Companies' Legal Departments: Organizational and Legal Status, Preventive and Judicial Protection (A Comparative-Legal Analysis of The Experience of The Republic of Uzbekistan And Foreign Countries)

Drawing on a comparative-legal analysis of the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Federal Republic of Germany, the French Republic and the People's Republic of China, as well as of international instruments (the UNCITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration of 1985 and the New York Convention of 1958), the article examines a set of systemic problems characteristic of the activity of the legal departments (in-house counsel) of private companies. It investigates such issues as the organizational and legal status and independence of the legal department, the professional qualification and accreditation of corporate counsel, preventive legal protection (including the institution of due care and due diligence), the protection of intellectual property, the quality of the preparation of statements of claim and the enforcement of judicial acts, the use of alternative dispute-resolution methods (mediation), and the application of the norms of international commercial arbitration. On the basis of the conducted research, practical recommendations are formulated aimed at improving the national regulation of the activity of companies' legal departments in Uzbekistan, with due regard for leading foreign experience.

Legal department, corporate counsel, in-house counsel

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