Professional Affiliation

Researcher, European University in St. Petersburg

Expert Bio

Ekaterina Moiseeva is a researcher at the Institute for the Rule of Law at the European University in St. Petersburg (Russia). She graduated with degrees in Sociology from the Lomonosov Moscow State University (BA, 2008) and the European University in St. Petersburg (MA, 2009), both with distinction. In 2013, she earned a Russian doctoral degree in Sociology (Candidate of Sciences) at the Higher School of Economics. While working on the dissertation, she spent the 2011-12 academic year as a Fulbright visiting scholar at Boston University. Her research interests include legal education, legal profession, criminal courts, plea bargaining, and rule of law in Russia. In 2016, she coauthored a book "Being a Lawyer in Russia: Sociological Study of the Legal Profession", which discusses criminal lawyers’ autonomy inside and outside profession, and their professional standing vis-à-vis law enforcement personnel.

Wilson Center Project

Reforming the Legal Profession: A Maturity Test for Civil Society in Russia

Project Summary

The current project focuses on the upcoming reform of the legal profession in Russia, a hotly debated topic of the last years. In November 2017, the government finalized its plan for reorganization of the legal profession, which many lawyers view as a hostile takeover threatening their incomes and autonomy. Passing legislation regulating professional activity involves seeking compromises between public and private interests. Historically, Russian professionals came out on the losing end of such regulatory haggling since fostering civil society institutions never was a state priority. The ongoing reform of the legal profession will become an important maturity test for civil society in Russia. The project addresses the problems of effectiveness of democratic institutions in Russia, the primacy of the “vertical of power” over horizontal civil bonds, the professional community’s ability to self-regulate and to retain autonomy over internal matters, and the challenges the professional elites face in policy-making process.

Major Publications

Moiseeva E. 2016. Plea Bargaining in Russia: The Role of Defence Attorneys and the Problem of Asymmetry. International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, 41 (3): 163-184.

Bocharov T., Moiseeva E. 2016. Being a Lawyer in Russia: Sociological Study of the Legal Profession. St. Petersburg: EUSP Press.