A delegation from Pepeliaev Group played an active part in the business programme of the XIV St Petersburg International Legal Forum, held in St Petersburg from 24 to 26 June. The firm’s experts participated in 11 sessions as moderators and speakers.
24 June
Yulia Litovtseva, Partner and Head of the Bankruptcy and Anti-Crisis Protection of Business Practice at Pepeliaev Group, moderated the session
“Bankruptcy: Old Problems, New Solutions”. The experts discussed how bankruptcy can become infrastructure for preserving a business and how the focus can shift from liquidation procedures towards rehabilitation and restructuring.
Yulia highlighted the key objective: to create conditions in which the planned legislative changes will both be in demand and deliver an economic effect. One of the central points of the discussion was that how effective bankruptcy is should be measured not by the number of companies liquidated, but by how quickly assets are returned to the economy.
A recording of the session is available via the link.
Natalia Stenina, Partner and Head of the Land Law, Real Estate and Construction Practice, spoke at the session
“The Legal Function in the Construction Industry as a Strategic Asset: From Management to Greater Efficiency”. Representatives of the Association of Lawyers of Russia, public authorities, the expert community and the legal profession agreed on a key point: today, a lawyer in the construction sector is no longer merely responsible for approvals or for controlling risk, but is fully involved in decision-making regarding investments and management.
Natalia noted that the legal function becomes part of the management system when legal risks are assessed in financial terms and incorporated into a project’s financial model. Meanwhile, how effective the legal team is will be measured not by the number of contracts or court cases, but by what it contributes to a business’s results, whether it prevents losses and whether it speeds up the implementation of projects.
A recording of the session is available via the link.
25 June
Rustem Ahmetshin, Senior Partner, moderated the session
“Russia–Asia: The Role of Law in Creating Conditions for Foreign Investment”. The discussion focused on the factors that currently help and, conversely, hinder foreign businesses operating in Russia.
The experts focused on three key issues:
- incentive measures for foreign investment: benefits and challenges for investors;
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administrative procedures: what hinders foreign businesses;
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protecting intellectual property in foreign trade activities.
During the discussion, the experts agreed that legal instruments supporting investment, such as special investment contracts (SPICs) and investment protection and promotion agreement (IPPAs), are generally effective. This is particularly so where a foreign company’s long-term strategy for developing its presence in Russia aligns with the Russian Federation’s national development priorities.
A recording of the session is available via the link.
Sergey Taut, Expert, spoke at the session
“Humanising and Systematising Criminal Law as a Basis for Legal Stability: Prospects vs Reality”. Sergey noted that, despite many years of discussion about how criminal law can be humanised, statistics do not yet indicate that the involvement of the criminal justice system in the economy has reduced.
Key issues include:
- the continuing criminalisation of economic activity;
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outdated thresholds being used to classify offences;
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the extensive use of pre-trial detention in cases involving economic offences.
The expert takes the view that criminal law should reflect the actual degree of social harm caused by an act, while offences which can be effectively regulated under administrative or civil law should be removed from the scope of criminal liability.
A recording of the session is available via the link.
26 June
Valentina Orlova, Partner, spoke at the session
“Media Franchises and Creative Universes”. She stressed that trademarks require particular attention when building a portfolio of rights for a future media franchise. If a project is intended from the outset to develop internationally, registering trademarks in foreign jurisdictions and the corresponding legal protection should be addressed right at the start.
The principal conclusion of the discussion was almost unanimous: if Russian characters and creative universes are to endure for decades, the law must not only protect authors and rightholders. It must also create clear rules for how new projects are to develop.
A recording of the session is available via the link.
Sergey Taut, Expert, also spoke at the session
“A New Architecture for Public-Private Interaction: Standards, Coordination and Risk Allocation”. Sergey noted that, over this period, the Public Procedures Centres had reviewed around three thousand applications from businesses. This had resulted in more than one thousand prosecutorial measures, with over 100 unlawfully initiated criminal cases being terminated, and in preventive measures being eased for entrepreneurs in more than 150 cases.
Responding to a question about how to reduce risks in public-private partnership projects, Sergey stressed that an additional independent expert review and verification of a project make it possible to identify legal risks in advance, with protection for both the state and business being strengthened.
A recording of the session is available via the link.
Sergey Pepeliaev, Managing Partner, spoke at the session
“Splitting VAT in Half: A New Approach to Resolving Tax Disputes”. Participants discussed how changes in tax legislation affect existing contracts and where the balance should lie between the interests of business and those of the state.
Sergey Pepeliaev noted that a key issue in Russian regulation remains the lack of transitional provisions when VAT calculation rules change. In his view, it is specifically this gap that causes most disputes between parties to long-term contracts.
Drawing on international experience, he showed that in many jurisdictions a change to VAT rates is accompanied by pre-established mechanisms for reallocating the tax burden.
This makes it possible to:
- ensure predictability for market participants;
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protect the interests of the parties to a contract;
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avoid disputes in the performance of long-term contracts.
A recording of the session is available via the link.
Natalia Stenina, Partner, took part as a speaker in the session
“A ‘Unit of Nature’ as a Legal Basis for a Paradigm Shift in Environmental and Climate Regulation in a Changing World”. The experts discussed whether it is feasible to introduce a new integrated mechanism that would enable a shift from viewing nature as a resource to treating it as capital, and considered the prospects for this to happen.
Natalia Stenina, Partner and Head of Pepeliaev Group’s Environmental Practice, considered how “units of nature” could be integrated into existing Russian environmental legislation and which specific legal mechanisms could serve as entry points for this instrument.
A recording of the session is available via the link.
Valentina Orlova, Partner, spoke at the session
“Structural Transformation of the Economy and Intellectual Property Law: Mutual Influence and Trends in Development”.
Valentina noted that in recent years there has been a significant increase in requests from technology companies to check their rights to intellectual property. Companies want to understand what they can take to new markets (finished products or rights to strong technologies), how effectively their technologies are protected by patents and protected know-how, and whether all intellectual property issues have been properly addressed in agreements with employees and contractors.
A recording of the session is available via the link.
Sergey Pepeliaev, Managing Partner, spoke at the session
“The Legal Market in the New ESG Reality: A Map of Current Initiatives, Challenges for 2026 and Development Scenarios”. Participants discussed the drawing up of national sustainability standards, the practical application of the ESG rating, the role of the legal function in the ESG transformation of business, the development of compliance, and new competencies increasingly required within the profession.
Sergey Pepeliaev noted that ratings can be useful to both the state and business as tools for assessment and management, but they do not determine how sustainable the legal market is itself. Clients choose legal advisers not based on formal metrics, but on professional reputation and trust.
A recording of the session is available via the link.
