Some time ago, our law firm opened a representative office in
For the purposes of this brief overview, we consider only cases involving private matters, rather than commercial or business ones.
First of all we address the issue of what type of support might be necessary for an English client for the purposes of the court proceedings in his national courts. Such legal assistance may well go to matters of evidence, including the locating and gathering of documents necessary to be lodged before the court in favour a litigant’s position.
For example, imagine an English citizen wishes to file a divorce with an English court or to receive a declaration of paternity and needs to obtain some documents from Ukrainian authorities. For these purposes, the Ukrainian attorney at law has the right to collect all required documents under the authority of a power of attorney granted by the foreign client, including the filing of an advocate’s request to obtain the required information from the state authorities and private enterprises concerned. It is quite obvious that he needs such documents to be provided in a form admissible in English courts. And more than simply a matter of form, it is important that the opposing party in the court does not have any grounds to claim that the documents provided were false, void or otherwise lacked the weight of credibility.
Establishing admissibility includes, inter alia, an acknowledgement as to whether the documents concerned are true and the copies thereof are authentic. A mere statement on behalf of the Ukrainian lawyer who oversaw the gathering of such documentation would likely appear insufficient. What we need is a document equivalent to a sworn statement. The said procedure of acknowledgement may be achieved by producing an affidavit on behalf of the attorney at law, instructed to this effect by the foreign client. One use of affidavits is to allow evidence to be gathered from witnesses or participants who may not be available to testify in person before the court. This document may be widely used in
The problem is that unlike in
One can readily appreciate that careful planning greatly benefits the process. The Ukrainian lawyer requires clear instructions on everything from deadlines for document production to a sample of the title of proceedings. It may well be in the English solicitor’s best interests either to obtain advance consent from the opposite party on such issues as the need to examine the Ukrainian solicitor or to obtain a direction from the court as to how evidence is to be received.
In this way, by careful coordination in advance, the final stage of transmitting the documents in proper form will produce no untoward surprises. All the parties will be aware of what to do, how and in what terms. The practice of our firm showed the need for a full and clear understanding between the parties in such cases.
Note that the above-mentioned procedure is obligatory in cases where the Ukrainian attorney forwards the English client copies of the documents obtained. In cases where originals of the documents are forwarded, a mere statement by the Ukrainian solicitor might well be enough to satisfy admissibility issues. Nonetheless, all such details should be clarified in advance.
Now we turn to the issue of the recognition of decisions delivered by foreign courts, according to the law of
First of all we should point out that
and
- foreign courts dealing with cases arising during civil, labour, family and economic legal relations;
- foreign courts dealing with criminal cases related to the compensation of damage and caused losses; and
- foreign arbitrations and other bodies of foreign states that consider civil and economic cases.
In addition to the above, foreigners, stateless persons, foreign legal entities, foreign states and international organisations are eligible to apply to the courts of
The courts of
- in real estate matters, the real estate under dispute is located on the
- both parties to the case regarding legal relations between parents and children reside in
- in the case of an inheritance, the testator was a citizen of
- the dispute is connected with the registration of an intellectual property right that requires registration or issue of a certificate (patent) in
- the dispute is connected with the registration of liquidation on the
- the dispute relates to the authenticity of records in the state register of
- in cases on bankruptcy the debtor was established according to the legislation of
- the case relates to the issue or destruction of securities registered in
- the case relates to an adoption that was performed or is being performed on the
- other cases determined by the laws of
In summary, cross-border issues are resolved most effectively when foreign counsel instructing Ukrainian counsel set out the issues and tasks clearly and allow adequate time for the multiplicity of administrative matters that may well attend the production of a ‘simple’ document.
Lyudmila Opryshko is a senior associate at Konnov & Sozanovsky in
