On May 29, 2012 AmCham and SSE Riga held an AmCham Outlook to discuss the efficiency of Latvian court system. Joining the debate were the following policy-makers and legal experts:

- Janis Bordans, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Justice
- Janis Neimanis, Senator of the Supreme Court
- Jurijs Adamovics, COO, Member of the Management Board of Reverta 
- Ilze Znotina, Head of Deloitte Latvia Legal and Forensic practice

The event was moderated by Matiss Kukainis, Partner at Spigulis & Kukainis Law Office and Vice President of AmCham Latvia.

Ilze Znotina explained the current court system challenges as seen by investors and proposed solutions for improvement. She stated that the judicial system is often viewed as one of the major obstacles for doing business in Latvia. „Courts should be experienced in resolving business disputes,” she said. Among the biggest concerns for investors remain the abuse of insolvency proceedings, procedural fairness and lack of specialized courts and judges. In response to these concerns, the Foreign Investors Council in Latvia has proposed recommendations such as decreasing the number of arbitration courts, incorporation of insolvency administrators into the court system providing them with the status of a state official and many others.

Jurijs Adamovics offered an insight into debt recovery by providing case study examples and ideas on possible solutions.

Judge Neimanis argued that while it requires a broader EU perspective to evaluate the Latvian judicial system, he agreed that judges are often overloaded which may lead to low quality decisions.

Janis Bordans was certain that within the next two years Latvia’s court system will become more efficient and will be able to offer speedier resolution of cases. He stressed the importance of improving the existing procedures by implementing written proceedings and appointing court according to the declared place of residence.

To view the presentation of Jurijs Adamovics
To view the presentation of Janis Bordans
To view the presentation of Ilze Znotina

Watch video from the seminar below.