(March 28, 1939–December 22, 2015)
Doctor of Law, Professor, Head of the Department of Civil Procedure of the Law Faculty of the Saint Petersburg University, Honored Scientist of the Russian Federation, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Valery Abramovich Musin was born on March 28, 1939. After high school, he entered the Law Faculty of the Leningrad State University in 1956. As a student, he became interested in civil and international private law. After graduating from the University in 1961, he was recommended for a postgraduate course. In 1964, V.A. Musin defended his Ph.D. thesis The Legal Entity Concept. After the postgraduate course, he worked for three years at the Central Maritime Research and Development Institute, where he dealt with issues of the international maritime law, maritime trade, and commercial practice.
In 1967, V.A. Musin started working at the Leningrad University at the Department of Civil Law, where his teaching career took him through all the stages from assistant to professor. In 1976, he defended his doctoral thesis The Marine Insurance Contract under Soviet and Foreign Law. Insurance of Ships and Cargoes.
From 1989 to December 22, 2019, V.A. Musin headed the Department of Civil Procedure of the Law Faculty of the Saint Petersburg State University.
Professor V.A. Musin was a member of the Academic Council of Saint Petersburg State University and the Academic Council of the Law Faculty of the Saint Petersburg State University; advisor to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation; Chairman of the Court of Arbitration under the Saint Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry; arbitrator of the International Commercial Arbitration Court under the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation; Deputy Chairman of the Higher Qualification Board of Judges of the Russian Federation, member of the Scientific Advisory Board under the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, member of the Scientific Advisory Board under the Federal Arbitration Court of the North-Western District, Chairman of the Editorial Board of Arbitration journal, and member of the Editorial Board of International Private Law journal.
V.A. Musin was invited as a visiting professor at Stetson University College of Law (Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA) in 1990, Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland State University (Cleveland, Ohio, USA) in 1992, 1993, and 1998, Haas School of Business, University of Berkeley (California, USA) in 1996, and The Hague Academy of International Law in 2009.
V.A. Musin headed the Saint Petersburg branch of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2008, V.A. Musin was elected corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
In 2004–2008, V.A. Musin was a Deputy Delegate from the Russian Federation in the European Commission For Democracy through Law (Venice Commission).
In 2006–2009, V.A. Musin served as an ad hoc judge at the European Court of Human Rights.
From 2009 to December 22, 2015, he was a member of the Board of Directors of Gazprom, PJSC.
V.A. Musin is the author of numerous research papers. Such works as The Essence and Subject of Marine Insurance under Soviet and Foreign Law, Legal Issues of Marine Nuclear Activities (co-authored with S.A. Malinin), Marine Insurance (co-authored with V.A. Vasilyev and L.M. Fedorov), and International Trade Contracts have won wide recognition in academia. V.A. Musin is the author of a chapter about Russia in international monograph Seafarers’ Rights published by Oxford University Press in English and chapter The Marine Insurance Contract in the Commentary to the Merchant Shipping Code of the Russian Federation. Among his recent publications abroad were The Influence of the International Sale of Goods Convention on Domestic Law Including Conflict of Law (with Specific Reference to Russian Law) (Leiden, 2010) and Russian Law in Brief. Digest for Foreign Investors (St. Petersburg) co-authored with N.M. Kropachev, Doctor of Law, Professor, Head of Saint Petersburg State University. V.A. Musin is one of the authors of three editions of civil procedure textbooks published by the Department of Civil Procedure of Saint Petersburg State University. V.A. Musin supervised the preparation and defense of more than 20 Ph.D. theses.
Valery Abramovich Musin was awarded the Order of Honor, the Merit Badge (Grade I) of the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping, and the Order for Merit to the Fatherland (Grade IV) (2010).
For his theories and legal frameworks, Professor V.A. Musin has been universally appreciated as a leading civil law specialist of Russia.
In 2018, the Association of Lawyers of Russia supported the proposal of the Energy Law Department of Kutafin University (MSAL) and established the Valery Abramovich Musin Russian Law Award for contribution to energy law development.
In 2020, numerous requests of V.A. Musin’s students and colleagues prompted the establishment of V.A. Musin Research Center for the Development of Energy Law and Modern Legal Science, Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization. The Research Center was founded to commemorate V.A. Musin, a leading Russian lawyer, and perform scientific, educational, and expert activities on current issues of legal regulation and provide scientific and methodological support to young scientists and specialists in the fuel and energy complex. According to A.B. Miller, Chairman of the Management Committee of Gazprom, PJSC, V.A. Musin Research Center for the Development of Energy Law and Modern Legal Science, Autonomous Non-Commercial Organization, will further implement activities of the Energy Law Center of Saint-Petersburg State Economic University as a separate legal entity.
