Pro bono

In 2019, Rospotrebnadzor revealed violations in the autonomous public health care institution JSC Amurskaya municipal children’s hospital, which led to the mass infection by hepatitis C of the 169 children receiving treatment from oncologic illnesses. In that situation the families of affected children suffered heavily and had to plan further tactics of treatment, because hepatitis C by itself is a contraindication to many ways of oncology treatment. The lawyers of S&K Vertical submitted lawsuits on behalf of 23 families seeking for them compensation of moral harm (21 lawsuits in Blagoveshchensk, 1 lawsuit in Moscow, 1 lawsuit in St. Petersburg).

S&K Vertical’s legal team prepared statements of claim, analyzed particulars of each case, and developed a strategy of handing the cases taking into account that the families were located in various and rather distant regions of Russia.

At present more than RUB 11 mln has been collected, which is unprecedented: it is the first time in Russia that such numerous lawsuits have been filed by the relatives of the victims. Earlier in Russia there had not been any established judicial practice of awarding damages for moral harm in such considerable amounts to the relatives of the victims.

For more than 5 years, S&K Vertical renders full legal support for the activities of the Alma Mater Foundation. S&K Vertical assist the Foundation in their activities of providing jobs to people with physical disabilities, staging theatrical plays, where people with mental disorders perform together with professional actors. The Alma Mater Foundation helps people with mental disabilities to find their place in the society and express their creativity. Many times have the theatrical productions of the Foundation won theatrical prizes or been nominated for the Golden Mask prize.

Due to the support of S&K Vertical the on-stage performance music group MusicAeterna successfully relocated to St. Petersburg from Perm and continued its concerts activities in a new location. The orchestra and choir MusicAeterna were established by maestro Teodor Currentzis in 2004 and quickly achieved prominence in Russia and Europe. Now the music group is a constant guest of main European stages and festivals, and an annual participant of the Salzburg Festival, the largest festival of classical music. The group works with leading contemporary opera directors, and in its concert programs pays attention not only to academic music from baroque to late romanticism, but to spiritual music as well, and to the works of contemporary composers. At the new stage in the House of Radio in St. Petersburg a strong cultural cluster will be created with rehearsal base for the orchestra and choir, concert halls, recording studio, FM- and Internet broadcasting radio station for classical music, and vast educational programs.

S&K Vertical opposed the The First St. Petersburg State Medical University named after I.S.Pavlov, one of the leading medical universities in Russia, claiming compensation for the moral harm inflicted by medical malpractice during obstetric aid, which led to the irreversible disability of the child and its eventual death, as well as the damage to the health of the mother. The circumstances of the case were so shocking, and the totality of the evidence gathered by our lawyers was so undeniable that the judge ruled to satisfy the plaintiff’s claim for moral damages in full, i.e. 15 million rubles. This judgment should be considered as a precedent, and a very encouraging one for those who suffered from the malpractice of doctors and are ready to defend their position. After all, until today, the moral harm was generally considered to be something symbolic. And the compensations were very symbolic as well.

Legal support for the Foundation. A few years ago the downtown of Moscow has obtained an ultramodern theater accessible to the city dwellers, representing the art of directing of the highest level. To make this possible, a special foundation had been created, which collected all the funds raised for the reconstruction, repairs and modernization of the theater’s infrastructure, namely, the repairs of the Large and Small Stages, as well as the workshop for making stage clothes and props, rehearsal rooms, warehouses, and for modern stage equipment and decorations, and for staging performances and social support of the employees of the theatre. To do all this, a large and labor-intense legal work was needed. S&K Vertical have developed a project structure and carried out legal support for its implementation at all stages. Also, they provide full support for all the management procedures of the Foundation and supervise the proper flow of documents in it. In addition, S&K Vertical provides full legal support to the Foundation’s and the Theater’s sponsorship projects. We are proud that thanks to the work of S&K Vertical lawyers a new iconic cultural phenomenon has appeared in the centre of Moscow.

Legal assistance to the Foundation. The Foundation aims to convert a communal apartment where the poet lived from 1955 till 1972 into a memorial museum and a cultural and social centrr for poetry, education and enlightenment. We have provided the Foundation a full support to achieve this goal. In 2020, Joseph Brodsky museum “A room and a Half” was opened to the public.

Legal support for the charitable foundation Ostrova. The mission of the Foundation is to help people with a rare disease called cystic fibrosis. Over the years, the treatment of children with this diagnosis had not received sufficient attention. Only at the end of the twentieth century new federal and regional cystic fibrosis centers began to appear in Russia. S&K Vertical regularly advise to the Foundation’s employees and care recipients, help them to receive required benefits and treatment, explain most complicated matters related to the provision of medical treatment.

Legal support to the Center for Education and Social Rehabilitation of Adults with Autism called “Anton’s Right Here”. The Foundation is engaged in projects related to the complex assistance to the people having autism-related disorders: from early intervention to assistance with employment, development of their potential and increase of society’s awareness about autism.