Pepeliaev Group at the St Petersburg Legal Summit 2024
Pepeliaev Group's specialists played an active part in the business programme of the St Petersburg Legal Summit organised by ‘Action Pravo’ publishing group on 30 and 31 May in St Petersburg.
On 30 May, a session was held devoted to ‘The quality of legal services: professional standards’. It was moderated by Sergey Pepeliaev, the Managing Partner at Pepeliaev Group, while among the speakers was Senior Associate Olga Syachinova. Those taking part in the session discussed how to develop a quality standard for the provision of legal services by which the courts could be guided. They also tried to answer the questions of where a consultant's responsibility ends and the consequences of the client's managerial decisions begin, and of how the courts should assess how useful a consultant's actions have been and what the level is of their professionalism. The event featured a survey that was conducted among lawyers on whether a unified standard is needed and whether it could apply to all legal advisers regardless of their legal status, level of education, experience, and the cost of their services. You can find the results of the survey on
Pepeliaev Group's Telegram channel.
Anna Berlina, a Partner who heads the firm's Employment and Migration Law Practice, took part in a session titled ‘Testing humanity: how judges have started to feel sorry for employees and to prevent them from being dismissed’. The discussion touched on situations in which judges demonstrate sympathy for employees, despite the fact that employees themselves are applying for dismissal without any evident signs of pressure. This means that any employment dispute becomes impossible to predict. In the discussion, participants exchanged opinions on when it is worth going to court, and when even the most scrupulous employer has no chance.
The Summit also featured a self-penned lecture by Sergey Pepeliaev on legal losses during conflicts: "Wars and Taxes". The core theme of the session was the inevitable growth of taxes as an additional tool for control on the part of the state. Mr Pepeliaev shared his outlook on the process of how a state is formed through a prism of military and fiscal history. He also mulled over why it is that taxes increase specifically during wartime. He took the view that one can single out several characteristic features of wartime: an increase in taxes (new taxes and excise duties, an increase in tax rates and fines); a non-systemic growth in taxes (many reasons exist, for example, a deterioration in the attitude to property, an outflow of capital and personnel, judicial practice aimed at filling the public purse, and a reassessment of the system, among others); and tax increases forever.
Aidar Sultanov, Head of the firm’s Representative Office in the Republic of Tatarstan, took part in the session ‘Disputes with the Federal Antimonopoly Service. What are multi-million rouble fines most often for and how can one avoid them?’. He also presented a report on ‘The largest fines for breaching antimonopoly legislation’". Aidar pointed out that the best way to defend oneself against fines is to prevent an offence. "Antimonopoly compliance and employee training are extremely important," he added. Mr Sultanov highlighted all stages of the antimonopoly authorities' actions, starting from a request through to a ruling to impose administrative liability for a violation of antimonopoly legislation, and court proceedings.
On 31 May, one of the most anticipated sessions of the summit took place: ‘The Chip in Your Head: Medicine, Technology and the Law’. This was moderated by Konstantin Sharlovskiy, the Partner who heads Pepeliaev Group's Life Sciences Practice. Participants agreed that the topic of neural implantation is tied in with a large number of myths and alarms. However, these technologies have already come into our lives and are helping people to regain lost or missing capabilities (hearing, vision) and to fight diseases (pain syndrome, epilepsy and depression). In addition to medical use, a number of companies are declaring that they are ready to develop neurointerfaces to "improve" human nature. However, at present there is no clear-cut solution to the issue of how to regulate medical and non-medical neural implantation. It requires a continuing dialogue between different disciplines to identify the main areas of risk and to develop mechanisms for managing those risks.
Sergey Spasennov, Senior Partner and Head of the St Petersburg office, took part in the session ‘Trial Lawyer - 2024. Effective tools that help to win a dispute’. The participants in the discussion, experienced litigators among them, shared their personal insights into providing legal representation.
Elena Krestyantseva, Head of the Land Law, Real Estate and Construction Practice of the St Petersburg Office, took part in the session ‘Real Estate Disputes - 2024. How should we work after the Supreme Court's new positions’. The experts tried to answer the question of how to apply the Supreme Court's new positions in disputes over unauthorised constructions and how practice has changed since the Plenum. Those present also discussed frequent disputes that arise over the type of permitted use, Integrated Development Territories (abbreviated to ‘KRT’ in Russian) and Zones with Special Conditions for Using Territories (abbreviated to ‘ZOUIT’ in Russian).
We note that Pepeliaev Group once again supported the St Petersburg Legal Summit by acting as the event’s general partner.