Russia stuns lawyers

Solicitors in Moscow have reacted with concern after Russian draft legislation regulating lawyers, introduced last week, failed to address the activities of foreign lawyers.

Jonathan Goldsmith, head of the Law Society's international department, said: 'At the moment there seems to be no limitation on the type of law foreign law firms may practise, with the exception of criminal bar work.' But without regulation, there will be no basis on which foreign law firms can feel secure in their Russian practices, he said.

Daniel Gogek, head of Lovells' Moscow practice, said the draft fell into the same trap as previous draft legislation introduced in 1996, which fizzled out in 1999.

He explained: 'The main problem with the previous draft was that it did not clearly define to whom it applied.' Mr Gogek added that from an initial reading of the current draft it was unclear if it only applied to locally qualified lawyers.Mr Gogek said there had been rumours of a general law regulating the legal profession and specific legislation on foreign lawyers, but there was no evidence of these.

The International Lawyers Group, a Moscow-based association of foreign lawyers, chaired by Mr Gogek, will meet later this month to discuss the draft with Gasan Mirzoev, deputy in the Russia parliament, the Duma.

Mr Mirzoev is leading the Duma's work on the draft law.

Jeremy Fleming