The Forum was organized by ABYs regular partners — global law firm Dentons and the most influential in Russia legal media outlet Pravo.ru. Information support was provided by Yug-Times Daily as well as Ezh – Yurist, the highly specialized edition of the newspaper Economy and Life.

The organizers of the Forum invited lawyers, consultants, in-house lawyers, as well as representatives of civil services and authorities to participate. Lawyers were able to prepare for an official part of the program in a warm informal atmosphere and took part in the intellectual game "What? Where? When?" while tasting High Coast wines. The games questions covered various fields of art, science, and history, but they all dealt with law in one way or another. The participants fought for the victory recklessly and very emotionally. With a similar intellectual and professional level, the victory went to the most successful ones.

The official part of the Forum took place on September 19, 2020 as a business breakfast event, where Andrey Chekhov, the President of Krasnodar Regional Chamber of Advocates welcomed the guests. "Coronavirus and Business: Changes in Legislation, Corporate Practices and Legal Consequences" became the main topic during business breakfast, moderated by Sergey Radchenko, senior associate at Advocates Bureau Yug. Andrey Lebedev, Head of the Moscow metropolitan legal service, shared his experience on how to maintain a balance between the interests of business, employees and legal norms after the pandemic. Timofey Nosov, Director of legal affairs and public relations in AZIMUT Hotels, spoke about the applicability of force majeure rules to the debtors lack of funds, and what the Russian Armed Forces might think on the issue. Sofia Mikheeva, head of NLMKs asset management, explained what was going on with the lease, how legalization of rental holidays and the Law on lease termination affected the business. Sergey Garifullin, Director of the HR Department in "Talent and Success Foundation" from educational center "Sirius" spoke about whether the return to "normal" labor relations after the pandemic was a conscious transformation of the business strategy. And Yevgenia Cherevets, the Bar Association "Regionservice", started a discussion on prospects of online justice after quarantine.

The first session of the Forum, moderated by Sergey Kovalev from the Bar Association "Kovalev, Tugushi and partners", covered bankruptcy issues. Vladimir Bublikov, RKT law firm, spoke about how rules of the bankruptcy game have changed in 2020. Alexander Fedorov, Head of the Department for insolvent debtors in RUSAL, discussed with the audience consequences and risks of the moratorium on bankruptcy proceedings for debtors and creditors. The topic of the moratorium was continued by Sergey Kislov from the Bar Association "Kovalev, Tugushi and partners", who wondered whether the business was waiting for a bankruptcy epidemic and whether the arbitration courts would be able to cope with the influx of cases. Irina Kalinina, managing partner of Legal World, investigated changes in bankruptcy law and its impact on family law.

The second session, moderated by Denis Saushkin, managing partner of the Advocates Bureau ZKS, was devoted to the criminal law. The participants discussed issues affecting the responsibility of top managers in 2020. Sergey Vodolagin, managing partner of Westside, compared current trends of legal responsibility

in Russia and abroad. Nikolay Rodionov, senior associate at SIBUR, shared his experience of an in-house lawyer on how the internal control system is built. And MGP Lawyers partner Denis Bykanov raised the Directors responsibility for transactions with conflicts of interest. Roman Voronin, managing partner of Advocates Bureau "RI-consulting", reviewed the current practice of criminal liability for tax evasion. Gennady Esakov, Advocates Bureau ZKS, highlighted novelties on toughening criminal liability and expanding the powers of the FAS.

The third session of the Legal Forum of the Southern Russia was hosted by Alexey Otradnov, commercial Director of Pravo.ru. It was held in the World Cafe format, during which all participants were divided into groups with moderators. The general topic of the session was "clients and consultants in the legal business: rebooting after the pandemic". As part of the topic, each table discussed its own issue. Being moderated by Yuri Pustovit, managing partner of the Advocates Bureau Yug, table 1 discussed what practices and areas are in demand now and which areas are in need of a consultant. Table 2, led by Yulia Sycheva, Viacoms Director of legal affairs, looked at what kind of consultant a business needs and how the pandemic had affected the client-consultant relationships. Table 3 and Andrey Korelsky from Advocates Bureau KIAP, discussed what tools of interaction with in-house lawyers were in demand and which ones were no longer relevant. Table 4 and Ivan Apatov, managing partner of White Collar Strategy, talked about the financial component of the legal business, whether there was a place for discounts, and how consultants worked with accounts receivable. Glenn Kolleeny, partner at Dentons, and table 5 discussed whether new customers could be found during the pandemic, whether there was customer loyalty, and how one should interact with companies from affected industries.

The official part of the Forum ended with a gala dinner, and the next day the Forum continued in its informal form. Lawyers are active people, so for the third year in a row, Forum participants were trying out such an extreme sport as sailing regatta. Each time the event carries an element of intrigue, as it mostly depends on unpredictable weather conditions. The race was held in rather extreme weather conditions in two stages, and the winner was selected based on the results.

In general, XII Legal Forum of Southern Russia was very emotional: In addition to its warm and sunny location in Sochi, guests appreciated the opportunity to talk face to face without a screen. In addition to interesting professional programs, many regular participants were happy to have met colleagues and friends. Lawyers who came to the Forum for the first time appreciated the opportunity to meet with more experienced colleagues.