Multi-jurisdictional cases in England & Russia

• Differences exist between Russian and English court and arbitration proceedings in terms of the role of the judge, evidence and use of experts.

Many of the international, cross-border litigation and arbitration cases that find their way to England concern Russia. Particular challenges may arise due to the conceptual differences between dispute resolution processes in the two jurisdictions. While England is a common law jurisdiction, with an adversarial system, Russia is a civil law jurisdiction, with an inquisitorial system.

In English-style proceedings, parties compete with each other to convince the impartial judge or arbitrator that their case is more meritorious than their opponent’s. The parties are given a good deal of freedom (within the confines of the procedural rules) as to how to present their case, and a judge or arbitrator will not generally enquire beyond the facts presented by the parties and will not look to identify legal causes of action