Andrii Nyzhnyi is a speaker of the Dialogue Platform “Unity of judicial practice: An attempt at rethinking”
On 13-14 December 2024, Lviv hosted a series of professional discussions on the effective implementation of judicial reform in Ukraine on its path to European integration. The Dialogue Platform “Unity of Judicial Practice: An Attempt at Rethinking” was held by the Supreme Court jointly with the Ukrainian Catholic University, the Council of Europe project ‘Support to the Functioning of Justice in the War and Post-War Context in Ukraine, and the OSCE Support Programme for Ukraine within the framework of the project “Assisting Supreme Court and Higher Courts in Implementing Judicial Reform and War-related Justice”.
Andrii Nyzhnyi, attorney-at-law, senior partner at Hillmont Partners, and member of the Board of the Analytical and Educational Center “Sustainable Justice”, spoke at the event and discussed with his colleagues – practicing lawyers and representatives of the legal community – the existing problems of the unity of judicial practice. In particular, Andrii Nyzhnyi noted that the current mechanism for ensuring the unity of judicial practice provides for the possibility of referring a case to a chamber, the joint chamber of the cassation court and the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court.
According to the speaker, for the effective functioning of such a mechanism, it is necessary to understand the Supreme Court is opinion. A court’s opinion in the part that is binding on all other courts, as well as in the framework of law enforcement activities, should be separated in the reasoning part. The issue of mandatory or optional transfer of cases also needs to be resolved. Andrii Nyzhnyi noted that in case of an implicit derogation, if there is a situation where there is a ruling by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court and there was an implicit derogation afterward, there should be a mechanism to ensure that the complainant can access the resolution of that issue.
Judges of the Supreme Court, appellate and local courts, practicing lawyers and representatives of the academic community were also involved in the discussion of judicial reform challenges. Representatives of the student community of the Ukrainian Catholic University School of Law and other Ukrainian universities were also invited to participate in the dialogue. The participants discussed implementation of mechanisms to ensure the unity of judicial practice in Ukraine, strengthening confidence in the courts and implementing the rule of law and justice in action.
Commenting on the importance of the meeting, Andrii Nyzhnyi noted: “This was the first high-level professional event where the participants did not just discuss the possibility, expediency or necessity of ensuring the unity of judicial practice. It is important that they recognized the existence of problems in this area and the need to take measures to address them. During the discussions, they analysed in detail the causes of such problems and suggested possible ways to solve them. We expect that the dialogue platform has become a starting point for further practical steps to develop optimal ways to ensure the unity of judicial practice in Ukraine, without which it is impossible to fully implement the principles of the rule of law.”
