Press review for January 16-31, 2020

MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure” forms a new judicial practice regarding former owners of bankrupt organizations

Pravo.ru reports that on January 24, the Moscow Arbitration Court took interim measures in the form of seizure of money and property of persons controlling the debtor for a total amount of almost 8 billion rubles.

According to the online edition, earlier in the framework of the dispute about bankruptcy of PJSC “Time-Bank” (case no.A40-168999/15-4(38)-543B), the Deposit Insurance Agency, whose interests are represented by MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure”, convinced the Supreme Court of the need to apply interim measures regarding the former owners of the collapsed Bank (Determination of the Judicial Board on Economic Disputes of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation № 305-ES19-16954 of 09.01.2020 in case № A40-168999/2015).

The Supreme Court, in particular, indicated that the court of the first instance established the fact that the persons controlling the debtor had committed unfair actions aimed at withdrawing significant amounts of money from the Bank by issuing deliberately non-refundable loans to the detriment of the interests of the credit institution’s clients. And in the future, the Defendants did not take any measures to voluntarily compensate for the harm, did not begin to cooperate with the Deposit Insurance Agency, for example, regarding the disclosure of information that allows us to trace the fate of the Bank’s property. And since the court found no reason to believe that the Defendants would change their behavior, the Supreme Court overturned the judicial acts of lower courts and issued a decision which satisfied the requirements for interim measures.

The standard for proving reasonable suspicions for taking interim measures, developed by lawyers of MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure”, has now been adopted by the Arbitration Court of Moscow, Pravo.ru states.

A quarter of a century in the life of a Russian lawyer

On the “Captains of business” program on radio ”Mediametrics”, Nikita Filippov, Head of MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure”, told how legal practice has changed over a quarter of a century. “In a planned economy, a huge number of issues were resolved administratively, and in a market economy, a need arose for an independent arbitrator who would resolve disputed issues; this role is assigned to the court in our legal system,”-Filippov shared.

He recalled that MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure” was established in 2003. “People liked the way I worked personally, as a lawyer. There were a lot of requests. There was a need for one assistant, in another, a team appeared. After that, the question arose of its isolation for solving larger tasks. First we became a division of a larger bar Association, and in 2011 we formed our own legal entity, which is consistently developing and growing. Today we have 24 lawyers and more than 100 trainees and assistant lawyers, “- the head of “De jure” concluded.

Speaking about the prospects for the development of the legal market and the profession of a lawyer, Filippov noted that he was optimistic about the future. He considers the introduction on October 1, 2019 of a ban on judicial representation of persons without a higher legal education an important milestone on the path of increasing professionalism. “This measure is aimed, essentially, against deceiving consumers of legal services, to fight unscrupulous entrepreneurs. The fight for the quality of legal services is the right way,” – the lawyer is sure. According to him, the next step may be the introduction of a lawyer monopoly on judicial representation. “If the concept of a lawyer’s monopoly wins, then in 2-3 years we can expect the introduction of a provision that only a lawyer can exercise judicial representation. In my opinion, this will lead to the admission of all free lawyers to the bar, as well as to the introduction of specialization of lawyers in the branches of law,”- the head of “De jure” believes.

Read more – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U45BoiiUEzM&feature=youtu.be&t=1239 (с 20.45)

How to find a forensic specialist for 200 million?

The newspaper Kommersant reports that Trust, which the Central Bank has turned into a Bank of bad debts, intends to attract specialists to investigate the thefts. Until now, the Bank tried to cope with this task itself, but now it is ready to spend about 200 million rubles on services, it follows from the tender documentation. Commenting on this news at the request of the publication, Nikita Filippov, Head of MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure”, noted that the only thing that raises questions is the timing of the competition – three working days. “Only companies specializing in participation in such tenders and such work will be able to prepare a package of documents confirming the existence of competencies, taking into account the requirements for foreign jurisdictions,”- the lawyer is sure.

Don’t take money!

“Novye Izvestia” is wondering what bribes are being given in modern Russia. And why is it still difficult for us to fight this evil?

Nikita Filippov, Honorary Lawyer of Russia, Head of MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure”, recalls that on December 24, 2019, the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation amended the Resolution “On judicial practice in cases of bribery and other corruption crimes”. Among other things, the interpretation of such a subject of bribery as property rights has been expanded in terms of the ability to receive income from the use of uncertified securities or digital rights. “And this seems logical in connection with the development of digital technology,”- the lawyer notes. – “We understand that today bribes can be taken, for example, with bitcoins … And the fact that the Supreme Court provides an instrument to combat the latest forms of bribery is welcome.”

Liquidation netting to help!

Information and analytical portal “Banks today” publishes the author’s article of the assistant lawyer of the MCBA “Bureau of Lawyers “De jure” Yakov Prisyazhnyuk, which contains an analysis of such a new concept for Russian legal practice as liquidation netting. Its bases are established by the Federal law of December 27, 2019 N 507-FZ “On amendments to Article 20 of the Federal Law “On banks and banking activities” and the Federal Law “On insolvency (bankruptcy)” regarding the development of financial market instruments”.

“Counterparties who have concluded a General agreement with the Debtor on the terms of transactions on the financial market earlier than a month before accepting the application for declaring the Debtor bankrupt (for banks – earlier than a month before revoking the license), now, under certain conditions, can count on the satisfaction of their claims bypassing the sequence of requirements creditors established by the Law on bankruptcy,”- the lawyer of “De-jure” concludes.