lawyer is known by people beyond his law colleagues.

At the very beginning of the discussion, the guests came to the conclusion that the product is a priority. And it is important that the packaging promoted by a lawyer corresponds to its internal content.

Andrey Panov, advisor from Allen & Overy, noted that posts in SNS and mentions in the media are just a projection. “And if it does not correspond to reality, the legal market will find out about it sooner or later,” the expert said.

Ivan Apatov, Managing partner of White Collar Strategy, suggested that a lawyers personal brand is how he copes with any crisis situations.

Natalia Totahevage, Director of Legal Affairs at Abbott Laboratories, also pointed out in her speech that one shall proceed carefully while building a personal brand. “Sometimes it is better to make small conscious efforts or even take a pause, rather than uncontrollably trying to express yourself in different guises,” she stressed.

“The law is one big system of risk distribution between different entities. And we, as lawyers, should analyze these risks and reduce them to zero wherever it is possible,” Yuri Pustovit concluded at the end of the forum.

He also noted that guests of the Legal Forum of the South of Russia 2021discussed in detail how exactly it shall be done. It means that they will return to work with new ideas and information about unique cases.

The forum ended with a sailing regatta, where guest were divided into teams and honed their sailing skills. The winners were honored with medals and champagne.


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09.08.21

Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended Global Clothing Retail Company Suffered from Consumer Extremism

Krasnodar office of the global clothing retail company contacted ABY having three binding district court’s decisions. Every time the consumers-plaintiffs implemented the same scheme: to buy jeans and a shirt in a store and immediately discover defects of the goods such as unstable fabric paint. Moreover, the purchased clothing painted interior of the consumers’ cars. Thus, along with claims on recovery costs of the goods, penalties and fines, the plaintiffs requested to recover damages, and it is a significant sums of money. Total recovery claims of all cases are around one million rubles.

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While the court of first instance was considering the cases, several grave procedural violations took place: the client (defendant) was improperly informed about the hearings, court decisions and the very existence of court cases. The ABY’s client learned about the said when the plaintiffs presented writs of execution into the bank to write off funds recovered by the court. Moreover, the court failed to appoint forensic examinations, but based its decisions on extremely dubious expert opinions carried out by the plaintiffs at their own expense before the trial. Also, the plaintiffs applied ‘judicial tourism’ in a districts of the Krasnodar region.

During consideration of cases in the Krasnodar Regional Court, our opponents tried in every possible way to get the proceedings on cases suspended or delayed, while abusing procedural rights. Nevertheless, we managed to get the appeals considered on the merits. The appeal court agreed with ABY’s arguments, canceled all three decisions and made new ones. According to them, the court refused to satisfy the plaintiffs’ claims in full.

Associate Zakhar Khrebtov and Senior associate Sergey Radchenko represented the client’s interests in the court.


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09.07.21

Alexey Demekhin, a lawyer of Advocates Bureau Yug, received an award at the Triumph Contest

The contest was established five years ago by the Yug Times Weekly under protection of the Civic Chamber of the Krasnodar region.

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The guests of the event were pros, who achieved significant success in various areas: science and education, medicine and art, business and management. The contest was accompanied by the media project ‘Triumph: Story of Success’. During the year, while the finalists are being selected, Yug Times Weekly publishes articles about career, aspirations and values of the nominees in its weekly edition and website.

The winner award ceremony ‘Triumph 2020-2021’ took place at the Krasnodar Academic Drama Theater named after Maxim Gorky.

Lawyer Alexey Demekhin received the award for his achievements in jurisprudence area.


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18.06.21

Best lawyers 2022 Recognized Yuri Pustovit and Sergey Radchenko as Leading Lawyers in 5 Law Areas

On June 10, 2021, the Best Lawyers international ranking, founded in the USA in 1981, published their recommendations on best lawyers. The selection is based on the reviews of colleagues — the same legal professionals. To be recognized by the Best Lawyers is a lawyer’s individual ranking brand.

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Yuri Pustovit, Managing Partner of Advocates Bureau Yug, has been recommended as the best lawyer since 2016 in such law areas as Arbitration and Mediation, Energy and Natural Resources Law, Land Use and Zoning Law, Litigation.

Senior associate Sergey Radchenko has been a represented in the ranking since 2020 as the best lawyer in such law areas as Litigation and Real Estate Law.

Please, for more information about the ranking follow the link: https://www.bestlawyers.com/russia/krasnodar/litigation


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18.06.21

Yuri Pustovit, Managing partner of Advocates Bureau Yug, was awarded with the medal "Honoured Lawyer of Kuban"

Yuri Pustovit, ABYs Managing partner, was awarded with the medal "Honoured Lawyer of Kuban" by the Krasnodar Region Bar Association.

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The award ceremony took place on June 12 — the Russian Advocacy Day. The celebration was held in the great hall of the Kuban Cossack Choir. Lawyers of the Krasnodar region were invited to the event.


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18.06.21

Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended Major Metal Product Manufacturer of Russia

50% shareholder of the plant – one of the largest manufacturer of metal products in Russia — challenged the contracts of agency and supply of customer-owned raw materials concluded between the plant and one of its major suppliers. The shareholder considered these transactions invalid, as they were concluded with violation of requirements for large transactions and related-party transactions, as well as due to the abuse in rights by the supplier. The shareholder also requested to recover 1.4 billion RUB from the supplier as a restitution.

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Advocates Bureau Yug represented the interests of the plant and the supplier in this case. We developed a legal position for our clients and represented their interests in the court of first instance. We highlighted that there are no grounds in this case for invalidation of transactions, since they are not large, and these transactions did not involve alienation of the plants property. Also, there were no mandatory sign of damage for invalidation of transactions as related-party ones. All the transactions gain economic profit for the plant as they as they save money for purchase of raw materials. Moreover, the plant receives agency fees under the transactions, as 1.4 billion RUB transferred by the plant to the supplier are the money received by the plant due to sale of metal products owned by the supplier. And as a result, this money belongs to the supplier, not the plant.

The Bashkortostan Republic Commercial Court agreed with our legal position and dismissed the claim fully on June 1, 2021.

Senior associate Sergey Radchenko and associate Ekaterina Fedenko represented both clients in the court.


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02.06.21

Yug Times Daily Published Interview with Yuri Pustovit, Managing partner of Advocates Bureau Yug

As the Russia’s Advocacy Day is approaching, Yug Times Daily published an interview with Yuri Pustovit, Managing partner of Advocates Bureau Yug.

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22.05.21

Pravo.ru Ranked Advocates Bureau Yug Among the Best Litigators of Russia

On May 19, 2021, Pravo.ru published results of the 5th law firms survey of litigation area. It is the most competitive branch of legal business, and it is replenished with new participants every year. Usually, federal and regional companies participating in the ranking were examined separately.

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On order to take part in the survey, law firms had to provide data on several cases, monetary value of all cases in millions of rubles and average value of the claim. The classification of federal companies was divided according to the number of cases for 2020 year. Thus, two bands were allocated: 1st — from 30 cases and above, 2nd — from 10 to 30 cases. The regional ranking had no gradation.

Advocates Bureau Yug was ranked as regional litigators and took 1st place in 1st band. For more information, please visit the website of “Pravo.ru” https://300.pravo.ru/news/231718/?rating_desc_chrono_2_1


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18.05.21

Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended a Municipal Administration of Rostov Region

In this case, an interdistrict environmental prosecutor of Rostov region filed a claim into the Azov City Court of Rostov region against the ABYs client. The prosecutor claimed that the Decree of the Administration’ Head, re-lated to a formation of a certain land plot, its division, leasing and subsequent sale, was in-valid. The prosecutor also challenged all sub-sequent transactions with allocated land plots made by owners, requesting to recognize their ownership rights invalid, reclaim land plots and remove them from the cadastral register.

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We turned courts attention to the following facts: all the decrees challenged by the prose-cutor are lawful; initially, the land plot was formed in accordance with requirements of land and urban planning legislations; all sub-sequent transactions with the land plot, and land plots removed from it, were lawful; citizensbuyers were goodfaith acquirers, thus, there were no grounds to invalidate their rights to the land plots and remove the latter from the cadastral register

On October 6, 2020 the Azov City Court satisfied the claims. Therefore, we filed an ap-peal claim, and on April 21, 2021, the Rostov Region Court cancel the previous decision and dismissed initial claims.

Senior associate Sergey Radchenko represented the clients in courts of first and appeal instances.


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17.05.21

Advocates Bureau Yug achieved a recovery of unjustified enrichment in favor of an Indian company.

ABY was contacted by the Indian company, the major global operator of online card game ‘Rummy’. Every year the client holds world championships. Its final part takes place in different cities of the world, and the best online players can participate.

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The last championship was to be held in Sochi. However, Russia closed its borders and introduced pandemic restrictions banning mass events.

The company tried to recover the money prepaid for the services on championship organizing and accommodation, but to no avail. Russian contractor referred to the lack of proof of force majeure regarding relations of the parties, as well as to penalties under the contract.

The judge found defendants objections groundless. The Krasnodar Region Commercial Court satisfied the client’s claims on April 29, 2021.

ABY’s lawyer Alexey Demekhin defended the client in the trial.


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22.03.21

Chambers Europe 2012 Recommended Advocates Bureau Yug

On March 18, 2021, Chambers Europe 2021 published results of its annual global ranking. Advocates Bureau Yug was announced among leading law firms of Russia. ABY also got “Band 1” category in Business Law.

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Yuri Pustovit, ABYs Managing partner, and Sergey Radchenko, ABY Senior associate, also got individual recommendations in Business Law. Band 1 an d Band 2, respectively.

The clients recognize Advocates Bureau Yug as a results-oriented firm with lawyers, who can find the best solutions.

According to survey results, Chambers noted that Yuri Pustovit was widely known in the legal market for his outstanding skills in corporate litigation and disputes with state authorities. An impressed client emphasizes his goal-oriented approach.

Chambers stated that Sergey Radchenko is qualified in wide range of corporate and corporate disputes. The interlocutor reported that he has "a non-standard approach and interesting solutions." Another source notes: "He combines the theoretical and practical sides."

The Chambers Europe ranking has been held every year for about 30 years. Lawyers and law firms are ranked according to several parameters, each studied by the research team. Chambers does not have any points system. The customers satisfaction is a crucial criterion, but Chambers also takes into account technical skills, diversity of experience, team stability and a commercial approach. The year-long study includes interviews with those who are active in the market - mostly clients and other lawyers, as well as an assessment of recent work done.

Follow the link to view the rating


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22.03.21

Kommersant Publishing House announced Advocate Bureau Yug as One of the Leaders of Legal Services Market in 2021

On March 17, 2021, Kommersant Publishing House published research results of “The best law firms”. The ranking research covers three categories – “The best law firms”, “The best industry law firms” and “Individual lawyers ranking”.

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According to the ranking 2021, Advocates Bureau Yug was recognized as one of the best law firms in Russia. It also got recommendations in 2 law areas and 2 individual recommendations.

In category “The best law firms” Advocates Bureau Yug was recognized for:

- Arbitration and corporate dispute resolution, mid-market, regional ranking, Band 1,

- Disputes resolution in general jurisdiction courts, property relation disputes, regional ranking.

In category “Individual lawyers ranking”, ABYs Managing partner Yuri Pustovit got recommendations in the following categories: Corporate dispute resolution (regional ranking) and Disputes resolution in general jurisdiction courts (regional ranking).

Follow the link to view the rating


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18.03.21

Advocates Bureau Yug Successfully Defended Major Energy Company of the Southern Russia

A large company, an expert in construction of energy facilities, filed a claim to the Commer-cial court of the Krasnodar region against our client. The company claimed that the con-struction contract concluded upon auction between the client and another construction company shall be recognized as an invalid one due to it is being ostensible. The plaintiff claimed that the auction was held in order to artificially reduce workload that the plaintiff had performed previously at another clients facility, and the terms of the clients contract with another contractor are technically infeasible.

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We developed a legal position for the client and represented his interests in the court. We pointed out that the plaintiff has no legitimate interest in invalidating the contract, as it has not been proved that the disputed contract violated his rights. Moreover, there are different subjects of the clients contracts with the plaintiff and with the second contractor, and both the client and the second contractor fulfilled properly their obligations under the disputed contract. Thus, by claiming the plaintiff illegitimately interfered in others peoples private life, which violated basic principles of civil law.

The Commercial court of the Krasnodar region dismissed the claim on September 28, 2020. On December 14th, 2020, the 15th Appeal Commercial Court uphold the said decision. The Commercial Court of North Caucasian Federal District dismissed the plaintiffs cassation appeal on March 4th, 2021.

Senior associate Sergey Radchenko represented the clients during proceedings.


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18.03.21

Two ABY’s Lawyers Were Ranked in the Individual Ranking Pravo.ru-300

On March 11, 2021, the law firm ranking agency “Pravo.ru” published for the second time individual recommendations on lawyers from ranked law firms alongside with results of the main law areas ranking. This year two lawyers from Advocates Bureau YUG got a positive feedback regarding their achievements in arbitration.

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Yuri Pustovit Arbitration, 1 Band;

Sergey Radchenko Arbitration, 1 Band.

The ranking methodology is based on the most significant projects specified in the questionnaire from September 2019 to September 2020 (the study period) in 29 areas of law. The lawyers included in the "recommended" list were supposed to play a key role in the highest-rated projects of 2020 business season.


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26.02.21

Legal Conference on Business Protection Took Place in Kuban Region

In Sochi lawyers from all over Russia discussed cases on protecting business in post-quarantine period. As usual, Winter Legal Week Conference was organized by legal media outlet “Pravo.ru” and Advocates Bureau YUG. Russian-English Yug Times Weekly was an information partner of the event.

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The main topic of the Conference was an impressive list of risks awaiting business in 2021. Two sessions were held as a part of the business program. There were considered main triggers, which might lead companies to violations of the law and lawsuits.

At the Conference experts analyzed issues of operating a business during the pandemic and new legislations after quarantine, new regulations on cash transaction control and tax optimizations.

Sergey Radchenko, a moderator of the first session and Senior associate of Advocates Bureau YUG, started the conference inviting his colleagues to a professional and open dialogue.

"Nowadays entrepreneurs must bear more responsibility that ever towards their business and contracts to be concluded. Risks related to banking and tax systems often may lead to litigations, which could have been avoided beforehand," Sergey Radchenko said.

During the discussion, experts agreed that business may be held accountable for minor shortcomings. Nevertheless, the sanctions shall be applied the same as for serious offenses, such as money laundering, for example. Moreover, the lawyers noted that the majority of criminal cases against entrepreneurs were ruled in their favor, but they lasted for a long time and affected business.

According to Alexey Otradnov, organizer and Commercial director of Pravo.ru, the Conference was held so as to aid business community in considering all possible risks. He also noted the importance of professional networking.

“While taking into account all news in the legislative sphere, we selected such a content, that both corporate lawyers and consultants were able to meet on the same platform. They always have to recognize all the risks in advance and find solutions,” Alexey Otradnov said.

Read more about the Winter Legal Week Conference in the next issue of the Yug Times Weekly.


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11.01.21

Advocates Bureau Yug successfully defended interests of the major Russian plant

The client was brought to administrative responsibility as he failed to fulfill duly bailiff’s non-property requirements, stipulated in execution writ.

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The client filed a claim into the court where he asked to recognize the bailiff’s decision illegal due to four grounds:

1) bailiff has no such authority,

2) the client was not duly notified about a place and time of the minutes and decision,

3) the client violated no time terms,

4) the client did everything possible to avoid the violation.

The commercial court of Bashkortostan Republic agreed with us and satisfied the client’s claim on December 26, 2020. The court canceled the bailiff’s decision and recognized it illegal.

The associate Ekaterina Fedenko represented the client’s interests.


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17.12.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» - одиннадцатый год подряд в числе лидеров юридического рынка России по версии рейтинга «Право.ру- 300».

4 декабря 2020 года в отеле Lotte Hotel Moscow состоялась закрытая церемония награждения лидеров юридического рейтинга «Право.ру-300». Мировая пандемия коронавируса оказала влияние и на такое, казалось бы, сугубо профессиональное событие, как юридический рейтинг: появились новые спецноминации, впервые можно было присутствовать на вручении дипломов победителям онлайн. Но в целом рейтинг 2020 года не снижает развития, становится еще более масштабным, растет не только количество поданных для участия анкет, но и количество компаний, попавших в исследование, увеличивается стоимость заявленных проектов, растет конкуренция.

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Рейтинг юридических фирм, практикующих в России, «Право.ру-300» для объективности результатов разделяется на федеральный и региональный. Адвокатское бюро «Юг» заняло места в двух отраслях права регионального рейтинга:

Арбитражное судопроизводство первая группа,

Разрешение споров в судах общей юрисдикции - вторая группа.

В номинации «Топ юридических компаний по выручке» Адвокатское бюро «Юг» заняло в региональном рейтинге 7 место из 30 возможных


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30.11.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» успешно защитило в суде интересы в трудовом споре крупной российской нефтегазовой компании, работающей на территории Республики Ирак.

В этом судебном деле истцом были заявлены требования признать незаконным отказ в приеме на работу, обязать компанию заключить трудовой договор, а также взыскать крупную денежную сумму как неполученную заработную плату за несколько месяцев, убытки и компенсацию морального вреда. Позиция истца основывалась на том, что им было получено со стороны нашего доверителя подписанное приглашение на работу (job offer) в филиал ответчика в Республики Ирак, которое содержала в себе все существенные условия трудового договора, наш оппонент утверждал, что тем самым стороны фактически заключили трудовой договор.

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В ходе судебного разбирательства нам удалось убедить суд в том, приглашение на работу не содержало всех существенных условий трудового договора и означала лишь предварительное согласование кандидатуры истца, кроме того, истец не соответствовал должности по своим деловым качествам, требование же о взыскании неполученной заработной платы за несколько месяцев не подлежало удовлетворению, поскольку заработная плата – это вознаграждение за труд и она зависит только от количества и качества затраченного труда. Суд отказал в удовлетворении исковых требований по этому делу в полном объеме.

Интересы клиента в Прикубанском районном суде Краснодара представляли старший юрист Сергей Радченко и юрист Захар Хребтов.


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28.10.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» успешно защитило интересы крупнейшей сетевой организации Юга России

В этом деле крупная строительная компания, специализирующаяся на строительстве энергетических объектов, обратилась в Арбитражный суд Краснодарского края с иском к нашему доверителю, в котором просила признать недействительным по причине его мнимости договор подряда, который наш доверитель заключил по результатам торгов с другой строительной компанией. Истец утверждал, что торги проведены с целью искусственно снизить объём работ, ранее выполненных истцом на другом объекте клиента, условия договора клиента с другим подрядчиком технически не выполнимы.

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Мы разработали для клиента правовую позицию и представляли его интересы в суде. Мы обратили внимание суда на то, что у истца нет законного интереса в признании договора недействительным, он не доказал как оспариваемый им договор нарушает его права, предметы договора с истцом и с вторым подрядчиком не совпадают, оспариваемая сделка исполнена клиентом и вторым подрядчиком в полном объёме, предъявление иска является попыткой истца произвольно вмешаться в чужие частные дела, что нарушает основные начала гражданского законодательства.

Решением Арбитражного суда Краснодарского края от 28.09.2020 г. в иске отказано.

Интересы доверителя в Арбитражном суде Краснодарского края представлял управляющий партнер Юрий Пустовит и старший юрист Сергей Радченко.


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17.10.20

Интервью управляющего партнера Адвокатского бюро «Юг» Юрия Пустовита на XII юридическом форуме юга России

Нотариус Елена Глушко берет интервью у управляющего партнера Адвокатского бюро «Юг» Юрия Пустовита

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На XII юридическом форуме юга России нотариус Елена Глушко взяла миниинтервью у управляющего партнера Адвокатского бюро «Юг» Юрия Пустовита. Обсуждались вопросы клиентоориентированности при обрещении к нотариусу, другие сложные моменты, разбирали "живые" примеры. Юрий Пустовит объяснил что важно для него, как для клиента, при обращении к нотариусу, и почему.




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12.10.20

Best Lawyers Russia 2021 вновь отметил в качестве лучших юристов Адвокатского бюро Юг в номинациях «Энергетика и природные ресурсы», «Земельное право» и «Разрешение судебных споров».

2 октября 2020 года американский рейтинг Best Lawyers Russia назвал лучших юристов в России на 2021 год. Представители Адвокатского бюро Юг ранжируются в рейтинге уже не первый год: управляющий партнер Юрий Пустовит представлен в рейтинге с 2016 года, а старший юрист Сергей Радченко номинировался в справочнике 2020 года.

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Юрий Пустовит рекомендуется изданием Best Lawyers как лучший в нескольких областях права: «Энергетика и природные ресурсы», «Земельное право» и «Разрешение судебных споров». Сергей Радченко стабильно остается лучшим в категории «Разрешение судебных споров».

Справочник Best Lawyers публикуется с 1983 года. На сегодняшний день в нем есть информация о лучших юристах из более чем 70 стран мира.


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30.09.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг», международная юридическая фирма Дентонс и Право.ру успешно провели XII юридический форум юга России, который стал первым значимым офлайн событием в юридическом мире в посткороновирусном 2020 году.

Несмотря на непростые условия пандемии и возникшие в связи с этим ограничения, Адвокатское бюро «Юг» собрало активных участников юридического сообщества на ставший ожидаемым Юридический форум юга России в Сочи 17-19 сентября 2020, в гостинице Хайятт. Организаторами форума стали традиционный партнер ABY международная юридическая фирма Dentons и самый значимый российский юридический портал Право.ру, информационную поддержку осуществляла общественно-политическая газета Югtimes, а также узкоспециализированное издание газеты «Экономика и жизнь» «ЭЖ- Юрист».

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Форум приглашал к участию адвокатов, консультантов, инхаус-юристов, а также представителей государственной службы и органов власти. Юристы смогли подготовиться к деловой программе форума в теплой неформальной обстановке, участвуя в интеллектуальной игре "Что? Где? Когда?", сопровождаемой дегустацией вин компании Высокий Берег. Вопросы игры затрагивали различные области искусства, науки, истории, но все они так или иначе касались права. Участники боролись за победу азартно и очень эмоционально. При схожем интеллектуальном и профессиональном уровне победа досталась самым удачливым.

Деловая программа форума началась 19 сентября 2020 в формате делового завтрака, на котором президент Адвокатской палаты Краснодарского края Андрей Чехов приветствовал собравшихся. «Коронавирус и бизнес: изменения в законодательстве, практики компаний и юридические последствия» - именно эта тема объединила участников делового завтрака, проходившего под модерацией Сергея Радченко, старшего юриста Адвокатского бюро «Юг».

Начальник юридической службы Московского метрополитена Андрей Лебедев поделился, как можно сохранить баланс между интересами бизнеса, сотрудников и норм законодательства после пандемии. Тимофей Носов, директор по юридическим вопросам и связям с государственными органами AZIMUT Hotels затронул тему о применимости норм форс-мажора к отсутствию денежных средств у должника, и что по этому поводу считает ВС РФ. Начальник управления активами НЛМК София Михеева рассказала, что происходило с арендой, как сказалась на бизнесе легализация арендных каникул и закон о расторжении договоров аренды. Сергей Гарифуллин, директор департамента управления персоналом Фонда «Талант и успех» образовательного центра «Сириус» задался вопросом, было ли сознательной трансформацией стратегии ведения бизнеса возвращение к «нормальным» трудовым отношениям после пандемии. А Евгения Черевец, Коллегия адвокатов «Регионсервис», заставила участников делового завтрака задуматься о перспективах онлайн-правосудия после карантина.

Первая сессия форума освещала вопросы банкротства под модераторством Сергея Ковалева из Коллегии адвокатов «Ковалев, Тугуши и партнеры». Владимир Бубликов, Юридическая компания «РКТ», рассказал, как изменились правила игры в банкротстве в 2020 году. Александр Федоров, начальник отдела по работе с несостоятельными должниками РУСАЛ обсудил с собравшимися какие последствия и риски несет для должников и кредиторов мораторий на возбуждение дел о банкротстве. Тему моратория продолжил Сергей Кислов из Коллегии адвокатов «Ковалев, Тугуши и партнеры», задавшийся вопросом о том, ждет ли бизнес банкротная эпидемия и справятся ли арбитражные суды с наплывом дел. Ирина Калинина, управляющий партнер Legal World, исследовала влияние изменений в законодательстве о банкротстве на семейное право.

Вторая сессия, модератором которой стал Денис Саушкин, управляющий партнер Адвокатского бюро «ЗКС», была посвящена уголовной отрасли права, собравшиеся обсудили вопросы, затрагивающие ответственность топ-менеджеров в условиях 2020 года. Сергей Водолагин, управляющий партнер «Вестсайд» сравнил современные тенденции юридической ответственности в России и за рубежом. Николай Родионов, старший юрист СИБУР поделился, как строится система внутреннего контроля глазами инхаус-юриста. А партнер MGP Lawyers Денис Быканов затронул ответственность директора за сделки с конфликтом интересов. Адвокатское бюро «РИ-консалтинг» в лице управляющего партнера Романа Воронина рассмотрело актуальную практику уголовной ответственности за уклонение от уплаты налогов. Геннадий Есаков, Адвокатское бюро «ЗКС», заострил внимание участников форума на новеллах об ужесточении уголовной ответственности и расширении полномочий ФАС.

Третья сессия Юридического форума юга России, ведущим которой выступил Алексей Отраднов, коммерческий директор Право.ру, прошла в полюбившемся формате World Cafe, в ходе которой все участники разделились на группы с модераторами. Общей темой сессии стала «Клиенты и консультанты в юрбизнесе: перезагрузка после пандемии». В рамках темы каждый стол обсуждал свой вопрос. Под модерацией Юрия Пустовита, управляющего партнера Адвокатского бюро «Юг», стол 1 говорил о том, какие практики и направления сейчас востребованы, в каких областях бизнесу нужна помощь консультанта. Стол 2 под управлением Юлии Сычевой, директора по юридическим вопросам Viacom, выяснял какой именно консультант нужен бизнесу, и как пандемия повлияла на отношения клиент-консультант. Стол 3 и Андрей Корельский, Адвокатское бюро КИАП, решали какие инструменты взаимодействия с инхаус-юристами были востребованы, а какие утратили актуальность. Стол 4 и управляющий партнер White Collar Strategy Иван Апатов поговорили о финансовой составляющей юридического бизнеса, есть ли место скидкам, как консультанты работают с дебиторской задолженностью. Гленн Коллини партнер из Dentons и стол 5 обсудили можно ли найти новых клиентов во время пандемии, есть ли клиентская лояльность и как взаимодействовать с компаниями из пострадавших отраслей.

Деловая часть форума завершилась торжественным ужином, а на следующий день форум продолжился в своей неформальной ипостаси. Юристы – люди активные, поэтому вот уже третий год подряд участники форума пробуют себя в экстремальном виде спорта – парусной регате. Каждый раз мероприятие несет элемент интриги, так как в большей части зависит от непредсказуемых погодных условий. Гонки проходили в довольно экстремальных погодных условиях в два этапа, по результатам была выбрана команда-победитель.

В целом XII Юридический форум юга России был очень эмоциональным: помимо теплой и солнечной локации- города Сочи- приехавшие оценили возможность пообщаться лицом к лицу без монитора, многие постоянные участники помимо интересной профессиональной программы с удовольствием встретили коллег, ставших друзьями. Юристы, попавшие на форум в первый раз, оценили возможность встречи с более опытными коллегами.


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15.07.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» успешно предотвратило восстановление срока на обжалование решения суда скандально известному предпринимателю, пытающемуся взыскать с крупной сетевой компании более 1,5 миллиардов рублей

В 2016 году предприниматель, широко известный своими многомиллиардными судебными претензиями к компании ИКЕЯ, предъявил иск к крупной сетевой компании Краснодарского края с требованием вернуть дизельные генераторы общей стоимость 5 миллиардов руб.

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Краснинский районный суд Смоленской области, поддержанный Смоленским областным судом иск удовлетворил. Верховный суд по нашей жалобе судебные акты отменил и вернул дело на новое рассмотрение по подсудности – в Октябрьский районный суд г. Краснодара.

Повторно рассмотрев дело суд в иске отказал. Предприниматель решение своевременно не обжаловал, однако затем, ссылаясь на то, что он сидит в СИЗО в статусе обвиняемого по уголовному делу начал забрасывать суд ходатайствами о восстановлении срока на апелляционное обжалование. Октябрьский суд Краснодара ему в этом отказал. Краснодарский краевой суд определение об отказе оставил в силе. Однако Четвёртый кассационный суд посчитал, что доводы предпринимателя заслуживают внимания и вернул дело на новое рассмотрение в Октябрьский суд г. Краснодара.

15 июля 2020 года Октябрьский районный суд г. Краснодара в третий раз, через 4,5 года после начала дела, отказал истцу в восстановлении срока на подачу апелляционной жалобы.

Интересы клиента в Октябрьском районом суде г. Краснодара представляли управляющий партнёр Юрий Пустовит и старший юрист Сергей Радченко.

Юридическая компания - Адвокатское бюро "ЮГ"


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07.07.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» добилось признания недействительным постановления администрации городского поселения об изъятии земельного участка у застройщика.

В 2018 году администрацией Кореновского городского поселения было вынесено постановление об изъятии земельного участка Доверителя для продажи с публичных торгов. Основанием для вынесения этого ненормативного правового акта было указано длительное неиспользование земельного участка по целевому назначению, который имеет вид разрешенного использования – для размещения логистического парка, а также неисполнение условий мирового соглашения 2017 года, утвержденного судом, по которому наш Доверитель взял на себя обязательства по поэтапному строительству логистического парка в г. Кореновске.

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Суды первой и апелляционной инстанции приняли по делу сторону администрации городского поселения, отказав в удовлетворении заявления. Однако, Арбитражный суд Северо-Кавказского округа в полной мере учёл наши доводы. Суд кассационной инстанции в вынесенном постановлении, в частности, указал, что изъятие земельного участка, является исключительной мерой, поэтому собственник такого участка должен быть заблаговременно предупрежден о допущенных нарушениях. Вместе с тем, наш Доверитель не привлекался к административной ответственности за неиспользование земельного участка по целевому назначению, не было в его адрес и обязательных предписаний, вынесенных в ходе государственного земельного надзора. Из имеющегося же мирового соглашения не следует, что за его неисполнение стороны предусмотрели ответственность в виде изъятия земельного участка. Суд указал, что постановление администрации принято в отсутствие оснований для изъятия земельного участка в порядке статьи 284 ГК РФ и нарушает интересы собственника участка в сфере предпринимательской деятельности. По результатам рассмотрения кассационной жалобы Арбитражный суд Северо-Кавказского округа отменил ранее принятые по делу судебные постановления, принял новый судебный акт, которым признал недействительным постановление администрации городского поселения об изъятии земельного участка.

Интересы Доверителя представлял юрист Захар Хребтов.


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16.06.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» успешно защитило в Арбитражном суде Северо-Кавказского округа интересы одного из владельцев завода в Славянске-на-Кубани – одного из крупнейших в Краснодарском крае переработчика сельскохозяйственной продукции

Клиенту принадлежит 50 % долей в уставном капитале завода в Славянске-на-Кубани – одного из крупнейших в Краснодарском крае переработчика сельскохозяйственной продукции. Второй владелец 50% долей решил перехватить управление и поставить во главе завода своего генерального директора. С этой целью он созвал совет директоров в количестве трёх подконтрольных ему членов из пяти, которые выбрали нового генерального директора.

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Клиент обратился в суд с иском к заводу, в котором просил признать решение совета директоров незаконным по трём основаниям: нарушен порядок созыва и проведения собрания (заявление о созыве поступило за день да даты заседания, председатель совета директоров совет не созывал), нарушен кворум (четыре члена совета из пяти), генеральным директором избрано лицо, которое ранее было признано решением суда банкротом.

Арбитражный суд Краснодарского края с нашими доводами согласился. Решением суда от 28.11.2019 иск клиента был удовлетворён, суд признал решение совета директоров незаконным и восстановил в должности прежнего генерального директора. Однако Пятнадцатый апелляционный суд решение суда отменил, в иске отказал по причине того, что клиент, как доверительный управляющий наследственной долей в уставном капитале общества, не имеет право обращаться с иском в суд. На это постановление мы подали кассационную жалобу в Арбитражный суд Северо-Кавказского округа, которая 16.06.2020 была удовлетворена: апелляционное постановление отменено, решение суда первой инстанции оставлено в силе.

Интересы клиента представлял старший юрист Сергей Радченко.


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08.06.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» успешно защитило в Верховном суде РФ интересы крупнейшей сетевой организации Юга России

В этом деле наш доверитель – крупнейшая сетевая организация Юга России - обратился в Арбитражный суд Краснодарского края с иском к гарантирующему поставщику о взыскании задолженности за услуги по передаче электрической энергии, пеней.

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Решением Арбитражного суда Краснодарского края, оставленным без изменения постановлением Пятнадцатого арбитражного апелляционного суда, иск удовлетворён. Постановлением Арбитражного суда Северо-Кавказского округа принятые по делу судебные акты в части оставлены в силе, в остальной части судебные акты отменены, дело направлено на новое рассмотрение в суд первой инстанции.

На постановление окружного суда мы подали кассационную жалобу в Верховный суд РФ.

Определением Судебной коллегии по экономическим спорам Верховного суда РФ постановление Арбитражного суда Северо-Кавказского округа отменено, дело возвращено на новое рассмотрение в Арбитражный суд Северо-Кавказского округа. Данное дело является прецедентным для энергетической отрасли, поскольку в нём впервые в судебной практике обсуждаются ряд спорных вопросов, связанных с учётом потерь при определении объёма услуг по передаче электроэнергии.

Интересы доверителя в Верховном суде РФ представляли управляющий партнёр Адвокатского бюро «Юг» Юрий Пустовит и старший юрист Сергей Радченко.


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03.06.20

Best Lawyers 2021 рекомендует юристов Адвокатского бюро «Юг».

3 июня 2020 года были опубликованы результаты ежегодного международного юридического рейтинга Best Lawyers 2021. Best Lawyers - признанный справочник ведущих специалистов юридической отрасли в мире. На сегодняшний день в рейтинге участвуют более 70 стран. Специфика оценки заключается в том, что достойных рейтинга коллег выбирают такие же участники юридического рынка.

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Справочник включает юристов Адвокатского бюро «Юг» с 2016 года. В этом году рекомендации рейтинга Best Lawyers получили управляющий партнер Юрий Пустовит и старший юрист Сергей Радченко.

Юрий Пустовит рекомендован в трех отраслях права: Энергетика и природные ресурсы, Землепользование и зонирование, Разрешение судебных споров.

Сергей Радченко рекомендован в отрасли Разрешение судебных споров.

https://www.bestlawyers.com/current-edition/Russia


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19.05.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» успешно защитило в Четвёртом кассационном суде общей юрисдикции интересы крупнейшего в России производителя ориентированных стружечных плит

В этом судебном деле наши оппоненты решили устроить имитацию судебного спора об оспаривании сделки уступки права, между двумя подконтрольными им лицами для получения решения суда, в котором было бы установлено, что наш клиент должен истцу 431 млн. руб. Наш клиент был привлечён к участию в этом деле в качестве третьего лица, для того, что бы на него распространялась законная сила решения суда.

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Октябрьский суд г. Новороссийска в иске отказал, но при этом установил обязанность клиента заплатить истцу 431 млн. руб. Краснодарский краевой суд решение оставил в силе.

Определением Судебной коллегии по гражданским делам Верховного суда РФ от 12.08.2019 по делу № 18-КГ19-45 апелляционное определение Краснодарского краевого суда отменено, дело возвращено на новое рассмотрение в Краснодарский краевой суд.

При новом рассмотрении дела апелляционным определением Краснодарского краевого суда от 3.12.2019 г. решение суда оставлено в силе, но при этом суд указал на то, что из мотивировочной части решение исключаются указания на наличие у клиента долга перед лицам, подконтрольными нашим оппонентам.

На это определение нашими оппонентами была подана кассационная жалоба. Определением Четвёртого кассационного суда от 19.05.2020 г. апелляционное определение было оставлено в силе.

Интересы клиента в Краснодарском краевом суде и Четвёртом кассационном суде представлял старший юрист Сергей Радченко.


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14.04.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» добилось отмены в суде незаконно возбужденного уголовного дела по ч. 7 ст. 159 УК РФ в отношении клиента, реализовавшего крупный инвестиционный проект в сфере строительства

Известный краснодарский предприниматель сформировал инвестиционный проект по строительству многоэтажного жилого комплекса с коммерческими площадями в центральной части города Краснодара, для чего в установленном законом порядке был сформирован земельный участок, изменен вид разрешенного использования, получены все технические условия и разрешение на строительство.

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Впоследствии этот проект был реализован инвестору.

В период срока действия выданного разрешения на строительство инвестор не смог построить жилой комплекс, после чего обратился за новым разрешением на строительство, в чем ему было отказано по причине ограничения на момент обращения высотности застройки в центральной части города Краснодара. Посчитав, что гражданско-правовой спор будет длительным и с высокой долей вероятности не приведет к удовлетворению требований инвестора, последний решил, что действия продавца инвестиционного проекта подпадают под состав уголовного преступления, и обратился в правоохранительные органы с заявлением о совершении преступления, после чего было возбуждено уголовное дело. Постановления о возбуждении уголовных дел неоднократно отменялись Генеральной прокуратурой Российской Федерации, однако, следствием настойчиво продолжались выноситься новые постановления о возбуждении уголовных дел с иными квалифицирующими признаками.

Чтобы поставить точку в этом деле, прекратить нарушение конституционных прав доверителя и добиться правовой определенности, адвокатами Адвокатского бюро «Юг» была подготовлена и подана жалоба в порядке ст. 125 УПК РФ, которая была удовлетворена судом в полном объеме. Суд согласился с доводами адвокатов, что отношения между сторонами лежат в плоскости гражданско-правового спора и не могут быть квалифицированы в качестве преступления, и признал незаконным постановление о возбуждении уголовного дела.

Интересы доверителя представлял управляющий партнер Юрий Пустовит.


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12.03.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» седьмой год подряд продолжает занимать позицию в группе 1 отрасли Предпринимательское право юридического рейтинга Chambers Europe 2020.

В марте традиционно подводятся итоги авторитетного международного юридического рейтинга Chambers, проводимого уже около 30 лет. Юристы и юридические фирмы ранжируются по нескольким параметрам, каждый из которых изучается исследовательской группой. Никакой системы баллов у Chambers нет. Решающее значение имеет степень удовлетворенности клиентов, учитываются технические навыки, разнообразие опыта, стабильность команды и коммерческий подход.

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Исследование, длящееся год, включает в себя интервью с теми, кто активно работает на рынке - в основном с клиентами и другими юристами, а также оценку проделанной в последнее время работы.

В региональном российском рейтинге Chambers Europe 2020 упомянуто 27 юридических компаний, расположенных на территории России, кроме Москвы. Рейтинг поделен по отраслям права, каждый отраслевой раздел поделен на группы по убыванию результатов, самые лучшие показатели у компаний первой группы. Помимо рейтинга компаний есть персональный рейтинг юристов.

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» продолжает занимать позицию в группе 1 отрасли Предпринимательское право.

Заключение рейтинга о том, чем знаменита команда Адвокатского бюро «Юг»: авторитетная юридическая фирма, расположенная в Краснодаре, действующая в интересах крупных отечественных и зарубежных компаний, участвующих в коммерческих, корпоративных и акционерных спорах на юге России. Регулярно представляет интересы энергетических, строительных и промышленных корпораций в договорах поставки, спорах о недвижимости и возмещении убытков. Административные споры, включая налоговые споры, являются еще одной областью экспертизы.

Сильной стороной клиенты считают инициативный подход фирмы к проектам. Один из восторженных отзывов респондента: "Они приходят ко мне только с решениями, а не с проблемами."

Еще один источник отмечает прагматическую проницательность ABY: "Мне нравится, что они всегда дают честную оценку перспективам, так что мы всегда знаем, чего ожидать."

В рейтинг юристов вошли управляющий партнер Адвокатского бюро «Юг» Юрий Пустовит (группа 1) и старший юрист Сергей Радченко (группа 2).

Мнению опрошенных о Юрие Пустовите: «Его прагматичный подход ориентирован на результат»: «быстро реагирует на наши запросы и может найти эффективные решения».

Сергей Радченко консультирует по широкому спектру коммерческих споров и получает высокую оценку за свой аналитический подход к делам. Источники описывают его как «невероятного аналитика, великого человека и ученого», а также «очень внимательного к деталям; он может найти то, что другие упускают.»


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20.02.20

Юрий Пустовит переизбран в члены координационной группы Южного регионального комитета АЕБ в России

20 февраля 2020 года состоялось Общее годовое собрание членов Южного регионального комитета Ассоциации европейского бизнеса.

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Ассоциация европейского бизнеса (АЕБ) – основное представительство иностранных инвесторов в России, созданное в 1995 году, является независимой некоммерческой организацией, объединяющей более 500 компаний, работающих в России. АЕБ включает в себя 65 комитетов, подкомитетов и рабочих групп, которые занимаются лоббированием широкого спектра вопросов в различных областях бизнеса. Данные комитеты тесно сотрудничают с европейскими и российскими властями, активно взаимодействуя с последними в рамках оценки регулирующего воздействия.

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» является членом АЕБ с 2003 года, с момента создания Южного регионального комитета со штаб-квартирой в г. Краснодаре, а управляющий партнер АБ «Юг» Юрий Пустовит входит в состав координационной группы Южного регионального комитета АЕБ в России около 10 лет подряд.


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19.02.20

Адвокатское бюро «Юг» выступило стратегическим партнером гражданско-правовой конференции на научно-практической конференции «Ковалевские чтения» в Екатеринбурге.

XVII Международная научно-практическая конференция «Ковалевские чтения» под названием «Ошибка: Право или ответственность» состоялась 13-14 февраля 2020 года в Екатеринбурге. Конференция получила признание как мероприятие для обмена мнениями практикующими юристами и представителями научного сообщества, и для нахождения новых деловых контактов.

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Местом проведения не случайно была выбрана самая масштабная площадка Екатеринбурга - Конгресс-Центр МВЦ «Екатеринбург-ЭКСПО»- в этом году «Ковалевские чтения» приняли порядка 1200 человек из 21 страны. Среди спикеров и почетных гостей собралась плеяда практикующих юристов, научных и государственных деятелей, судей разных стран, историков и философов.

Начало первого дня деловой программы было ознаменовано подписанием соглашения о сотрудничестве между Федеральной палатой адвокатов Российской Федерации и РОО «Союз криминалистов и криминологов».

Основной доклад: «Примирение в уголовном праве: неиспользованный потенциал» был дополнен и раскрыт пленарной сессией «Примирение в праве: компромисс или уступка?»

Совместная Пленарная сессия Международной Ассоциации Криминологии (ISC) и Международного форума «Преступность и уголовное право в эпоху глобализации» (IFCCLGE), прошедшая 13 февраля была посвящена обсуждению вопросов по борьбе с международной преступностью. Собравшиеся заключили, что это является одним из приоритетных направлений всех без исключения государств. При этом предмет исследования в международной криминологии выходит за рамки юриспруденции и захватывает различные науки, не связанные с правом. С целью выстраивания соответствующих инструментов для примирения, любому государству необходимо понимать, каковы причины преступности, а также какую форму преступность приобретет в скором времени, какой был есть и будет преступник.

Первый рабочий день конференции завершился Арбитражной конференцией: «Арбитражное решение: добровольное или принудительное исполнение». Где участники обсудили в каких ситуациях стороны исполняют арбитражное решение добровольно и на что они ориентируются; способствует ли судебная практика добровольному или принудительному исполнению решения; популярно ли добровольное исполнение решения в других странах; как добровольное исполнение решения влияет на развитие бизнеса в целом и конкретные отношения сторон в частности?

14 февраля второй рабочий день конференции стартовал с параллельных панельных дискуссий: «Цена государственного прощения: ответственность или возмещение ущерба?», «Медиативный потенциал в уголовном праве и процессе, а также при исполнении наказания» и «Адвокат, нотариус, арбитр и судебный примиритель: эффективные техники, стратегии и компетенции», в которой принял участие управляющий партнер Адвокатского бюро «Юг» Юрий Пустовит. В своем выступлении «Участие адвоката в примирении сторон судебного спора» Ю. Пустовит рассказал, как выглядит ситуация с примирением сторон на практике. По данным за первое полугодие 2019 года ничтожно мал процент рассмотренных дел, закончившихся заключением мирового соглашения. На это есть несколько причин: во-первых, судиться в России – недорого и быстро, во-вторых, этого не всегда хотят клиенты, так как в большинстве случаев, полагают свои требования законными, а предложение мира воспринимают проявлением слабости, в-третьих, этого не всегда хотят адвокаты, так как не обладают достаточными знаниями специфики бизнеса клиента, не считают примирение выгодным с точки зрения гонорара и маркетинга - хождение в суд по инстанциям стоит дороже переговоров, а победа в суде более привлекательна в качестве информационного повода для сайта и социальных сетей.

После обеденного перерыва конференция продолжила свою работу в формате панельных дискуссий состоялось еще три параллельных сессии «Частная жизнь: пределы допустимого вмешательства государства»; «Древние обычаи примирения сегодня» и «Косвенные и коллективные иски по корпоративным спорам. Особенности примирения».

В рамках второго рабочего дня «Ковалевских чтений» прошло Выездное заседание Совета Федеральной палаты адвокатов Российской Федерации.

А завершилась конференция тремя параллельными панельными дискуссиями: «Что ждет практика от юридического образования?»; «Санкции: в поисках мира» и «Право недвижимости: граница между частным и публичным интересом». Старший юрист Адвокатского бюро «Юг» к.ю.н. Сергей Радченко в панельной дискуссии по недвижимости объяснил, как правильно разграничить публичные и частные интересы в правовом регулировании самовольного строительства. Нормы о самовольном строительстве внутренне противоречивы: с одной стороны, создание самовольной постройки – это публичное правонарушение, с другой стороны – это один из законных способов приобретения права собственности.

Правильно разграничить публичные и частные интересы в области самовольного строительства можно только при условии, если будут преодолены две трудности: теоретическая и практическая. Теоретическая трудность состоит в том, чтобы определить: самовольная постройка – это вещь или не вещь? Практическая: данное конкретное сооружение - это недвижимость или нет?

Статья 222 ГК пережила три крупные реформы, но для правильного баланса публичных и частных интересов надо добавить ряд норм, которых в проекте нет: аналог эстоппеля в ГК - административный эстоппель; при встречных исках о сносе и о признании права один из них обязательно должен быть удовлетворён.


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