St Petersburg University holds the first defence of a dissertation in the new field of private law studies in Russia

The author of the research sought to answer the question of whether the state or a legal entity affiliated to it can refer contractual or corporate disputes to an arbitration tribunal, which is a private law dispute resolution body. According to Viktor Eremin, the arbitration reform carried out in Russia in 2015 to 2017 has solved the general problem of the operation of permanent arbitration institutions. However, it has not settled the issues of arbitrability of disputes. State courts are compelled to look for ways to regulate arbitrability. It is particularly obvious when it comes to public participation in the economy, the so-called public interest. ‘In the national economy, many processes are linked to the state, while arbitration is a way of resolving disputes through a private confidential procedure’, explained Viktor Eremin. ‘The state, in this case, loses control. There is also a contradiction: on the one hand, the law does not prohibit public entities from resorting to arbitration (except for non-arbitrable disputes); and, on the other hand, state courts overturn or do not enforce decisions of arbitration tribunals involving the public entity.

To ensure that the arbitrability of disputes involving public entities is unambiguous, I suggest establishing 'rules of the game' so that state courts have a clear 'manual' on their application.

Viktor Eremin, a graduate of the master's and doctoral programmes at St Petersburg University

Viktor Eremin has also identified certain patterns of referring disputes to arbitration tribunals administered by established arbitration institutions. According to the researcher, this opens a new avenue for scientific research into the formation of a private justice system in Russia.

Under the former classification of academic disciplines, the candidate for a degree would have had to take two candidate examinations and the dissertation council would have had to consist of at least ten members, as the topic of arbitration is dealt with across various legal fields.

St Petersburg University has become the first university in Russia to respond to the ongoing reforms, due to its unique system of dissertation defence.

Viktor Eremin, a graduate of the master's and doctoral programmes at St Petersburg University

'In my opinion, it is only right that proceduralists and civilists have been brought together under the same specialty, and it just enriches the discussion,' said Viktor Eremin. The system of defending candidate and doctoral dissertations at St Petersburg University also implies that all members of the dissertation council should be specialists in the topic of research and act as opponents to the dissertation candidate at the same time. 'The feedback, recommendations and criticism I received on my dissertation prove to be beneficial to my progress. I enjoyed the defence and the discussion was very interesting,' said the scholar.