The Fourth Training for Trainers on Strategic Judicial Protection at the Russian Constitutional Court and International Courts completed a two-year training program for lawyers of the Institute and its regional partner organizations. The training was conducted within the Project «Enhancing Civic Engagement in Strategic Constitutional Litigation in Russia», implemented by the Institute for Law and Public Policy with the support of the European Union.

The training participants were 19 professors and practicing lawyers representing a permanent group of project lawyers from Voronezh, Kaliningrad, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, St. Petersburg and Moscow.

The training was condusted by Project permanent experts Maxim Timofeev, Ph.D. in Law, Associate Professor at the European Humanities University (Vilnius), and Arkady Gutnikov, Director of the St. Petersburg Law Institute named after Prince P.G. Oldenburg.

The training curriculum included mainly practical exercises.

On September, 21 during the first session QUO VADIS? TRENDS OF THE LAW-ENFORCEMENT PRACTICE OF THE RUSSIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS  significant cases from the recent practice of the CC and the ECHR were presented and discussed; the participants selected the most interesting and significant decisions of both courts, and analyzed them according to the recommended algorithm.

At the second session, TRAINING METHODS OF STRATEGIC JUDICIAL PROTECTION AT THE RUSSIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT AND INTERNATIONAL COURTS, the participants exchanged experience on the use of interactive teaching methods in conducting trainings for students and lawyers during the implementation of their projects in 2016-2018. Various educational situations were modeled and the peculiarities of using teaching methods for different audiences were discussed. The master class held during the session included the main stages of working with a training case in preparation for a simplified court hearing on the model of the Russian  Constitutional Court.

The whole day of September, 22 was related to the preparation for the educational court according to the model of the Russian Constitutional Court, conducting the learning process itself and reviewing (feedback) key successful decisions of the teams and opportunities to improve skills further by the jury members, Anatoly Kovler and Elena Gritsenko, and the hosts of the training.

On the final day of September, 23 participants from all Project seven regions presented their experience in conducting business with a view to contacting the Russian Constitutional Court and the ECHR; achievements and difficulties they have encountered.

The Project is supported by the European Commission