Federal speakers held face-to-face classes at PASO

40 lawyers from the Samara region took part in a two-day (June 28-29, 2022) professional development seminar. Without missing the opportunity provided by the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation and the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara Region, they received from the capital's experts up-to-date information on the features of defense in a jury trial and the practice of applying civil law.

Sergei Anatolyevich Pashin, Ph.D. in Law, retired federal judge, Honored Lawyer of the Russian Federation, member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, and Ph.D. named after O.E. Kutafina (MSLA) Oleg Sergeevich Grin.

Classes on “Oratory skills of a lawyer” and “Protection in a jury trial”, conducted by S.A. Pashin, combined rich factual material (achievements of modern psycholinguistics, judicial decisions, results of jury polls), unique analytical calculations, numerous literary allusions and reminiscences, valuable practical recommendations and elements of a business game.

Inspired by the ideas of the greatest minds of Russia (M. V. Lomonosov: “Eloquence is the art of speaking eloquently about any given matter and thereby inclining others to one’s own opinion”, M. M. Speransky: “Eloquence is the gift to shock souls ... The foundations of eloquence are passions” ), the participants of the seminar on public speaking studied the goals of public speaking (assimilation, acceptance, motivation, entertainment); mechanisms of influence on the audience (proof, persuasion, suggestion, contagion, fashion); effects in court (Lapierre's paradox, conformism, hidden decision factors, dramaturgy, attribution of responsibility, belief in a just world); stages of the persuasion process (attention - attraction and distraction - understanding, acceptance, memorization).

The lawyers not only listened to the authoritative lecturer, but also enthusiastically practiced eloquence themselves: the conflict, widely known since the time of the fabulist I. A. Krylov, caused heated debate and difficult thoughts of the jury (hall) about who still deserves more condemnation - cheat Fox or loving flattery Crow. S.A. Pashin demonstrated samples of speeches in defense of both characters, showing how to use the visualization technique and what questions to ask jurors to identify common interests.

The study of the intricacies of public speaking, rhetorical techniques, the achievements of psycholinguistics in an effort to master the most complex art of persuasion preceded the work of the audience at the seminar on defending in a jury trial.

S.A. Pashin emphasized the special significance of this form of legal proceedings:

"... Proceedings with the participation of jurors, in which not a professional judge, but a jury independently decides on the guilt of the defendant, has a special constitutional and legal significance ..." (Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation dated April 19, 2010 No. 8-P) , as well as the inherent features of the people's court: "... When making a decision, jurors ... are based mainly on their life experience and ideas of justice formed in the society of which they are members" (Decree of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of April 2006 No. 3-P, point 5.3).

The speaker noted that according to statistics for the 1st half of 2021, the jury heard the cases of 480 defendants, of which 196 people were acquitted (31.1% against 0.3% by professional judges). In the courts of appeal, 110 (56.1%) acquittals and 52 (18.3%) convictions were cancelled. In favor of the jury, according to S.A. Pashin, such effects as improving the quality of the preliminary investigation testify; feedback to the state and "siloviki"; nullification of the law, relatively high level of justifications; other, higher standards of proof; unwarranted conviction of the accused.

The lawyers examined in detail the features of the jury trial: preliminary hearing (refusal of the jury trial, admissibility of evidence), selection of the jury, prohibited facts and remedies, nullification, question sheet, doubling the debate (alternative defense). The audience actively participated in the business game dedicated to the selection of the jury . Realizing how many nuances lurk in this stage of the people's trial, the lawyers differently perceived the recommendation of Sergei Anatolyevich to invite professional psychologists to the selection.

Much attention to S.A. Pashin paid attention to the restrictions in the speech of a lawyer before the jury. Among the general prohibitions, he referred to the following:

talk about things that are not relevant;
refer to unexamined evidence;
refer to inadmissible evidence;
transgress the boundaries of business communication;
detract from the honor, dignity or business reputation of another lawyer or the authority of the bar.

In addition, in a jury trial, one cannot touch on issues that the jury does not decide; talk about torture; defame admissible evidence; criticize the methods of investigation, violations in the collection and consolidation of evidence, raise procedural issues; analyze the reasons for the contradictions in the testimony of the witness for the prosecution; offer a polygraph test; point to another person who committed the crime; hint at the existence of circumstances that are withheld from the jury; give characterizing circumstances, information about children, personal data, injuries and illnesses of the defendant; assess the identity of the victim and witnesses, the motives of their testimony; upset the court, criticize the accuser; show photographs, diagrams. However, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation pointed out the unconstitutionality of some of the prohibitions - see below.

Resolution of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of July 7, 2020 No. 33-P (complaint by R.A. Aliyev)

Definitions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation:

No. 3276-O dated December 5, 2019 (request by the court of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District)

No. 1643-O dated July 9, 2020 (complaint by O. B. Anisimova)

No. 2634-O dated November 25, 2020 (complaint by I.I. Erokhin)

According to the eminent lecturer, the analysis of the verdicts of the appellate and cassation instances delivered in the Samara region, specially performed for the participants of the seminar, shows that a number of decisions of courts of general jurisdiction contradict the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. An "antidote" for those violations of the law that are allowed, S.A. Pashin considers the jury: “The more cases that go to the jury, the more guaranteed the rights of people, in my opinion, because the jury looks at the case from the side of common sense and does not offend those who, for example, are assigned the role of whipping boys in show trials. In addition, all lawyers need to work in the legal field. We must rely on precedents and existing jurisprudence. It is necessary to engage in self-education, and not only in advanced training courses, we must work on it all the time, collect our own library of precedents, which I perceive not as a boring task, but as an expansion of my horizons, which means an increase in the degree of freedom.

The seminar participants appreciated the lecturer's broad outlook, excellent erudition, interesting presentation of the material, the deepest knowledge of judicial practice and the desire to share it.

Sergei Anatolyevich, in turn, expressed his opinion about the visit to PASO:

- The Samara Chamber of Lawyers, it seems to me, is in good hands, looks highly authoritative and even elegant; lawyers are very lively, energetic, enjoy playing legal games and ask very well-aimed questions. I have one wish: “... let truth and mercy reign in the courts ...”! These words of Alexander II from the Manifesto of 1856 we should have inscribed on our banners.

PASO lawyers received a huge amount of information on the novelties of civil law in the classroom, which was conducted by Ph.D. Kutafina (MSLA) Oleg Sergeevich Grin. The program of seminars "Enforcement of civil obligations: the main problems of judicial practice" and "Novelties and practice of application of civil legislation on liability for violation of obligations" included the following questions:

General provisions on securing obligations
forfeit, deposit, security deposit
Guarantee
Pledge
Independent Guarantee, Retention of Thing, Irrevocable Power of Attorney
Force majeure and significant change of circumstances
Damages
Judicial forfeit ("astrent")
Abstract and concrete damages
Injunction
Interest on borrowed money
Representations of circumstances, indemnity, pre-contractual liability

According to O.S. Grin, the reform of the civil legislation of the Russian Federation, begun in 2008, is associated with the formation of a new practice of law enforcement and the emergence of many questions, the answers to which have yet to be developed by the professional legal community. In this regard, he places special hopes on the lawyer corporation as the most active part of the legal world: “Lawyers set tasks for the courts (as part of their statements of claim, formed opinions, etc.) so that the legal institutions provided for by law come to life. I urge lawyers to study, develop and apply as many legislative novelties as possible in their practical activities, so that all the wonderful mechanisms prescribed in the law finally work!”

In the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara Region, the speaker saw a lively response to his message, an audience with which it is very interesting to work, asking competent questions, surprising with its unique practice on the most complex legal problems.

The lawyers did not disperse even at the end of the classes, exchanged experience, consulted the speakers, sincerely thanked for the science - recommendations and tools for better protecting the interests of their principals.