Svetlana London
Svetlana London is a dual qualified Russian and English lawyer and the Managing Partner of CIS London & Partners LLP, a London based law firm offering specialised legal advice on all key aspects of law across the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), including Russian, Kazakhstani, Armenian, as well as Ukrainian and Georgian laws.
Svetlana has over 19 years of practical professional experience advising corporate and private clients on cross-border transactions with a CIS element.
Over the years, Svetlana has offered legal advice on a range of legal matters, including international finance, corporate, commercial, employment, compliance and dispute resolution. She was also selected as a Russian law expert for several High Court of Justice cases.
Practice Area
Panel
- Contributing Author
Membership
- Associate member of The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb)
- Member of The LCIA Users' Councils
- Member of STEP’s International Client group
Qualifications
- Graduate Diploma in Law (2010)
- Legal Practice Course (2011)
- Admitted as a solicitor, England & Wales (2012)
- Master of Laws, Professional Legal Practice (2015)
Education
- Moscow State University (2006)
- BPP Law School (2010, 2011, 2015)
4 Contributions by Svetlana London
PRACTICE NOTES
Anti-suit injunctions and arbitral jurisdiction challenges under Russian law: kompetenz-kompetenz, pre- and post-award review, sanctions-driven ‘Lugovoy Law’, court attitudes and enforcement risks for foreign arbitrations
This Practice Note explores matters concerning arbitral tribunal jurisdiction under Russian law. Note: the Russian court judgments cited in this Practice Note are not reported by LexisNexis®.
Determining tribunal jurisdiction under Russian law
Russian law recognises the kompetenz-kompetenz principle, enabling arbitral tribunals to decide for themselves whether they have authority to hear a dispute. This principle is reflected in paragraph 1 of Article 16 of the Law of 7 July 1993 No. 5338-I On International Commercial Arbitration (as amended) (the Law on ICA), which, in translation, states that an arbitral tribunal may determine its own jurisdiction and address objections regarding the existence or validity of an arbitration agreement, and that an arbitration clause within a contract is to be treated as an independent provision...
Arbitration
PRACTICE NOTES
Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in Russia: Procedure, Refusal Grounds, Public Policy, Sanctions and Arbitrability
Regulation of the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards in Russia
In the Russian Federation, enforcement of international arbitral awards is regulated by both domestic and international norms. Russia has signed and ratified the 1958 New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, the 1961 European (Geneva) Convention on International Commercial Arbitration, and other international conventions, for example the ‘Convention on the Settlement by Arbitration of Civil Disputes Arising from Relations of Economic and Scientific-Technical Cooperation’ (concluded in Moscow on 26.05.1972), as well as a range of bilateral treaties on legal co-operation that, inter alia, support recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards; however, the Russian Supreme Court has stated that the Kyiv Convention on Settling Disputes Related to Commercial Activities (1992) and the Minsk Convention on Legal Aid and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Cases (1993) do not extend to disputes over the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards in Russia. Russia has also adopted the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (1985) and, relying on it (as revised in 2006), enacted Law No. 5338-1 ‘On International Commercial Arbitration’ dated 7 July 1993 (the Law on ICA). The procedure...
Arbitration
PRACTICE NOTES
Russia: arbitral interim measures—state court support, recognition and enforcement practice, key cases, and proposed APC/CPC reforms
—the legal framework
The applicable rules depend on the dispute type and/or the parties’ legal status: either the Arbitrazh (Commercial) Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (APC) or the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation (CPC) will apply. Under paragraph 1 of Article 241 APC, decisions of foreign courts and arbitral tribunals are recognised and enforced within the Russian Federation where such recognition and enforcement are provided by international treaties and federal laws. Chapter 45 of the CPC sets out equivalent provisions. As a party to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958, Russia assures recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards domestically in accordance with the binding rules of the Law of the Russian Federation On International Commercial Arbitration No. 5338-1 of 7 July 1993 (the Law on ICA). Article 17 of the Law on ICA provides that interim measures ordered by an arbitral tribunal are binding on the parties to the arbitration. However, unlike the latest version of the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration (the Model Law), the Law on ICA contains no provisions...
Arbitration
PRACTICE NOTES
Russia: State immunity in arbitration and enforcement of arbitral awards—framework, exceptions, waivers and key case law
This Practice Note closely explores the function of state immunity in connection with arbitration proceedings in the Russian Federation. For a concise introductory guide to state immunity and arbitration, see Practice Note: State immunity and arbitration—general considerations. In addition, for further Practice Notes addressing state immunity across a broad range of jurisdictions worldwide (including England and Wales), please see our ‘State immunity’ subtopic: State immunity and arbitration—overview.
State immunity—the Russian legal framework
The Russian Federation (Russia) follows a restrictive, rather than absolute, approach to state immunity. This was not always the position. Russia’s restrictive stance on state immunity took effect on 1 January 2016, when Federal Law No 297-FZ ‘On jurisdictional immunities of foreign state and property of foreign state in the Russian Federation’ of 3 November 2015 (the Law on Immunities) entered into force. The Law on Immunities endorses the international law approach to state immunity. However, the Law on Immunities sets out several notable exceptions and waivers of immunity, which may only be applied to causes of action arising on or after 1 January 2016 (it has no retrospective effect). The Law on Immunities establishes:
three types of state immunity in Russia:
immunity from pre-judgment measures of constraint...
Arbitration
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