(now Kurgan region) in a family of workers.

Education

He graduated from the Sverdlovsk Law Institute with a degree in jurisprudence in 1953, Doctor of Law, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Since 2000, head of the department legal regulation fuel and energy complex International Institute energy policy and diplomacy MGIMO(U)

Legal activity

Since 1953 - teacher, from 1954 to 1956 - director of the Yakut Law School. From 1956 to 1960 - senior assistant prosecutor of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Since 1963 - senior lecturer, then dean of the evening faculty, from 1973 to 1987 - vice-rector for academic affairs and head of the department civil law Sverdlovsk Law Institute.

From 1987 to 1988 - Director of the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Soviet Legislation. From 1988 to 1989 - Deputy Chairman of the public Commission for International Cooperation on Humanitarian Problems and Human Rights. In 1989, he was director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Soviet State Construction and Legislation.

From 1989 to 1991 - Minister of Justice of the USSR, at the same time from 1990 to 1991 he was the chief state arbitrator of the USSR and chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the USSR.

At the end of 1991, he took the position of State Advisor on Legal Policy to the President of the RSFSR.

In April 1992, the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian Federation was elected Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation (785 deputies voted for, 41 against, 19 abstained), in January 2005, upon reaching the age limit for the position of a judge, Yakovlev's powers expired.

On May 22, 2003, he was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the department of social sciences in the section of philosophy, sociology, psychology and law.

On January 31, 2005, by Decree of President V. Putin, he was appointed Advisor to the President Russian Federation, February 15, 2005 - representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the High Qualification Board of Judges of the Russian Federation.

On May 13, 2008, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, D. Medvedev was again appointed Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation.

He is a co-chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Civil Committee for interaction with law enforcement, legislative and judicial bodies, a member of the Presidium of the Independent Organization “Civil Society”.

He has been actively leading the Russian Lawyers Association since its creation in December 2005: 2006-2007 - served as Co-Chairman of the Russian Lawyers Association, then, in 2008 - Chairman of the Russian Lawyers Association, in 2009 - re-elected Co-Chairman of the Russian Lawyers Association.

Awards

Full Knight of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland:

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st class (January 31, 2005) - “for outstanding services in the development of Russian statehood and improving the judicial system"
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree (February 11, 2002) - “for great personal contribution to improving the legal regulation of economic relations and the development of legal science”
• Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree (January 15, 1997) - “for services to the state and great contribution to strengthening the rule of law”
• Order “For Merit to the Fatherland”, IV degree (February 10, 2012) - “for his great contribution to ensuring the activities of the President of the Russian Federation and many years public service»
• Medal named after A. F. Koni for services to Russian jurisprudence (1996)
• Gold badge of honor “Public Recognition” (1999)
• Honorary Civil Order Golden Cross “For Service to Society” (2004)
• Honorary Citizen of the Sverdlovsk Region
• Order of the Russian Orthodox Church of St. blgv. book Daniel of Moscow II Art.

Encouragements from the President and Government of the Russian Federation

• Certificate of Honor from the President of the Russian Federation (December 12, 2008) - “for active participation in the preparation of the draft Constitution of the Russian Federation and great contribution to the development of the democratic foundations of the Russian Federation”
• Gratitude of the President of the Russian Federation (February 12, 2007) - “for his great contribution to ensuring the activities of the President of the Russian Federation and many years of public service”

Family

Married, has two children.

Hobbies: skiing, hiking.

https://www.site/2018-07-24/chem_byl_znamenit_veniamin_yakovlev_patriarh_yurisprudencii_i_sovetnik_prezidenta

“The legal community has been orphaned”

What was Veniamin Yakovlev famous for - patriarch of jurisprudence and presidential adviser

Veniamin Yakovlev. 1932 - 2018 Alexey Kudenko / RIA Novosti

This morning, at the age of 86, Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation Veniamin Yakovlev, a graduate of the Sverdlovsk Law School, considered one of the architects of the Russian legal system, passed away. For the last 13 years, the 1953 graduate of the Sverdlovsk Law Institute has worked as an adviser to the President of Russia. But before that, Yakovlev’s work career was so varied that he was remembered by more than one generation of lawyers.

Lawyer

Veniamin Yakovlev was born in the city of Petukhovo, Kurgan region. He went to school in the city of Ishim, Tyumen region, but he came to Sverdlovsk only in 1949 to study at the Sverdlovsk Law Institute. After graduating with a degree in Law, Yakovlev was assigned to Yakutsk as a teacher at a law school. He soon became its director, and after the schools were closed in 1956, he went to work as an assistant prosecutor of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

In 1960, Yakovlev managed to return to his alma mater, Sverdlovsk Law Institute, as a teacher. Here he spent the next 27 years of his life, gradually building an academic career. He held the positions of senior lecturer, associate professor, dean of the faculty, head of the department and, finally, vice-rector for academic affairs. In 1987, he was invited to Moscow to become the director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Soviet Legislation, where the legal theorist had the opportunity to create laws with his own hands.

Sergey Subbotin / RIA Novosti

Yakovlev himself spoke about his work during that period in an article published in the journal “Bulletin of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation” in 2012. According to him, in 1988 he became the head of the working group that was developing the law on cooperation. “This was not about the previous cooperation, represented by collective farms and essentially based on the same state property. No, the new cooperation, in accordance with the 1988 law, was based on private property, Yakovlev recalled. “But as soon as private property appeared, it became clear that the legal system had to change, because the old one did not cover new relations with its regulation. It turned out that the economy is in itself, and the law is in itself: the economy is today, it has already changed, but the law is still yesterday, regulating only, so to speak, the relations of the public sector by administrative-command methods. Essentially, it required the dismantling of the Soviet legal system and the formation of a new one. This is exactly what we did at the Institute of Legislation.”

Architect

However, he did not work as the head of the institute for long. In 1989, he received another promotion, becoming the Minister of Justice of the USSR. In this capacity, he dealt with issues of sovereignty, while the Union itself was already close to collapse. “It was unclear whether it would survive Soviet Union or not,” wrote Yakovlev. - And at this time Western Europe energetically moved toward confederation, primarily in the economic sphere: it eliminated borders and border obstacles, formed a single market, created common programs, harmonized economic legislation, and built supranational bodies. In a word, it created powerful preconditions for the formation of a single economic space. The peoples of Western European countries received enormous benefits from this process. Thus, if centrifugal forces prevailed with us, then centripetal forces prevailed with them; we were moving towards separation, and they, on the contrary, towards unification. I saw all this and, of course, could not help but react.”

Then he organized a conference in Minsk on the fate of the Soviet Union and how to resolve these issues from a legal point of view. All major experts in the field of state law took part in it, and most of them spoke out in favor of changing the Constitution of the USSR. “And only a representative of one of the Baltic countries insisted on another option, proposing to reform the Soviet Union by concluding a new Union Treaty. Nobody supported him, we developed appropriate recommendations, which I sent to the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR M.S. Gorbachev (the post of president did not exist then),” said Yakovlev. According to him, he explained to Gorbachev that concluding a new treaty in conditions when countries are striving for separation means predetermining the collapse of the Soviet Union. “He seemed inclined to agree with these arguments, but nevertheless, after some time, the idea of ​​​​concluding a new Union Treaty was suddenly proclaimed and began to be implemented. And as soon as it began to be implemented, the same scientists and leaders of the Baltic countries said that concluding a new Union Treaty they will not, because they never concluded that they are generally victims of occupation and do not intend to play these games. That’s how it all happened,” he recalls in the article.

Yakovlev himself soon left the post of Minister of Justice to become the main state arbiter of the USSR - the predecessor of the highest arbitration court of Russia.

It was Veniamin Yakovlev who initiated the introduction of a system of arbitration courts in Russia and organized their creation.

Already in 1990, the position of state arbitrator was abolished, and Yakovlev became the first chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the USSR. In 1992, he received the post of Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, where he would remain until 2005.

“In 1991, initiative, I must say, was in full swing. During the period of change, in the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s, I believe that our country had a very active civil society. It functioned and became fully functional until the Soviet Union disappeared - so to speak, fell victim to the activity of civil society. This is, of course, a negative consequence. But on the whole, civil society did wonders then. For short terms extraordinary acts appeared. The Constitution of 1993, in my opinion, is an amazing document, a document of the highest class, which should remain inviolable for a long time, because it cannot be improved, it can only be worsened. And much of what was done then should not be worsened, it should be preserved,” Yakovlev believed.

Sergey Velichkin / RIA Novosti

In 2005, Veniamin Yakovlev became an adviser to the President of the Russian Federation on legal issues, and although he continued to live in Moscow, he retained his influence on the Sverdlovsk legal community. He continued to give lectures at USLU and had good contact with its rector, head of the association of lawyers in the Sverdlovsk region, Vladimir Bublik; regularly traveled around the region with a “mobile reception” as an adviser to the president. In addition, Yakovlev was related by family ties to the influential Ural legal clan of the Minins: his daughter was the wife of the chairman of the Chelyabinsk Regional Court, Sergei Minin. The Minin children also made careers in the civil service.

Dmitry Korobeinikov/RIA Novosti

Yakovlev also continued to respond to current changes in Russian legislation concerning his professional interests - for example, in 2014, he criticized the idea of ​​merging the Supreme and Constitutional Courts, which was discussed in the corridors of power after the merger of the Supreme Court with the Supreme Arbitration Court. “Why could there be discrepancies between the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court? Because they applied the same legislation, civil, for example, or tax. And here the discrepancy in the interpretation of the same legislation by different high courts is unacceptable. But there is nothing like that between the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court, since the Constitutional Court does not deal with questions of fact, but checks laws for compliance with the Constitution,” he commented. Yakovlev also negatively assessed the idea of ​​​​creating a unified Civil Procedure Code.

Teacher

Veniamin Yakovlev trained more than one generation of lawyers and maintained authority in the community throughout his life. “Veniamin Fedorovich is both my personal teacher and a teacher for the whole country,” says one of the creators of the current Civil Code, State Duma deputy Pavel Krasheninnikov. — The person who has prepared enough large number legislative acts that are in force today: both in the judicial system and in civil law. The loss is irreparable, of course.”

Kirill Kalinnikov / RIA Novosti

Well-known lawyer Vadim Klyuvgant says that in recent years As an adviser to the president, Yakovlev was active in legal work. “He was actively involved not only in the problems of the court, but also in the professional problems of the legal community. For example, I participated in the preparation of the concept for reforming the areas of legal assistance, which is now being finalized. It can be said with full responsibility that all significant aspects of the life of the legal community were in the sphere of his professional interests and participation,” he says.

Klyuvgant is convinced that Yakovlev’s passing is a great loss both for the legal community and for the country as a whole. “And for me personally, since this is my teacher. From the point of view of what he did in the profession, there are only a few people of this caliber. And as a scientist, and as a judge, as the head of the first post-Soviet arbitration. This is a very bright personality. In the Ural school, this is, of course, one of the bright stars of the constellation of those professors who personified this school: this is Sergey Alekseev, and Oktyabr Krasavchikov, and Mitrofan Kovalev, and Vladimir Semenov. In general, the legal community has become orphaned. Since I had the chance to know him personally, I can testify that he is an extremely interesting person: bright, sparkling, it was easy to communicate with him and I wanted to communicate, and every time we met with him it was a pleasure. I would like to express my condolences to his relatives. It’s a shame, we will really miss him,” he added.

Born on February 12, 1932 in the town of Petukhovo, Kurgan region. Father - Yakovlev Fedor Kuzmich (1901-1942). Mother - Yakovleva Domna Pavlovna (1905-1997). Wife - Galina Ivanovna Yakovleva (born November 9, 1930). Children: Natalya Veniaminovna Smirnova (born 10/14/1956), Vera Veniaminovna Minina (born 04/24/1960).

The Yakovlev family settled in the Kurgan region at the beginning of the 19th century during a period when there was a mass exodus of peasants from the central regions to the outskirts of Russia. As a result, the former Kursk residents became residents of Siberia, and Veniamin Fedorovich, with full justification and pride, considers himself a Siberian by birth and character.

The most vivid impression of his childhood for Veniamin, the only son in the family, was from joint trips with his father to nearby regions, where his father was often sent in connection with his work as an electric motor mechanic, especially since during the years of intensive electrification such a specialty presupposed financial independence and high authority .

The line between childhood and adulthood It is usually quite difficult to deceive a person. The exception is the fate of people who experience any extreme events during this period. In the life of Veniamin Fedorovich, as well as in the life of his entire generation, such an event was the Great Patriotic War. At the age of nine, he lost his father, who died in the Smolensk region, and was left with his mother and two sisters as the only male in the family. The funeral came as a shock to them. The boy was very upset by what happened, feeling the loss of his beloved father as the highest tragedy. The dream of reigning justice in the world settled in the teenager’s soul. Over the years it became deeper.

Veniamin graduated from school in the city of Ishim, Tyumen region, where in those years a lot of intelligentsia settled, people from families of exiled political prisoners. In the house of childhood friend Leni Ognev, later an outstanding nuclear physicist, doctor of science, professor, laureate of Lenin and other high awards, the guys found an old chest filled with Niva magazines with supplements fiction for many years - an inheritance from a previously convicted woman who had lodged. Friends read this find from cover to cover. The young people were breathtaking from the familiarization with the values ​​they touched, from the depth of human intelligence that they felt.

When the time came to choose a profession, Benjamin had no doubts - jurisprudence, law. The Sverdlovsk Law Institute was especially attractive to applicants of those years, as it was not very easy to enter. The institute employed many highly qualified legal scholars who were evacuated to these regions during the war. One of the most authoritative figures of the teaching staff was Boris Borisovich Cherepakhin, a specialist in Roman and civil law, whose lectures later became an excellent school for Veniamin and his student friends.

The entrance exams were passed successfully, and V. Yakovlev’s first dream became a reality; he is a student at the Sverdlovsk Law Institute. Studying was interesting and easy. The atmosphere among students was creative, scientific circles were organized everywhere. Students at all levels had a genuine interest in science. At first, Benjamin began to study state law. The topic of his work was the People's Republic of China.

Since his first year, Veniamin dreamed of graduate school. He was especially attracted by the example of graduate student Sergei Sergeevich Alekseev, in the future an outstanding lawyer, corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Sciences, with whom fate constantly collided with him.

Best of the day

A professor from Moscow University was present at the final exams. State University August Alekseevich Mishin. After Yakovlev’s answer, he, turning to the rector of the institute, did not even ask, but rather stated: “Of course, are you taking him to graduate school?!” Veniamin took his breath away, but from the confusion of the examination committee he realized - no! Only years later did I accidentally see my personal file, in which someone’s “caring” hand had carefully highlighted in red pencil the absurd statement that Yakovlev’s grandfathers were kulaks. The absurdity was also that, according to all the canons of that time, they were considered middle peasants and were never subjected to dispossession.

In the 50s, in the system of the Ministry of Justice there was a network of legal circles that trained judges, prosecutors, and researchers on the basis of secondary education in an accelerated program in two years. It was precisely such an educational institution that Veniamin Yakovlev and his friend Vladimir Postolov chose for their first work in 1953 in Yakutsk. They became teachers of state theory and law and criminal law at the law school. Having worked at the school for almost a year and a half, V. Yakovlev was still the youngest of the school’s inhabitants, including students. When in December 1954 the question arose about appointing him, a 22-year-old Komsomol member, to the post of director of this educational institution, he was recommended as a member of the CPSU.

In 1956, law schools like Yakutsk were closed. V.F. Yakovlev goes to work at the Prosecutor's Office of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. This became a turning point in the life of the young lawyer, since it was as a prosecutor that Veniamin Fedorovich first began to practice civil law.

Due to the nature of his activity, V.F. Yakovlev at that time often attended various meetings of prosecutors. One of these meetings took place in Novosibirsk. Veniamin Fedorovich had a unique opportunity to come to Sverdlovsk, see his family, meet friends, and talk with the leadership of his native institute. The conversation with the rector went well: Veniamin receives an invitation to graduate school.

The topic of the candidate's dissertation was suggested by the changes taking place in society at that time. Since 1958, there has been a tendency towards the legalization of commodity-money relations. It was expressed, in particular, in a departure from mandatory, essentially tax, collective farm food supplies. At the suggestion of N.S. Khrushchev, the state had to purchase products from collective farms. All this was very fresh and relevant, and therefore the issue of “agreement for contracting agricultural products” worried many scientists and became the subject of V.F. Yakovlev’s Ph.D. thesis.

After her successful defense in 1963, V.F. Yakovlev successively became a senior teacher, associate professor and, soon, dean of the evening faculty of the Sverdlovsk Law Institute. The scientist's career is developing successfully. He is appointed vice-rector of the institute for scientific work and elected head of the department. In this capacity, he contributes to the introduction of new specializations. Among them are legal service in economics, forensic and prosecutorial, investigative areas in the training of graduates, as well as bringing training closer to legal practice.

In 1973, V.F. Yakovlev defended his doctoral dissertation on the topic “Civil-legal method of regulating public relations,” which, according to his own statement, became the main work of his life. The scientist's authority is growing, he is appointed deputy chairman of the scientific and methodological council for jurisprudence of the USSR Ministry of Higher Education.

The second half of the 80s saw profound changes in the life of V.F. Yakovlev. In August 1987, he was transferred to Moscow and appointed director of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Legal Sciences, later renamed the Institute of Soviet State Construction and Legislation under the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (now the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation). During these years, the institute was fully involved in the development of new types of bills. It was the institute, in collaboration with the Legislation Committee of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, represented by such highly qualified lawyers as S.S. Alekseev and Yu.Kh. Kalmykov, the USSR Academy of Sciences, represented by Academician V.N. Kudryavtsev, that developed the foundations of civil legislation of the USSR, which became the basis for the future Civil Code of the Russian Federation. To a large extent, they have become the normative basis for the proclamation and establishment rule of law, the idea of ​​which was first voiced at the 19th Party Conference. It is no coincidence that one of the six resolutions adopted by this fateful conference was called “On Legal Reform” and meant the unconditional supremacy of laws, and not of the state and officials.

In 1989, V.F. Yakovlev, as director of the institute, gained such authority among specialists and politicians that his nomination to the post of Minister of Justice of the USSR was quite logical and natural. When it was approved by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he proposed a Concept for the development of the ministry, which assumed the rejection of dogmatism and ossification, which formed the basis of the official concept of the Ministry of Justice. One of the first practical actions of the new Minister of Justice of the USSR was to reduce the range of positions requiring approval by the minister, increasing the independence and responsibility of the Ministers of Justice and the Supreme Courts of the Union Republics for the selection of personnel and for organizing the work of the entire legal economy. The main direction in the work of the Ministry of Justice and its head was the preparation of a regulatory framework for democratization and reform of the economy of the USSR, through the consistent implementation of market reforms.

The Ministry of Justice was in its work clearly ahead of social and political events in the state. Thus, a new field of his activity in those years was the registration of public associations. With the adoption of relevant regulations, legal and lawful activities became possible political parties, public self-government organizations, religious associations, unions of creative figures, those structures without which it is impossible to imagine life Russian society on the eve of the 21st century.

This period marks the long-overdue systematization of the legislation of the USSR and the continuation of work on the Code of Laws. A real achievement was the development of the Law “On the Status of Judges of the Russian Federation”. As a result, new principles were introduced in the practice of justice that excluded party and administrative control over the courts.

In the sphere of the USSR Ministry of Justice in the period 1989-1990. included solving the most complex problems of that time: legal issues related to national and interethnic conflicts (Nagorno-Karabakh, Tbilisi, etc.), freedom of movement of citizens, transformation of the institution of registration in the transition to a market economy, new labor legislation, copyright, laws on joint stock companies, joint ventures - all of them were embodied in legal and regulatory acts, developed with the direct participation of V.F. Yakovlev, and became the basis of the new economic system emerging in the Soviet Union at that time.

In the context of the beginning of the collapse of the USSR, the Union Ministry was losing its constructiveness and perspective. Analyzing the current situation, V.F. Yakovlev foresaw that the unifying principle for the “scattering” republics would be the economy, the legal regulation of which would certainly lead to the need for economic legal proceedings. Under these conditions, state arbitration in the form in which it existed in the USSR had to be reformed into economic courts. The post of Chief State Arbitrator remained vacant in 1990. Veniamin Fedorovich himself went to Supreme Council requesting his appointment to this post. By the time he was confirmed in office, the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR had adopted the "Law on the Arbitration Court of the USSR", in accordance with which V.F. Yakovlev was now called the Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the USSR.

Since the end of 1991, V.F. Yakovlev was the State Advisor on Legal Policy under the President of the USSR - the head of the legal service of the Office of the President of the USSR.

After the signing of the Belovezhskaya Accords, the field of his activity becomes exclusively the Russian Federation. Since 1992, Veniamin Fedorovich has been the Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation. The main direction of V.F. Yakovlev’s activity is the formation of the Russian judicial and arbitration system. During these years, he took an active part in the development and implementation of the Federal Constitutional Law “On Arbitration Courts in the Russian Federation” and the Arbitration Procedural Code of the Russian Federation. As the first Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, V.F. Yakovlev stands at the origins of the now formed and successfully functioning system of arbitration courts of the Russian Federation.

V.F. Yakovlev is the author of numerous publications, monographs, teaching aids. Among them: “Civil-legal method of regulating public relations” (published by the Sverdlovsk Law Institute, 1972), “Civil Law” (M., Higher School, 1985), “New in Contract Law” (M., 1994), "On the Civil Code of the Russian Federation" (M., 1995), "Chapter 27 of the Commentary on the Civil Code of the Russian Federation" (M., 1995), "Chapters 49-52 of the Commentary on the Civil Code of the Russian Federation Federation" (M., 1996), "Legal Conflictology" (M., 1995), "Commentary to the Arbitration Procedural Code of the Russian Federation" (M., 1995).

Veniamin Fedorovich Yakovlev - Honored Lawyer of the RSFSR (1982). He was awarded the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree, medals “For Valiant Labor” in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin and “In memory of the 850th anniversary of Moscow.”

For many years, V.F. Yakovlev’s main hobby has been tourism. Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin, Primorye, the Urals, Baikal, the Sayans - this is not a complete list of places where he and his friends walked, swam, drove thousands of kilometers, visited and fell in love with exotic places, often ending up in unexpected, sometimes extreme situations. Other sports hobbies include alpine skiing.

In my free time, my favorite pastime is reading fiction, memoirs and journalistic literature.

Lives and works in Moscow.

Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Higher Qualification Board of Judges of the Russian Federation.
Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Co-chairman of the Russian Lawyers' Association.

Veniamin Yakovlev was born on February 12, 1932 in the city of Petukhovo, Kurgan region. He graduated from school in the city of Ishim, Tyumen region. He graduated with honors from the Sverdlovsk Law Institute with a degree in jurisprudence in 1953.

After graduating from the institute in 1953, for three years the young man worked at the law school of the city of Yakutsk. From 1956 to 1960 he worked in the Prosecutor's Office, as a senior assistant prosecutor of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Then he devoted about 30 years to scientific, teaching and leadership work at the Sverdlovsk Law Institute, where he held the positions of senior lecturer, associate professor, dean of the faculty, head of the department, and vice-rector for academic affairs. He has scientific works on problems of the theory of law, civil law, and justice. As a result - Doctor of Law. Professor. Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

From 1987 to 1989 he was Director of the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Soviet Legislation in Moscow. Also, from 1988 to 1989, he was deputy chairman of the public Commission for International Cooperation on Humanitarian Problems and Human Rights. In 1989, he was director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Soviet State Construction and Legislation.

From 1989 to 1991 - Minister of Justice of the USSR, at the same time from 1990 to 1991 he was the chief state arbitrator of the USSR and chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the USSR. In 1990 - 1991 - member of the CPSU Central Committee.

At the end of 1991, he took the position of State Advisor on Legal Policy to the President of the RSFSR.

In January 1992, he was elected Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation. He headed the work on the creation, and then on the organizational, legal and personnel support of the system of arbitration courts of the Russian Federation. In January 2005, when he reached the age limit for the position of a judge, his powers expired.

For many years he has specialized in major research in the field of civil law and commercial legislation. Studied the general theory of law. Author of more than 150 scientific papers, many of which are of great practical importance for solving problems of legal support for economic reforms in Russia. He was one of the developers of the concept of the Fundamentals of Civil Legislation of the USSR and Union Republics, as well as the new Civil Code of the Russian Federation, laws on property, and cooperation.

By decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, on January 31, 2005, he was appointed an adviser to the President of Russia, and on February 15, 2005 - a representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the High Qualification Board of Judges of the Russian Federation. On May 13, 2008, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev, he was again appointed Advisor to the President of Russia.

After a long illness, he died at the age of 87. July 24, 2018 Veniamin Yakovlev - Advisor to the President of Russia, Co-Chairman of the Russian Lawyers' Association, Doctor of Law, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Honored Lawyer of the RSFSR.

Awards of Yakovlev Veniamin Fedorovich

Full holder of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland.
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, IV degree - “for great contribution to ensuring the activities of the President of the Russian Federation and many years of public service”;
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, 1st degree - “for outstanding services in the development of Russian statehood and improvement of the judicial system”;
Honorary civil order Golden Cross “For service to society”;
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, II degree - “for great personal contribution to improving the legal regulation of economic relations and the development of legal science”;
Gold badge of honor “Public Recognition”;
Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III degree - “for services to the state and great contribution to strengthening the rule of law”;
Medal named after A.F. Koni for services to Russian jurisprudence;
Medal In memory of the 850th anniversary of Moscow;
Honored Lawyer of the RSFSR; Honorary citizen of the Sverdlovsk region;
Order of the Russian Orthodox Church of St. blgv. book Daniil of Moscow II degree.

24.07.2018

Yakovlev Veniamin Fedorovich

Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation

Statesman

Honored Lawyer of Russia

On Tuesday, July 24, Veniamin Fedorovich Yakovlev passed away after a long illness. He is called the patriarch of Russian jurisprudence.

Former Minister of Justice of the USSR, former Chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the USSR, and then of Russia, Advisor to the President of the Russian Federation, one of the authors of the Russian Constitution, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, author of scientific works on the problems of legal theory, civil law, justice - list the statuses and Veniamin Yakovlev's titles can take a long time.

Presidential Advisor Veniamin Yakovlev passed away at the age of 86. Photo: RIA Novosti

But the main thing is that with all this and in all his positions, no matter how high they were, he was not an official, he was, first of all, a person and a lawyer to the core.

In words of condolences to his family and friends, President Vladimir Putin called his adviser “a major scientist, a prominent statesman, a widely educated person who has shown his talent, responsibility and dedication in almost all areas of jurisprudence.” “It is difficult to overestimate Veniamin Fedorovich’s contribution to the improvement of the domestic judicial system, to the development of legal science and education. He was a human rights activist in the highest sense of the word,” the head of state noted.

Yakovlev was born on February 12, 1932 into a working-class family. After graduating from the Sverdlovsk Law Institute (now the Ural State Law University), he made a brilliant legal career. From July 1989 to December 1990, he was one of the last ministers of justice of the USSR, then - chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the USSR. In 1992, he became chairman of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, which he headed for 13 years. In many ways, it was he who created the system of arbitration courts in Russia.

In the early 1990s, Yakovlev, in a team of authors, worked on the text of the Russian Constitution. Later he was one of the initiators of the creation of the Russian Lawyers Association. From 2005 until his last days, Yakovlev was the President’s adviser on legal issues, headed the Presidential Council for the codification and improvement of civil legislation, and improved civil law.

Farewell to Veniamin Yakovlev will take place on Thursday, July 26, at 11.00 in the ritual hall of the Central Clinical Hospital of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation.

Remembering

Pavel Krasheninnikov, co-chairman of the Russian Lawyers Association:

This is a huge loss not only for the legal community, but for the entire country. This is also a personal loss for me, because Veniamin Fedorovich taught at the Sverdlovsk Law Institute, where I studied with him. This is one of the founders of our country's legal system. He participated in the preparation of the Constitution, the preparation of the Civil Code, legislation on the judicial system and the arbitration system.

He was also an excellent teacher, he had a huge number of students. And until his last days, he was engaged not only in lawmaking, but also in education. He taught a lot, wrote many books, including textbooks. We can say that he was a teacher in life, we all studied with him and called him a teacher with a capital T. Of course, the loss is huge. I express my condolences to all relatives, friends and those who knew Veniamin Fedorovich.