Kathryn Hendley
Assessing the Use of Accelerated Procedure in the Russian Arbitrazh Courts
August 15, 2005
Abstract
The paper explores how a critical reform to the procedural code governing the Russian arbitrazh (or economic) courts is working. Based on field research in four courts during the summer of 2003, the paper argues that both litigants and judges have resisted these reforms. The reasons for their resistance include a lack of clarity in the statutory language as well as the conservative nature of trial judges. A fuller investigation of the realities of trial court practice by elites before drafting the new code might have made them more aware of the lurking difficulties (economic courts, transition, debt-collection).