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Article: Trying the lawyers.(trial lawyer fees)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- June 28, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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American commentators on Russia almost unanimously agree that it needs to strengthen the rule of law. By that they mean that the law should be predictable, contracts enforceable, property safe from confiscation or arbitrary transfer. Alas, there has been little progress, despite the existence of courts and laws on the books. "The single greatest failure of the Yeltsin presidency," writes the Hoover Institution's John Dunlop, "is unwillingness or inability to institute the basic rule of law." Yeltsin's Russia has seen huge transfers of wealth, from state industries to a few "oligarchs," performed under color of law but in violation of basic principles of the rule of law. A ...