The authors examine the phenomenon of mentorship in normative and law enforcement aspects. The study identifies two key directions of normative-legal regulation, namely: the regulation of mentorship in public service and the establishment of mechanisms for stimulating and encouraging the activities of mentors. The authors conclude that detailed regulation of mentor-mentee relationships is unnecessary in areas beyond public service. The lack of uniformity in mentorship acts of federal executive bodies is not treated by the authors as problematic, as it reflects departmental specificity. Thus, it stimulates initiative and creativity, promoting the dissemination of best practices. Similarly, the diversity in types, forms, and methods of mentorship for newly appointed judges in various jurisdictions of the Russian Federation is positively evaluated. Mentorship is considered as an integral element of organizational personnel policy, a promising direction for professional development, and an effective HR technology. The authors analyzed the need for the adoption of a professional standard for «Mentor». The authors highlight that local law-making serves the goals and objectives of mentorship better than broader legal regulation. It is revealed that universities, alongside specific local acts on mentorship, have various normative documents governing mentor standards, rewards, and incentives. It is concluded that the development of mentorship is facilitated by establishing systems of material and non-material incentives for mentors. The authors also focus on the important social function of reverse mentorship that can bridge generational gaps.

A contemporary labor market demands employees who are not just legal practitioners but also legal partners and strategists capable of participating in project implementation and business process transformation within cross-functional company (organization) teams. The paper is dedicated to exploring the methodology and practice of organizing analytical, prognostic, and project activities aimed at integrating legal innovation into the university ecosystem of legal education. The authors examine the concepts of legal analytics and legal forecasting, along with the definition, characteristics, and main types of projects within the innovative project activities of a law university. Using the experience of Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL) as a case study, the authors elucidate the transformation of the educational process aimed at preparing not only legal practitioners but also legal partners and strategists within higher education (Bachelor’s program in «Innovative Jurisprudence»); the potential of additional professional education to develop polymathic thinking in legal strategists («cross-cutting» competencies in related fields: marketing, management, data analytics, PR, design, financial management, etc.); the practice of training specialists in LegalOps in the «Digital Department» project. According to expert assessments, the legal profession is among the leaders in terms of the volume of functions subject to automation, including the use of artificial intelligence. The use of generative AI poses risks of degrading creative abilities of lawyers, critical thinking skills, the ability to search for and analyze information in complex hierarchical systems of sources and to verify them, etc. The paper argues that, on the contrary, mastering algorithmic and developing LegalTech solutions based on No-Code and Low-Code technologies contributes not to the decline of legal thinking but to its structuring.

The paper analyzes the distinctive features of the financial competence of constituent entities of the Russian Federation with a complex composition, primarily in the areas of budget and taxes. The practice of having complexly composed entities is unique to the Russian Federation and is sometimes criticized due to the challenging task of delineating financial public competence between equal entities, considering that one public legal entity is part of another. Based on the study of federal normative legal acts, as well as the charters and agreements of integrated entities of the Russian Federation, the author concludes that the main factors influencing the competence features of these entities are the actual structure of these integrated entities and the distribution of powers between them. The structure of complexly composed entities affects the legal regulation of their budget revenues and expenditures, as well as the scope of their authority in the budgetary and tax spheres. The primary instrument for distributing powers within a complexly composed entities is an agreement, which leads to the emergence of expenditure obligations for the respective budgets. However, in practice, this allows for the expansion of the rights of the autonomous okrugs that are part of these complex entities, making their competence more flexible and aligned with the needs of the constituent entity.

The paper analyzes implementation of social impact projects based on federal and regional normative legal acts. From 2019 to 2024, the practice of implementing social impact projects has developed in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation within the framework of pilot testing. For the implementation of social impact projects, constituent entities of the Russian Federation adopt normative legal acts that include a description of the social effect, the achievement of which allows private investors to receive a grant from the budget of the budgetary system of the Russian Federation. At the same time, the study identifies several factors that hinder the widespread use of this instrument. The paper mainly describes systematization and analysis of the normative legal framework of the Russian Federation and the summarization of practical experience in implementing social impact projects in constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The author concludes that to expand the practice of implementing social impact projects, it is necessary to establish the possibility of using this instrument on a permanent basis at the legislative level, and at the sub-legislative level, to develop an approach to the implementation of social impact projects taking into account the practice that has developed during their pilot testing.

The arbitrazh procedural legislation aims to ensure the enforcement of judicial acts and the requirements of judges in arbitrazh courts, and to maintain order during court sessions. It provides several procedural tools to influence participants in the proceedings and other persons to compel them to fulfill their obligations. One such tool is the institution of judicial fines that represents a measure of legal responsibility (state coercion) expressed in the form of monetary penalties. Despite well-developed legal regulation of the institution of judicial fines in arbitrazh procedural legislation and long-standing and widespread practice of its application, there are still relevant issues concerning the necessity and expediency of imposing judicial fines on public legal entities, the competition between subjects of legal responsibility in the form of judicial fines, namely, public legal entities (organizations), their officials, and legal representatives. The paper analyzes different interpretations of specific procedural norms regulating the institution of judicial fines and the divergent development of judicial practice. It identifies the problems that mediate these issues and proposes ways to resolve them.

The paper examines the evolution of the due diligence standard that a carrier must exercise when preparing a vessel for maritime transportation. It is emphasized that the term due diligence can be traced back to Roman times, originating from the Latin word diligentia that meant «care» or «prudence». In maritime transportation, due diligence should be considered both as an element of the proper fulfillment of the obligation to transport cargo by sea and as a basis for the carrier’s exemption from liability. Seaworthiness of a vessel is determined by three main parameters: the condition of the vessel and its equipment; the condition of the vessel’s crew; and the suitability of the vessel for transporting specific cargo. The author demonstrates how technological advancements affect the requirements for a vessel’s seaworthiness. The study identifies three ways in which technology can be integrated into the seaworthiness standard: codification in positive law; widespread adoption by carriers and recognition by courts as customary practice; and incorporation into contractual agreements between the parties.

Determination of a legal status of a director and other members of management bodies of a legal entity largely depends on the concepts that reveal the legal nature of these organs of governance. The organic theory views the director as an integral part of the legal entity and does not allow the application of representation norms to directors. Conversely, the representative theory suggests integrating directors and other executive officers into the paradigm of well-known institutions of civil law. The tension between these two approaches and the ongoing appeals to the organic theory prompt the author to provide additional arguments in the paper (including economiclegal, functional, and historical perspectives) in favor of the concept of representation of the governance bodies of a legal entity. The study reveals that the organic theory is insufficient to address practical issues, whereas the representative approach is not only practically applicable but also increasingly supported by domestic courts. It aligns with the tradition of continental private law and the doctrine of common law jurisdictions.

The paper addresses theoretical and practical issues related to the implementation of the mechanism for excluding a member from a business entity in Russian corporate law. The author analyzes an exclusion mechanism from the perspectives of economic analysis of law and the concept of a corporation as a transaction between its participants and management. The aim of the study is to theoretically conceptualize the institution of member exclusion as a form of contract termination and to describe specific issues related to its application. The author concludes that the mechanism of excluding a member is modeled on the basis of judicial contract termination due to a substantive breach, adapted to the peculiarities of corporate transactions. The requirement for the volume of corporate rights that must belong to the plaintiff in a lawsuit for the exclusion of another member, in the author’s opinion, does not correspond to the nature of corporate relations and can be replaced with alternative barriers. The grounds for exclusion proposed by the lawmaker, taking into account the normative explanations of higher courts, essentially align with the criteria for material breach of contract and provide a balance between the universality and specificity of guidelines for arbitration courts in particular disputes. The author suggests the need to update legislative regulation of the institution of excluding a member from a business entity by adopting a number of dispositive norms. This includes establishing compensation for an excluded member and defining criteria for a substantive breach of a corporate transaction as grounds for exclusion.

All intentional crimes are committed either for certain motives or to achieve a certain goal. Indeed, identifying such motives and goals during the investigation of any criminal case initiated based on the fact of the commission of a deliberate crime is of great practical importance. Thus, it makes it possible, firstly, to establish the presence or absence of elements of a particular crime; secondly, to distinguish one crime from another; thirdly, to recognize the act as insignificant; fourthly, to assign a fair punishment to the guilty party, taking into account the circumstances mitigating and aggravating them, related to the motives and goals of the crime; fifthly, to assign a more lenient punishment than that provided for the given crime; sixthly, to determine the reasons for the commission of the crime and to characterize the personality of the person who committed it. Having grouped all the motives and goals of the crime, the author identifies and describes the following types: 1) those that influence their classification; 2) those that eliminate the social danger of the act; 3) those that are taken into account when assigning punishment; 4) those that characterize the reasons for committing the crime, as well as the personality of the person who committed it. In addition, some problematic issues of legislative and law enforcement nature are raised, namely, on legislator’s blurring of the boundaries between the motive and purpose of the crime; on the incorrect application by the courts of Article 64 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation in terms of taking into account as exceptional circumstances those that are related to the purposes and motives of the crime.

The paper examines the specifics of classifying maritime piracy as a criminal offense in the context of using sea vessels with a high level of autonomy. The object of the study is public relations that develop regarding the application of the criminal law norm on liability for piracy in attacks on autonomous marine surface vessels. The purpose of the study is to identify the specifics of the classification of the said crime if it is committed through an attack on unmanned sea vessels, as well as the applicability of the relevant norm of criminal law to this act. Based on the criminal legal analysis of the norm of criminal law, the author investigates the possibility of the actual implementation of the elements of piracy in the context of an attack on sea vessels of various levels of autonomy. Using the method of modeling situations of pirate attacks on autonomous vessels, a hypothesis was put forward about the impossibility of classifying such acts when they are committed against vessels controlled entirely remotely (in the absence of crew members on board), as well as those controlled using artificial intelligence technologies. The above conclusion, with some reservations, confirms the thesis explored in the work that the introduction of autonomous navigation technologies into maritime practice will reduce the number of acts of pirate attacks. However, it is concluded that the achievement of such a result will mainly be associated with the impossibility to classify such committed acts as piracy due to the actual absence of some mandatory legal elements of piracy enshrined in legislation.

The subject of the study is foreign law enforcement practice on bringing athletes to criminal liability for causing harm during sports competitions. In order to determine the acceptable level of violence in sports games and the limits of an athlete’s consent to causing harm, the author examines the approaches of the courts of precedent law countries, namely the UK, Canada and the USA. The concepts of rules of the game and part of the game are analyzed, and their advantages and disadvantages are identified. The experience of foreign countries in holding athletes accountable in contact sports involving physical contact–hockey, football, basketball–is summarized. The problems of finding universal criteria for assessing a player’s actions are revealed, and Canadian judicial practice on this issue is examined in detail. The reasonably foreseeable hazards approach proposed by American legislators and courts is examined. The author comes to the conclusion about the non-systemic and selective nature of criminal prosecutions for sports violence and the dominance of the position of non-interference of criminal law in the field of sports, which corresponds to the principle of autonomous legal regulation of this sphere.

The paper is devoted to information support for forensic activities conducted by law enforcement officers. Since information plays an important role in ensuring the effectiveness of crime detection and investigation activities, there is an increasing need to study the principles of working with it, namely, obtaining, analyzing and subsequently using it to establish all the circumstances of the incident. To do this, it is necessary to form an idea of the information support for forensic activities and the importance of its application in solving and investigating crimes based on an analysis of the capabilities of modern sources of forensically significant information. The paper reveals the forms of forensic information, namely, evidentiary, orientation and reference. The concept of information support for forensic activities is given, and its relationship with related categories is studied. The elements of the information support system for forensic activities are assessed, namely, information resources, information technologies, information processes and information security. The possibilities of using the main sources of information support for forensic activities are considered, namely, specialized software systems, open information resources, forensic records, mobile reference systems. The paper characterizes the role of forensic information sources in increasing the efficiency of activities to solve and investigate certain types of crimes, describes the risks of use and ways to minimize them. It is noted that the subject of the investigation may refer to both internal and external sources of information, but it is always necessary to be critical of any information.

The paper examines the state and prospects of ensuring the security of electronic document flow in criminal proceedings in the context of the digital transformation of law enforcement agencies. First, threats to information security are characterized. The regulatory framework for ensuring safety has been defined, and attention has been given to organizational issues. It is stated that organizational means of ensuring security include the definition and regulatory consolidation of the circle of persons allowed to work with electronic document flow, as well as the prevention of the impact on information by other persons and phenomena. The technical means of ensuring the security of electronic document management are examined in detail, including hardware and software, hardware and cryptographic means of protection. The following are highlighted as prospects for the near future: more active use of cloud services and blockchain technology for information security, as well as promising quantum technologies of cryptography and quantum information transfer. As a conclusion, it is stated that only in the system all measures to ensure the security of electronic document flow in criminal proceedings can provide a synergistic effect that guarantees the security of information.

The paper is devoted to the legal regulation of paternity leaves within the framework of universal (International Labor Organization) and regional (Eurasian Economic Union, European Union) international organizations. The purpose of the study is to develop recommendations for improving Russian labor legislation to improve the legal status of workers and strengthen the institution of the family in our country. A more precise definition of the concept of «paternity leave» is proposed, and its characteristic features are highlighted. It is noted that there is no international labor standard of the International Labor Organization on paternity leave, which determines the importance of developing and adopting within the framework of this international organization a convention (if a recommendation is not possible) that directly provides for the right of men to the specified leave. The provisions of Directive (EU) 2019/1158 on work-life balance for parents and guardians, which became the first legally binding international instrument that sets minimum requirements for paternity leave, are analyzed. Three models of legal regulation of the procedure for granting employees the specified leaves in the member states of the Eurasian Economic Union are presented. It is proposed to pay attention to the possibility of establishing a longer period of paternity leave in the Russian Federation and to provide for its payment. The importance of establishing a specific period during which an employee can exercise the right to this type of leave is also noted.

Today, after the closure of a large number of international space projects, states are focusing on the development of a national space industry, in connection with which there is a need to form a national space law, the presence of which is especially relevant when creating conditions for the functioning of private space activities. The paper analyzes the domestic law of the United States of America in the field of space activities in general, commercial use of space in particular as an example of the most developed, and comprehensive codified national legislation, which has gradually been formed in the United States, starting from the 80s of the 20th century. The system of sources of national space law of the United States is considered, as well as individual regulatory legal acts directly aimed at creating favorable conditions for the participation of the private sector in space projects, including the US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015, the American Space Commerce Free Enterprise Act of 2018. The paper further analyzes the relationship between the norms of US national space legislation and their international legal obligations, in particular with the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, by determining the place of international treaties in the US legal system and the method for resolving conflicts between statutes and international treaties. The issues of space resource extraction and military use of space, which are firmly rooted in US national policy and legislation, remain controversial from an international legal point of view.

This paper provides a brief history and status of securities legislation in Switzerland. The focus is on the «taken into account effects», which are classified by Swiss law and doctrine as sui generis objects, since by their legal nature they do not relate to things or to claims. The author also evaluates changes in legislation related to the regulation of the use of distributed ledger technology in the area of assignment and circulation of rights. Swiss private law provides issuers with a wide range of alternative forms of issuing securities, which over time creates problems with the formulation of concepts that reflect the essence of new objects. The author draws parallels with Russian dematerialized securities and concludes that Swiss approaches to the dematerialization of securities are not a panacea and cannot provide answers to pressing questions in the domestic doctrine, including what subjective right arises for paperless securities.