On June, 15-18 2009, American experts on judicial ethics visited Russia. The visit was organized within the partnership between the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation (the SAC) and the U.S. Russia Foundation for Economic Advancement and the Rule of Law. Federal judge Gordon Quist and court executive Collins Fitzpatrick participated in that visit.
The goal of the visit was to share opinions on judicial ethics regulations in Russia and in the USA, and to decide whether American experience in that field can be used in developing a new ethics code for Russian judges.
On June, 15 2009 there was a roundtable at the Supreme Arbitrazh (Commercial) Court of the Russian Federation (the SAC) with the vice-chair of the SAC Tatiana Andreeva and representatives of legislative, international law and cooperation, and analytical departments. Tatiana Andreeva made a presentation on plans to reform the code of ethics for judges in Russia. Judge Quist told about the system of consulting judges on ethical issues, and about development of a new revision of the code of conduct for US judges. Mr. Fitzpatrick discussed informal ways of working with judges on ethical issues in his circuit.
On June, 16 2009 there was a seminar on judicial ethics in Russia and in the USA. During that seminar experts from both sides shared their opinions on specific problems of judicial ethics regulation, including sanctions for misconduct and selection and promotion of judges.
On June, 17 2009 American experts visited the Arbitrazh Court of Moscow. Chief Judge Oleg Sviridenko told experts about the Moscow Qualifying Collegium. Then Judge A. Bondar discussed with experts formal and informal ways of handling complaints on judicial misconduct (not related to procedural and criminal violations).
On June, 18 2009 experts visited Nizhniy Novgorod. They participated in a seminar on organizational aspects of arbitrazh courts work, and then met with the members of Qualifying Collegium for Nizhniy Novgorod Oblast.
During all meetings experts discussed such topics as:
American experts noted that ethical issues are well elaborated both in Russian legislation and in documents developed by judiciary itself.
In the nearest future Russian experts from arbitrazh courts will visit the USA to learn more about judicial ethics regulations there.
