2. The biggest country in the world
The only official language – Russian.
Only basics of English language are taught in public
schools.
Parliamentary republic
Federation of 83 constituent entities with equal rights
but different in type
Strong state power. Constituent entities has authority
to deal mainly with local issues
Single state legislation and court system nation-wide
Civil law country, but due to involvement into world
trade, common law is often chosen to govern
contracts (English or US law)
2
3. Market-based, globally integrated
10th largest in the world
In 2010 Russia’s GDP $1,477trln, GDP per capital
$15,900.
In terms of income per capita, Russia ranks quite
low on the scale – 51st in the World.
However, if you convert that into GDP Purchasing
Power Parity (PPP), which takes into account the
relative cost of living in each country, Russia’s
GDP ranks 6th in the world, behind the United
States, China, Japan, India and Germany.
Russia currently ranks 16th on Deloitte’s World
Wealth List
3
4. Economy has grown rapidly, fuelled largely by exports of
raw materials (aluminium) and energy resources (oil, gas)
A rough year in 2009, where the Russian economy
dropped by 7.9%
In 2010 GDP in Russia grew by 4%, and is expected to
continue growing through 2011
The growth in income has led to a renewed confidence in
Russia, and a much more assertive foreign policy under its
last two Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev.
Deloitte has predicted that more than 1.2 million people
in Russia will become dollar millionaires by 2020
4
5. A shrinking workforce. But this factor could be
viewed as a benefit for expats
High level of corruption
The protection of property rights is still weak and the
private sector remains subject to heavy state
interference
Difficulty in accessing capital for smaller, non-energy
companies
Dependence on the export of oil, gas and other raw
materials, while other sectors of its economy are not
strong enough to pick up the slack from any
downturn should the global oil and gas prices fall
significantly. But will it happen soon?
Poor infrastructure in need of large investments. But
this is not true for major cities like Moscow, St.
Petersburg, Vladivostok
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6. Place of residence for all high state structures
High concentration of capital
Highest level of living standards, the best
infrastructure
Population is officially 11,514,300. The biggest
city in Europe, 6th in the world
Nationalities: East Slavic 73%, CIS republics 15%
(like Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan), Caucasian
3%, Turkic 2%, Asian 2%, other 5%
A lot of places to visit in and out of Moscow
Good medicine is relatively cheap
Problems: heavy traffic, overpopulated, middle
crime-rate, racial intolerance and extremism,
subject to terrorist attacks
6
7. General rule: national regime for all expats, except:
when country of origin imposes restrictions on right
of Russians, then expats from that country will have
the same limitations in Russia
special cases protection of public policy interests (i.e.
ban on purchase of agricultural land)
Must obey strict immigration rules
Employers normally take all the burden of obtaining
work permit for expats. In practice, work permit is
obtained relatively easy if employer is ready to incur
additional costs
Usually enjoy higher salaries than nationals
Due to tradition, Europeans are treated in a privileged
way
7
8. General rule: nothing. No sanctions for working as a
lawyer without diploma
Standard practice: you need a bachelor’s diploma from a
high school, but only because HR is always asking for it
Exception: to represent clients in criminal cases a lawyer
must have Advocate’s license.
Bar associations are limited to a certain state, but
advocates are allowed to work nation-wide
In order to enter the bar, one needs to pass exam and
have 2 years of post-graduation experience. In practice
one should consider corruption element as well
Having advocate’s license grants some benefits (like
additional immunity from prosecution, right to get
information from almost everyone, etc). Members of the
bar pay for their membership.
8
9. In-house (big variety of industries, major
international companies are represented)
Law firms (national or international)
Individual practice
In the form of individual entrepreneur
Setting your own law firm
Advocate bureau (set up by several partners)
Advocate cabinet (for individual Advocate)
Colleague of Advocates (non-commercial
organization based on membership)
Other forms: notary, judge, lawyer in state
organizations, etc.
9
10. For qualified lawyers, except Partner positions. In
USD, per year, gross.
Year of graduation 2005 2004-2002 2001+
Top US law firm 180-210 210-270 300+
Major UK law firms 60-110 120-200 200-250
Major US law firms 60-80 110-150 150-220
Mid-size UK law firms, 30-60 60-100 120-160
European law firms,
Leading Russian law
firms
10
11. hh.RU (available in English)
Lawfirm.ru
Staffwell
Norton Caine
Yandex.ru (for general search through search
vehicle)
11
13. Basic form of legal entity is LLC; JSC is also
possible but is subject to complex regulation
Initial charter capital min. 10000 Rubles
(appr. 330 USD)
Can be set up in 2 weeks
Can be set by a sole person
No requirement for management by nationals
It is extremely hard to close a company,
usually takes around 1 year
13
14. Personal assets’ protection (esp. trusts,
complex corporate structures involving
offshore and tax heavens)
IP protection worldwide
Private banking
Investment regulation and tax optimization
Protection and cover from criminal
prosecution
14
15. Try this: http://www.expat.ru/
Or ask me
15
17. Information from the following resources has been used in preparation of this
presentation:
http://siberianlight.net/russiaguide/
http://russiaprofile.org/
https://www.cia.gov/
http://ru.wikipedia.org
http://www.nortoncaine.com
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