Nature versus Nurture: A Comparison of Russian Law Graduates Destined for State Service and for Private Practice

Abstract

This article explores the mind‐set of Russian law students on the cusp of graduation. Drawing on a 2016 survey, the analysis finds that, despite having taken different paths to their degrees, the respondents share a confidence in the Russian courts that distinguishes them from Russians without legal education. Within the sample, a natural division is evident between those who plan to go into state service and those who plan to go into private practice. Aspiring state lawyers are more likely to support the policies of the Putin regime, even when they preference politics over the letter of the law. This strongly suggests that the tendency of judges and state lawyers within the criminal justice system to work as a team to ensure convictions is not solely the result of workplace incentives, as had previously been assumed, but is an element of a worldview that these lawyers share that predates their legal education. Aspiring private lawyers, by contrast, are consistently more skeptical of the state. To the extent that they are later coopted by the state, as studies of criminal defense lawyers suggest, such behavior would likely be the result of a desire to endear themselves to investigators and prosecutors in order to ensure further appointments to represent indigent clients.

Becoming a Judge in Russia: An Analysis of Judicial Biographies

“…This result is robust for evaluation of candidates by JQBs and by court presidents. This finding is in concordance with a recent study by Hendley (2019), who finds that Russian law graduates who want to work for the state demonstrate higher political and legal compliance. This consideration adds to the previous finding that ability to work in a highly bureaucratised and hierarchical environment makes candidates with state experience more attractive.…”

“…A majority (70%) of students admitted to law departments in the 2000-2010s received their education by means of distance learning (Moiseeva 2015). There are questions about the capability of higher education institutions with no prior legal specialism to provide a legal education of sufficient quality (Maleshin 2017;Hendley 2019).…”

“…My qualitative data suggest that the criteria of political desirability of the central judicial and presidential power are not transparent to the regional judiciary. Yet, Hendley (2019) finds that Russian law graduates who intend to work for the state develop different values to those who want to work in the private sector. Both groups of law graduates show considerably more trust in the power of written law and courts than the average Russian citizen; however, those who intend to work for the state are more confident that Russian judges are impartial and not corrupt, and also more likely to accept the verdicts in politicised cases circulated in the mass media, which demonstrates their pre-programmed willingness to accept accusatorial bias (Hendley 2019).…”

The Devil is in the Details: Drug-Trafficking and Corruption in Kazakhstan

“…The influence of the Soviet past is present not only within the governmental organisations, but also affects the mindset of the law enforcement agents. According to Hendley (2019), the heritage of Soviet socialism has affected the mindset of modern lawyers in post-Soviet countries. For example, criminal law students who joined state institutions tended to support state policies, were more comfortable with an authoritarian state, and were more distrustful of liberal democratic ideas.…”

“…Such aspiring state lawyers tended to supported state policies even when such policies were illegal (Ibid.). Moreover, Hendley (2019) emphasises that such pro-state bias was conditioned not only on the institutional context in which young lawyers learn, but such students entered those institutions with a strongly pro-state worldview. The pro-state attitude of law enforcement seems to be particularly interesting.…”