In consultation with the funding authority the cooperation with the Russian Federation is suspended until further notice.

Online conference on “Current issues concerning legal training and law studies in Russia and Germany”

Graphics: IRZ
Graphics: IRZ
Russian Federation

A Russian/German online conference on “Current issues concerning legal training and law studies in Russia and Germany” took place in Makhachkala on 17 September 2020. This event was organised by the Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice for the Russian Federation, one of the largest law faculties in the country. Around 50 lecturers and students from many different branches of the Law Academy, for example from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tula, Krasnodar and Rostov, took part in the event.

The event began with IRZ Head of Section Tatiana Bovkun and Oxana Shabarshova, Head of the Department of International Relations at the Law Academy, welcoming the participants to the conference.
The main focus of the event was on the current significance of legal training and research in both countries. The following topics were presented in lectures and subsequently discussed:

  • “Research activities as an integral part of the education process at Russian universities” by Dr.Tatiana Batrova, a professor in the Department of Civil and Commercial Law at the Law Academy
  • “The symbiosis between legal practice, law studies and legal training in Russia” by Dr. Elvira Esenbulatova, Head of the Criminal Law Department at the Academy
  • “The role of legal training in developing the legal culture in Russia: problems and perspectives” by Dr. Zuchra Omarova, Department of Constitutional and Administrative Law
  • “The new challenges for legal training - the balance between online and offline technology” by Dr. Xenia Pitulko, a lecturer at the St. Petersburg branch of the Law Academy
  • “Legal training in Germany” by Dr. Christian Schaich, Director of the Centre for Eastern European and International Studies (ZOiS)
  • “Legal research in Germany” by Dr. Christian Schaich
  • “The role of research work in the Master’s degree programme” by Dr. Galina Shklyaev, a lecturer at the Izhevsk branch of the Law Academy

Dr. Christian Schaich, Administrative Director at the Centre for Eastern European and International Studies (ZOiS) gGmbH, was appointed by IRZ to take part in the conference. He presented the specific nature of legal training to become a fully qualified lawyer in Germany, with two levels consisting of a university degree followed by a legal internship. Dr. Schaich explained the differences in research and legal training between Russia and Germany.

The conference allowed a multidimensional exchange of experiences on the subject. The participants showed a great deal of interest in the lectures. The online conference was characterised by a particularly trusting and professional atmosphere.

Online conference on “Insurance medicine: legal issues in theory and in practice during the pandemic”

Graphics: IRZ
Graphics: IRZ
Russian Federation

On 18 June 2020, the IRZ supported a scientific and practical online conference on “Insurance medicine: legal issues in theory and in practice during the pandemic”. The conference was attended by around sixty people and was organised and led by the Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice for the Russian Federation (Izhevsk branch). It was aimed at the following target groups:

  • scientists,
  • practitioners in criminal and civil law and in public law,
  • medical professionals and
  • students.

The lectures given by the speakers were all of a high level. They included a contribution from the Deputy Minister of Health for the Republic of Udmurtia. The IRZ expert taking part was Markus Schlüter, Presiding Judge at the Higher Regional Court of Dresden. He gave a lecture on “Covid-19 and the German Protection against Infection Act”. As a result of the Coronavirus pandemic, on 27 March 2020 the “Law for the protection of the population in an epidemic situation of national scope” was published in the Bundesgesetzblatt (Federal Law Gazette). With this law, § 5a of the Protection against Infection Act (IfSG), governing the exercise of professional duties by medical care staff, was also implemented. Markus Schlüter explained, however, that this paragraph could lead to problems in medical law. He was referring, for example, to the issue of which standard of care should apply for a given treatment or whether medical staff should be liable if they wrongly assess their level of expertise.

The Russian speakers gave lectures on the following topics, amongst others:

  • the application of criminal law in the event of violations of the pandemic law
  • Issues concerning legal health insurance in connection with Covid-19
  • Cybercrime during the pandemic
  • Combating fake news
  • Experiences of Covid-19 in other countries

Even though a conference in digital format can be no replacement for meeting in person, especially in an international context, the discussions were still lively. Questions were passed on in writing to the moderator before being answered by the speakers. The conference shed light on the current status of the fight against the pandemic and made the most of the opportunity to maintain contact between academics in these exceptional times.

International Conference on the “Digitalisation of the Law and legal Transformation in the digital Age” held in Moscow

Graphics: IRZ
Graphics: IRZ
Russian Federation

On 25 June 2020, the IRZ took part in an international scientific and practical online conference on “Digitalisation of the Law and legal Transformation in the digital Age”. The conference was aimed at around sixty legal experts, mainly from the Russian Federation, as well as a few representatives from Belarus and Kazakhstan. The conference, with its extensive programme of lectures, was hosted by the Law Academy of the Ministry of Justice for the Russian Federation and opened by the Deputy Minister of Justice for the Russian Federation, Maksim Beskhmelnizyn. The agenda for the plenary session and two round table meetings included the following topics and lectures:

  • Current issues concerning the digitalisation of Russian law
  • Developing the constitutional foundations for information law and the legal framework for information security: the vectors of scientific research
  • The main orientations of the digital transformation of the Ministry of Justice for the Russian Federation
  • The development of a digital statute book for the Russian Federation, based on the Ministry of Justice’s system for legal information

Acting as an IRZ expert, judge Christian Schmitz-Justen, Vice-President of the Higher Regional Court of Cologne, spoke about “Modern Workplaces in the Justice System”. He outlined electronic law in Germany, electronic support for legal work and the introduction of digital speech recognition in the German justice system. He also took part in the round table discussions on “Legal Transformation in the digital Reality”. His insights into German digitalisation strategies were met with a great deal of interest from the participants in the conference.

During the course of the discussions on the topics covered by the conference, the participants also made many science-based proposals for optimising the law in the age of the information society. They talked about how the digitalisation of the law could be developed further and how a uniform justice system could be achieved in Russia and the CIS states. They argued in favour of establishing an electronic set of laws. They also pointed out that guidelines for digitalisation were also needed in the areas of the economy, the administration of state and local authorities and in research and education.

The conference was met with such great interest by all those involved that IRZ would also like to take part in subsequent similar events with German experts.