One of the key events on the national legal market took place in Kyiv on September 30-October 1, 2021. The Ukrainian Bar Association held its Annual Judicial Forum. Andrii Nyzhnyi, Co-Managing Partner, Head of Dispute Resolution Practice at Hillmont Partners, was one of the forum’s experts and joined the substantive discussion held during the session on ensuring the unity of judicial practice. In particular, the speakers, including judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, the Administrative Court of Cassation of the Supreme Court, the Commercial Court of Kyiv, discussed application of the recommendations made by the Council of Europe in dealing with the Supreme Court’s conclusions and other aspects aimed at effective implementation of the judiciary in Ukraine.
Andrii’s report was devoted to the issues of restrictions on cassation appeals in minor cases and other obstacles to the unity of case law. Among them, Andrii pointed out a large number of precedents and the complexity involved in searching for them, the not always consistent practice of cassation courts and equally mandatory status of all rulings of the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court and cassation courts.
Special attention was paid to the excessive simplicity of the concession made by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court from preliminary detention on the application of the rule of law, taking into account the possibility of making an appropriate decision even by a minority of the composition of such a chamber under certain circumstances, as well as the not always correct application of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and practice of the European Court of Human Rights by courts of all instances.
“I would like to thank the Ukrainian Bar Association for organizing a powerful discussion platform, which became a qualitative opportunity to speak about the painful points of the litigation process, to update the common challenges of justice, as judges and lawyers see them. As for me personally, the event combined two lines of my professional development. I had the opportunity to express my vision of training and improving the quality of the work of courts, given my recent judicial experience, as well as to amplify the voice of the legal profession in the fight for the right to a fair trial, which is very important for me and my colleagues within the format of private practice”.
Hillmont’s James Hart was a speaker at the 3rd annual Ukrainian Investment Road Show at Thompson Reuters in London on the 2nd December. The panel discussed the capital raising activity of leading Ukrainian businesses in the international markets with the participation of MHP, Metinvest, Kernel, DTEK Renewables, Interpipe, BCP Securities and Raiffeisen Bank International. Topics included successful Ukrainian corporate Eurobond placements this year, the first ever green bond issuance in the region, business and capital raising strategies of some of the country’s largest companies and investor sentiment towards Ukraine. The general view was that Ukraine’s macroeconomic indicators remain extremely attractive and the investment climate is generally favourable.