Russian Court Practice Databases

Most Russian court decisions are published online for free. Commercial cases are searchable at kad.arbitr.ru, general jurisdiction cases at sudrf.ru and the GAS Pravosudie portal, and Supreme Court materials at vsrf.ru. Research before filing shows how a particular court treats similar claims.

Attorney Elena Petrova uses these databases to assess prospects, check counterparties and find precedents for briefs.

kad.arbitr.ru for Commercial Cases

The arbitrazh case file covers all arbitrazh courts. Search works by party name, tax number, case number, judge and court. Each case card shows filings, hearing dates and every ruling as a PDF.

A search by a counterparty's tax number quickly reveals claims against it, bankruptcy petitions and its litigation history. This is a standard step before signing a contract or filing a claim.

sudrf.ru and Regional Court Sites

Courts of general jurisdiction each run a website on the sudrf.ru platform. The case search sits on each court's own page. Moscow courts use mos-gorsud.ru instead.

Decisions in cases involving family matters, state secrets and some other categories are not published. Names of individuals in published texts are replaced with initials or blanks.

Supreme Court Materials

The Supreme Court publishes Plenum resolutions, practice reviews approved by the Presidium, and rulings of its judicial collegiums. Plenum resolutions explain how lower courts should apply the law, and courts follow them closely.

Search Techniques That Work

Use exact phrases from a statute or contract clause. Filter by court and year to see current practice rather than outdated positions. Read the appellate and cassation rulings in the same case, since first-instance decisions are often reversed.

Commercial legal databases, such as ConsultantPlus and Garant, add full-text search and links between related acts. They require a subscription.

Checking a Judge's Practice

Filtering by judge shows how a specific judge treats similar claims. This helps predict questions and prepare evidence, but it does not predict the result.

Citing Russian Decisions

Russia does not follow binding precedent in the common law sense. Still, lawyers cite rulings to show uniform practice. A citation should give the court, the date and the case number. Arbitrazh case numbers show the court code, for example A40 for Moscow.

Supreme Court rulings carry the most weight. Rulings of the same district's cassation court come next.

Limits of the Databases

Publication can lag behind the hearing, and some texts are removed or redacted. A database result is a starting point, and the full case file remains the final source.

Parties to a case can review the complete file in court or request access through the e-filing systems. Filings of the other side, expert reports and hearing minutes are usually not published, yet they often explain why a court ruled the way it did. For due diligence on a counterparty, a database search should be combined with the company register and the bankruptcy register.

The main channel of communication with the attorney is email: attorneypetrova1@gmail.com.