English for legal professionals

Учебное пособие

Под редакцией
кандидата педагогических наук, доцента
Л. С. Артамоновой

ebooks@prospekt.org

Информация о книге

УДК 811.111(075.8)

ББК 81.2Англ-923

E56

Авторы-составители:

Артамонова Л. С., кандидат педагогических наук, доцент кафедры английского языка № 1 Университета им. О. Е. Кутафина (МГЮА); Борисова Н. Н., старший преподаватель кафедры английского языка № 1 Университета им. О. Е. Кутафина (МГЮА); Кожанова А. Г., доцент кафедры английского языка № 1 Университета им. О. Е. Кутафина (МГЮА); Матвеева Л. В., старший преподаватель кафедры английского языка № 1 Университета им. О. Е. Кутафина (МГЮА); Смоляченко А. В., старший преподаватель кафедры английского языка № 1 Университета им. О. Е. Кутафина (МГЮА); Удоденко Е. Н., старший преподаватель кафедры английского языка № 1 Университета им. О. Е. Кутафина (МГЮА); Шрамкова Н. Б., кандидат философских наук, доцент кафедры английского языка № 1 Университета им. О. Е. Кутафина (МГЮА).

Рецензенты:

Калиновская В. В., кандидат филологических наук, заведущая кафедрой английского языка № 1 Университета им. О. Е. Кутафина (МГЮА); Родионов В. А., кандидат филологических наук, доцент кафедры английского языка № 1 Университета им. О. Е. Кутафина (МГЮА).

Под редакцией кандидата педагогических наук, доцента Л. С. Артамоновой.

Пособие предназначено для организации самостоятельной учебной деятельности студентов, обучающихся по программе подготовки для получения дополнительной квалификации «Переводчик в сфере профессиональной коммуникации» в таких сферах бизнеса и предпринимательского права, как: Setting up a business; Employing people; Buying and selling goods and services; Protecting intellectual property; Mergers and acquisitions; Risk management and insolvency.

Для студентов бакалавриата и магистратуры любой формы обучения (дневной, вечерней, заочной) МГЮА, а также других юридических вузов.

УДК 811.111(075.8)

ББК 81.2Англ-923

© Коллектив авторов, составление, 2017

© ООО «Проспект», 2017

Предисловие

Сегодня языковое образование является одним из необходимых условий интеллектуального и всестороннего развития личности человека. Иностранный язык становится неотъемлемым атрибутом грамотности. Для большинства молодых людей знание хотя бы одного иностранного языка является условием успеха в современном мире, поскольку иностранный язык в настоящее время рассматривается не как самоцель, а как способ общения и самореализации в обществе.

Иностранный язык становится средством межкультурного общения, а само образование из репродуктивного переходит к творческому, развивающему. Для системы высшего профессионального образования становится важным не только определение содержания компетенций, актуальных для каждого конкретного образовательного направления, но и выявление организационно-педагогических условий их формирования и развития при обучении различным дисциплинам. Таким образом, изменения в системе высшего образования влекут за собой необходимость пересмотра традиционных моделей организации обучения и подходов к разработке его содержания.

Наиболее значимой и актуальной на сегодняшний день стала тенденция к развитию навыков самостоятельной работы студентов (СРС) в процессе обучения их иностранному языку. Актуальность организации обучения иностранному языку в процессе самостоятельной работы обусловлена тем, что ее доля существенно возросла в связи с переходом на двухуровневую систему образования.

Главными целями самостоятельной работы студентов в плане практического овладения иностранным языком являются, во-первых, достижение соответствующего уровня иноязычной коммуникативной компетентности в период обучения в вузе и, во-вторых, подготовка выпускников к проведению эффективной самообразовательной работы над совершенствованием иностранного языка в будущем после окончания вуза.

Актуальность самостоятельной работы потребовала создания специальных практико-ориентированных материалов, а именно данного пособия, которое создавалось в соответствии с критериями, принципами и формами самостоятельной работы — этого особого вида учебной деятельности.

Основными критериями СРС являются, во-первых, опосредованное руководство преподавателя (постановка задания, помощь, осуществление контроля) и отсутствие его непосредственного участия в работе — это организационные признаки самостоятельной работы студентов; во-вторых, что является процессуальными признаками, — это активность обучаемых, которая проявляется в их напряженной учебной деятельности, в их умственных, волевых и физических усилиях, направленных на достижение конкретной цели, получение результатов, и разнообразная структура учебно-познавательной деятельности.

Основные принципы СРС предполагают: системность, четкую организацию и планируемость учебной деятельности, творческую активность студентов, инициативность студентов, мотивационную составляющую. Мотивация является для студента главным двигателем в самостоятельной работе, так как именно она помогает в овладении теми или иными умениями и навыками. Поэтому постоянной заботой преподавателя должно быть формирование и поддержание интереса студента к познанию и освоению учебного материала как основополагающего мотива его деятельности.

Предлагаемое нами пособие для самостоятельной работы разработано как дополнение к аутентичному учебнику «Английский для профессионалов в области права» Эндрю Фроста, выпущенному издательством «Оксфорд Юниверсити Пресс» в 2009 году (Frost A. English for Legal Professionals. OUP, 2009).

Данное пособие может использоваться также и в сочетании с аутентичным учебником “International Legal English. A Course for Classroom, or Self-Study Use” авторов Эми Кройс-Линдер (Amy Krois-Linder) и выпущенным «Кембридж Юниверсити Пресс» (CUP).

Целью пособия является организация продуктивной самостоятельной учебной деятельности студентов в помощь к освоению основного учебного материала рабочей программы для формирования коммуникативной компетенции в процессе подготовки студентов к иноязычной профессиональной коммуникации в таких сферах бизнеса и предпринимательского права, как:

— Setting up a business;

— Employing people;

— Buying and selling goods and services;

— Protecting intellectual property;

— Mergers and acquisitions;

— Risk management and insolvency.

Коммуникативная компетенция предусматривает сформированность следующих субкомпетенций:

— лингвистическая компетенция, т. е. языковые знания и владение определенными правилами преобразования этих знаний в осмысленные высказывания, так как без знания лексических единиц, грамматических норм и правил конструирования осмысленных фраз никакая коммуникация невозможна;

— речевая компетенция, проявляющаяся в способности осуществлять устную и письменную коммуникацию в конкретных условиях в соответствии со сферой профессионального общения (в данном случае — юриспруденции) и различными социально обусловленными ситуациями общения;

— дискурсивная компетенция, сводящаяся к способности использовать определенную стратегию и тактику общения для конструирования и интерпретации связных текстов. Дискурсивная компетенция предполагает знание специфики письменных и устных текстов и умение продуцировать такие тексты;

— социокультурная компетенция, предполагающая знание иной культуры, социальных и культурных особенностей, имеющих место в стране изучаемого языка, и приобщение к культуре страны изучаемого языка, лучшее осознание культуры собственной страны, умение ее представить средствами иностранного языка;

— учебная компетенция, заключающаяся в способности к самообразованию и самосовершенствованию, а также к удовлетворению познавательных интересов. Сформированность учебной компетенции достигается путем овладения учащимися общеучебными умениями, связанными как с интеллектуальными процессами (выделять необходимую информацию в тексте, сравнивать факты и систематизировать информацию, составлять план выступления по теме и т. п.), так и с организацией самостоятельной учебной работы;

— стратегическая компетенция, означающая умение планировать речевое поведение и передавать информацию в аргументированных и логично выстроенных высказываниях, соотносить речевой поступок с конкретным содержанием высказывания.

Основные задачи, которые ставятся перед пособием, следующие:

— организация самостоятельной учебной деятельности по системному формированию иноязычной коммуникативной компетенции в рамках заданных лексических тем;

— развитие личностно и профессионально значимых знаний, умений и навыков;

— развитие навыков самостоятельной работы;

— развитие познавательной самостоятельности;

— реализация личностного творческого потенциала обучающегося;

— способствование накоплению студентами индивидуального опыта освоения и использования английского языка;

— создание условий для самореализации и развития в языковой среде;

— обеспечение развития потребности у студента в изучении английского языка;

— развитие положительной мотивации приобретения знаний;

— обеспечение развития у студентов умений и навыков поиска;

— формирование у студентов умений систематизации и обобщения полученной информации;

— развитие критического мышления студентов при овладении английским языком, т. е. способности проводить анализ информации, используя логику;

— формирование у студентов умений и навыков самоанализа, самоконтроля и самокорректировки.

Программный материал распределяется в пособии по тематическим модулям, соответствующим тематическим разделам аутентичного учебника “English for Legal Professionals”:

модуль 1 — Setting up a business;

модуль 2 — Employing people;

модуль 3 — Buying and selling goods and services;

модуль 4 — Protecting intellectual property;

модуль 5 — Mergers and acquisitions;

модуль 6 — Risk management and insolvency.

Учебный модуль представляет собой комплексно-интегрированное обучение. Содержание модуля можно представить по следующей схеме: тема — отбор языкового материала — языковая деятельность — речевая деятельность — контроль.

Разделы модуля:

— Vocabulary;

— Focus on Vocabulary;

— Focus on Grammar;

— Focus on Reading;

— Focus on Writing;

— Focus on Listening;

— Practical Application;

— Focus on Speaking.

Методологическая основа пособия — ориентирование на компетентностную модель, которая является основополагающей в настоящее время для подготовки современных специалистов со знанием иностранного языка.

Предлагаемые упражнения носят тренировочный, обучающий и компетентностный характер. Они направлены на:

— снятие языковых трудностей при подготовке домашних заданий;

— отработку и запоминание лексики (слов, выражений, коллокаций и юридической терминологии тематических разделов учебника);

— развитие умений и навыков работы с текстом: извлечение и анализ информации, выражение критического отношения к ней;

— обучение различным видам чтения;

— обучение этикету письменного делового общения (упражнения предусматривают работу с письмами и договорами);

— развитие профессионально значимых компетенций через создание профессионально ориентированных ситуаций общения, в которых студенты компетентно решают профессиональные задачи с использованием языковых и речевых навыков (раздел Practical Application).

Материалы по теме, используемые для упражнений, включают информацию, касающуюся зарубежной и российской юрисдикций.

Предусматривается подготовка проектных работ:

— предлагаются примерные темы, связанные с темой раздела;

— предлагаются формы отчета по проектной работе;

— даются правила презентации.

Контроль за правильностью выполнения заданий осуществляется самими студентами через ключи, что формирует у обучаемых сознательное отношение к выполняемой работе, активизирует мыслительные операции, развивает память и навыки самоконтроля. Такой самоконтроль и последующие самоанализ и самооценка полученных результатов способствуют формированию самообразовательной компетенции на материале иностранного языка.

При работе в парном режиме вступает в действие взаимопроверка выполняемых заданий на основе разработанных форм взаимоконтроля.

Контроль происходит также при взаимодействии студентов с преподавателем в процессе консультативной помощи, в процессе которой осуществляются диагностика, управление, корректировка и стимулирование самостоятельной деятельности студентов.

Методические рекомендации по работе с данным пособием:

1. Работа с пособием ведется в любой последовательности в соответствии с темой, изучаемой на аудиторных занятиях.

2. В рамках каждого модуля работу следует начинать с языковых упражнений (Focus on Vocabulary, Focus on Grammar) с целью более успешного овладения тематической лексикой и снятия грамматических трудностей.

3. Разделы Focus on Vocabulary и Focus on Grammar могут помочь студентам на начальном этапе освоения темы при подготовке домашних заданий.

4. Над последующими разделами модуля студенты самостоятельно работают по мере продвижения изучения на семинарских занятиях раздела учебника.

5. Над последующими разделами модуля студенты могут работать в соответствии с необходимостью развития соответствующих речевых навыков и умений (Focus on Reading, Focus on Writing, Focus on Listening, Focus on Speaking).

6. Для самостоятельной работы можно выбрать любой раздел модуля в любой момент освоения текущей темы.

7. Парные лексические работы можно использовать:

— при подготовке домашних заданий с целью снятия трудностей лексического характера;

— при заучивании лексики;

— при подготовке к высказываниям на ту или иную тему. В этом случае парные работы предлагают готовые клишированные выражения.

8. Парные работы предназначены и для самостоятельной аудиторной, и для самостоятельной внеаудиторной работы.

9. Парные работы можно выполнять и самостоятельно, работая с одним вариантом и проверяя правильность выполнения работы по другому. При этом можно осуществлять перевод и с английского языка на русский, и с русского языка на английский.

10. Для самоконтроля предназначены ключи, но ими пользоваться следует после выполнения упражнения.

11. Проверка выполнения заданий в разделе Practical Application осуществляется на экзаменационном зачете.

12. Проектная работа представляет собой самостоятельный информационный поиск и творческий отчет по результатам этой самостоятельной работы.

13. По результатам проектной работы студенты готовят презентацию и творческие задания с целью взаимного контроля.

14. В помощь к подготовке презентаций предложены темы презентаций и возможные источники информации (сайты).

15. Для взаимного контроля понимания содержания презентаций студенты могут подготовить для своих товарищей следующие творческие задания, которые станут формой отчета по проектной работе:

— составить тест на проверку тематической лексики и содержания презентации;

— составить кроссворд;

— поставить предложения в последовательности, соответствующей порядку изложения информации;

— определить, соответствуют или нет данные предложения содержанию презентации;

— составить денотатную карту (Mind Map).

Самостоятельная работа с пособием выполняется в специально отведенное время — аудиторное или внеаудиторное. Для СРС характерны разнообразные организационные формы — групповая, парная или индивидуальная деятельность. Конкретные результаты этой деятельности также выражены в определенной форме — устной, письменной, комбинированной.

Пособие предназначено для студентов бакалавриата, магистратуры любой формы обучения (дневной, вечерней, заочной) МГЮА, а также других юридических вузов.

Надеемся, что успешная организация самостоятельной работы с помощью нашего пособия превратит учебу из рутины в интересное занятие, а активная внеаудиторная деятельность поможет повысить общий уровень владения языком.

Авторы-составители учебного пособия:

модуль 1 — ст. преп. Е. Н. Удоденко;

модуль 2 — доц. Л. С. Артамонова;

модуль 3 — ст. преп. А. В. Смоляченко;

модуль 4 — ст. преп. Л. В. Матвеева;

модуль 5 — ст. преп. Н. Н. Борисова;

модуль 6 — доц. Н. Б. Шрамкова;

раздел Focus on Listening — доц. А. Г. Кожанова.

MODULE 1.
Setting up a Business

The most powerful enforcement body in the corporate system is the shareholder body. Via pension funds, provident funds, insurance products and other group investments, the public makes up the largest owner of many publicly listed companies.

(Unknown)

Vocabulary

1

to set up a business

основывать дело, учреждать (компанию)

2

sole trader

индивидуальный предприниматель

3

equity/company capital

акционерный капитал

4

assets
tangible assets

активы компании
материальные активы

5

to register
Register of Companies

зарегистрировать
регистр/ реестр компаний

6

liable
personally liable
liability
(un)limited liability

ответственный
лично ответственный
обязательства, ответственность
(не)ограниченная ответственность

7

agreement

соглашение

8

cash

наличность

9

debt

долг

10

on your own

самостоятельно

11

to own
owner

владеть чем-л.
владелец

12

profit

прибыль

13

on the one hand… on the other hand…

с одной стороны… с другой стороны…

14

separate

отдельный

15

share
shareholder
shareholding

акция
акционер
владение акциями

16

tax authority

налоговые органы

17

general partnership

полное товарищество (товарищество с неограниченной имущественной ответственностью)

18

limited liability partnership (LLP)

товарищество с ограниченной ответственностью

19

to expand

расширять (бизнес)

20

legal identity = legal person = legal entity

юридическое лицо

21

Articles of Association

устав компании

22

Memorandum of Association

учредительный договор

23

private company (Ltd.)

закрытая акционерная компания

24

public company (plc.)

открытая или публичная акционерная компания, акции которой открыто продаются на бирже

25

Stock Exchange

Лондонская фондовая биржа

26

limited liability company (LLC) (US)

компания с ограниченной ответственностью

27

to secure a loan
security

обеспечить заем
обеспечение кредита

28

to run a business

заниматься бизнесом

29

to guarantee the loan personally

предоставить личные гарантии

30

to reward loyalty

вознаградить за преданность

31

to be available

быть доступным, быть в наличии

32

to default on the loan

не выполнить обязательств по выплате займа

33

to repay the loan

выплатить заем

34

to afford to do smth.

позволить себе что-то сделать

35

to take legal proceedings

предпринимать процессуальные действия

36

matters raised

затронутые вопросы

37

to set out the steps

изложить последующие действия

38

personal assets

личное имущество

39

obligation

обязанность

40

valid decision
legally valid

обоснованное решение
имеющий юридическую силу

41

on behalf of the company

от лица компании

42

to enclose

прилагать

43

Constitution of the Company

учредительные документы

44

option

вариант, возможность

45

to transfer

перевести, передать

46

to issue shares

выпускать акции

47

to raise capital by selling shares

наращивать капитал путем продажи акций

48

Companies House

Регистрационная палата

49

to register a company

регистрировать компанию

50

to submit/reject an application

подать/отклонить заявление

51

to draw up a contract

составить контракт/договор

52

to impose restrictions

накладывать ограничения

53

to incur debts/costs

понести издержки, затраты; влезть в долги

54

to view/inspect the register of companies

проверить запись в регистре компаний

55

to obtain a Certificate of Incorporation

получить свидетельство о регистрации компании

56

to conduct business

заниматься бизнесом

57

accountancy

бухгалтерское дело

58

to buy out

(вы)купить

59

due

подлежащий выплате

60

to ascertain

выяснять, устанавливать

61

to invoke a 5-mile radius clause

требовать применения статьи о пятимильной зоне

62

enforceable

имеющий исковую силу

63

legally binding

юридически обязательный

64

with immediate effect

вступающий в силу немедленно

65

lawyer

юрист

66

attorney

адвокат

67

solicitor

солиситор

68

barrister

барристер

69

to have rights of audience

иметь право выступать в суде

70

to present a case in court

представлять дело в суде

71

Queen’s Counsel

королевский адвокат

72

jurisdiction

юрисдикция

73

registration fee

регистрационный взнос

74

registration formalities

процедура регистрации

74

requirement

требование

75

to make redundant

уволить с работы

76

to work part-time

работать на полставки

77

responsibilities

обязанности

78

to work face-to-face with customers

обслуживать посетителей, работать с клиентами

79

supplier

поставщик

80

to do the paperwork

вести документацию

81

to wind up

ликвидировать компанию

82

to make a claim against a firm

подать иск к компании

83

background

1) задний план, фон;
2) условие, исходные данные, предпосылка

84

rationale

разумное объяснение, логическое обоснование, основная причина

85

established

1) учрежденный;
2) авторитетный, признанный, заслуживающий доверия

86

to list

составлять список, регистрировать

87

listed

зарегистрированный

88

distinguished

знаменитый, известный, выдающийся, прославленный

89

to raise money

занимать деньги, получить ссуду на что-л.

90

brief

краткое письменное изложение дела с привлечением фактов и документов, с которыми сторона выступает в суде

91

to unify

унифицировать

Focus on Vocabulary

Task I. Work in pairs. One of you will work with Variant A, the other — with Variant B.

Partner A

1) Translate the following English words and word phrases into Russian. In case of difficulties, your partner B is to help you.

a. Articles of association

b. Sole trader

c. Equity

d. Tangible assets

e. Unlimited liability

f. To be personally liable

g. To work for yourself

h. To register one’s business

i. To set up one’s business

j. Area of business

k. To go out of business

l. Business firm

m. To start trading

n. To make money

o. To register with tax authority

p. To have unlimited liability for debts

q. General partnership

r. Legal identity

s. To pay capital into the firm

t. To join the partnership

u. Limited liability partnership

v. Limited company

w. To publish regular financial information

2) This time your Partner B is to do the translation into Russian. You should help him/her.

1. limited liability
2. to be self-employed
3. business
4. to run business
5. to go into business
6. debts of the firm
7. to pay for shareholding in the company
8. to form a company
9. private company
10. public company
11. to be liable to pay
12. to be liable to creditors
13. tax flexibility
14. personal liability protection
15. to seek advice
16. to make an offer
17. to finance the business
18. to reward the loyalty
19. to borrow money from the bank
20. to put something at risk
21. to secure the loan on something (a house)
22. to secure loans against the company’s assets

1. ограниченная ответственность
2. работать на себя
3. дело, предпринимательская деятельность, торгово-промышленное предприятие, бизнес
4. вести коммерческую деятельность
5. заняться бизнесом
6. долги компании
7. платить за владение акциями компании
8. образовать компанию
9. закрытая акционерная компания
10. открытая акционерная компания
11. нести ответственность по уплате
12. нести ответственность перед кредиторами
13. налоговая гибкость
14. защита от персональной ответственности
15. обращаться за советом
16. сделать предложение
17. финансировать предпринимательскую деятельность
18. вознаграждать за лояльность
19. занимать деньги в банке
20. рисковать чем-либо
21. обеспечить заем чем-либо (домом)
22. обеспечить заем активами компании

Partner B

1) Your Partner A is to translate a number of English words and word phrases into Russian. You should help him/her in case of difficulties.

1. articles of association
2. sole trader
3. equity
4. tangible assets
5. unlimited liability
6. to be personally liable
7. to work for yourself
8. to register one’s business
9. to set up one’s business
10. area of business
11. to go out of business
12. business firm
13. to start trading
14. to make money
15. to register with tax authority
16. to have unlimited liability for debts
17. general partnership
18. legal identity
19. to pay capital into the firm
20. to join the partnership
21. limited liability partnership
22. limited company
23. to publish regular financial information

1. устав компании
2. индивидуальный предприниматель
3. акционерный капитал
4. материальные активы
5. неограниченная ответственность
6. нести личную ответственность
7. работать на себя
8. регистрировать свое предприятие
9. открыть свое предприятие
10. область предпринимательства
11. выйти из бизнеса
12. коммерческая компания
13. начать торговлю
14. зарабатывать деньги
15. зарегистрироваться в налоговом органе
16. нести неограниченную ответственность по долгам
17. полное товарищество
18. юридическое лицо
19. вкладывать капитал в компанию
20. вступить в товарищество
21. товарищество с ограниченной ответственностью
22. компания с ограниченной ответственностью
23. регулярно публиковать информацию о финансах

2) This time you are to do the translation from English into Russian. Your partner will help you.

1. Limited liability

2. To be self-employed

3. Business

4. To run business

5. To go into business

6. Debts of the firm

7. To pay for shareholding in the company

8. To form a company

9. Private company

10. Public company

11. To be liable to pay

12. To be liable to creditors

13. Tax flexibility

14. Personal liability protection

15. To seek advice

16. To make an offer

17. To finance the business

18. To reward the loyalty

19. To borrow money from the bank

20. To put something at risk

21. To secure the loan on something (a house)

22. To secure loans against the company’s assets

Task II. Find English equivalents of the following Russian phrases on page 9 of Unit 1.

1. Дать заем компании

2. Гарантировать выплату займа

3. Взять дом в качестве обеспечения кредита

4. Не выполнить обязательств по выплате займа

5. Поднять (затронуть) вопросы

6. Позволить себе что-то сделать

7. Начать судебный процесс

8. Получить денежное возмещение по суду

9. Банковские займы доступны для индивидуального предпринимателя

10. Получить банковский заем

11. Личное имущество

12. Предоставлять предприятию права юридического лица

13. Нести правовые обязательства

14. Принять правомерное решение

15. От имени компании

16. Управлять компанией

17. Учредительные документы

18. Выпускать акции для акционеров

Task III. Match the terms in the box with their definitions (1–6). This activity will help you to answer the questions in “Starter” from page 5 of Unit 1.

register of companies equity/company capital articles of association
unlimited liability sole trader tangible assets

1. The document, which contains internal rules about how the company is organized. It can be read by the public at Companies House, the central register of companies.

2. An individual person who owns all the assets of the business and is liable for all of its debts. It is the simplest form of business.

3. It is a certain amount of cash or assets that must be paid in when a limited company is formed. This capital must always be available so that there are at least some assets left to satisfy creditors if the company goes bankrupt.

4. It is another word for such property as equipment, buildings, vehicles, raw materials.

5. It contains key information about the company, e. g. the name of the company and the address of its head office, the names of its directors, the date of its formation, the kind of business it conducts and the size of its share capital. This information can be inspected by any member of the public.

6. This problem exists for self-employed people and for ordinary partnerships. In these cases, the business is not a separate legal entity. This means that liability rests with the owner of the company. If the company has debts, the owner is liable for them and is not allowed to limit this liability — even if it means him losing the roof over his head.

Task IV. Use the ideas below in the following structures for giving advice or making recommendations:

I suggest/recommend that he/she (should) do…
I suggest/recommend doing…
I (strongly) advise you to do…
You should do…
You ought to do…
What about doing … ?
e. g. I suggest/recommend that he (should) invest money into a new business.I suggest/recommend investing money into a new business.

I (strongly) advise you to invest money into a new business.You should invest money into a new business.You ought to invest money into a new business.What about investing money into a new business?

Ideas:

1. To sell shares on stock exchanges

2. To provide clients with background on business formats

3. To convert a private company into a public company

4. To read company legislation

5. To offer shares to the public

6. To start doing some work with an ex-colleague

7. To work part-time for the business

8. To invest money into a new business

9. To work with suppliers

10. To do the paperwork

11. To wind the business up

12. To make a claim against the firm

Task V. Read the introduction and complete the gaps with an appropriate word derived from the words given in brackets.

The Civil Code of the Russian Federation recognizes various forms of business organizations, including general and limited partnerships, limited liability companies, open and closed joint-stock companies, and the state and municipal unitary enterprises. Classification of legal entities is provided in the Civil Code twice: in Article 48 and in Article 50. Both classifications are very important, because in both cases assignment of a legal entity to this or that particular group determines its special legislative regime.

Classification Based on the Rights of Legal Entity and its Participants

The First Model. When transferring the property to the legal entity the (1) _______ (found) or the participants of the legal entity (2) _______ (complete) lose their rights of estate. Similarly they do not have these rights to the (3) ______ (acquire) property. Accordingly, property, (4) ______ (transfer) by the founders (the participants) and acquired by the legal entity itself is deemed to be owned by the legal entity. (5) ______ (Lose) his rights of estate, a founder (a participant) acquires rights of obligation instead. Rights of obligation include the right to participate in the (6) ______ (manage) of a legal entity, the right to receive dividends, etc.

When a legal entity is being (7) ______ (liquidate), participants have the right to demand the property left in part (8) ______ (correspond) to their share (half, quarter, etc.).

Legal entities built by the first model include partnerships, companies, production and (9) ______ (consume) cooperatives (i. e. corporation legal entities).

The Second Model. The peculiarity of the second model is that the founder, (10) ______ (transfer) the corresponding property to the legal entity in the possession and disposal, remains the owner of that property. Also, the founder is deemed to be the owner of all property acquired by the legal entity during its (11) ______ (operate). Therefore, the rights of estate for one and the same property are (12) ______ (possess) both by the founder (owner) and by the legal entity. The legal entity owns the property under the right of economic management or operative management, derivative from the property right. During (13) ______ (liquidate), founders of a legal entity receive everything that is left after (14) ______ (settle) with the creditors.

The given model is applied to the state and municipal unitary enterprises, and (15) ______ (organize), financed by the owners. In particular, these are organizations whose owner is the Russian Federation, a subject of the Russian Federation, or a municipal entity (a ministry, a department, a school, an institute or a hospital, etc.).

The Third Model. Unlike the first two models, the founders (the participants) of the legal entity do not possess any property rights for the legal entity, neither rights of (16) ______ (oblige), nor rights of estate. Such legal entities include public and (17) ______ (religion) organizations (unions), charity and other funds, (18) ______ (associate) and unions of legal entities. According to the third model, founders (participants) do not acquire any rights for the property left, after the liquidation of an entity.

Classification Based on the Activity’s Objective:

Commercial and Non-Commercial Legal Entities

Article 50 in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation divides all legal entities into (19) ______ (commerce) and non-commercial organizations, proceeding from the objective of the activity (20) ______ (perform) by the organization. The legal entities may be either the organizations, which view a (21) ______ (derive) of profits as the chief goal of their activity (commercial legal entities), or those organizations, which do not view a deriving of profits as such goal and which do not (22) ______ (distribution) the derived profit among their participants (non-commercial legal entities).

Commercial legal entities include partnerships and companies, (23) ______ (produce) cooperatives, the state and municipal unitary enterprises, while non-commercial legal entities include consumption cooperatives, public and religious organizations (unions) financed by their (24) ______ (own), charity and other funds and entities (25) ______ (stipulate) in law.

Focus on Grammar

The Passive
Active and passive sentences often have similar meanings, but a different focus.
____________________________________________________
Form the passive with a form of be + past participle.
e. g. A claim was made against the firm.
A claim is being made against the firm.
____________________________________________________
Use the passive in the following situations:
a. When the agent (the person or thing doing the action) is unknown or not important.
e. g. Shares are traded publicly.
b. When the identity of the agent is clear from the context.
e. g. Their liability for the debts of the firm is limited.
____________________________________________________
Use the passive with “by” if you mention the agent. Mention the agent in the following situations:
a. When you introduce necessary new information about the agent.
e. g. Limited companies are used by businesses of all sizes.
b. When you want to give credit to someone who created something.
e. g. A written partnership agreement is not required by law.
Be careful! In most cases, you do not need to mention an agent in passive sentences. Do not include an agent unnecessarily.

Task VI. Use the following phrases in Passive Voice,

e. g. 1) to describe you as a sole trader

— You are described as a sole trader. оставить как есть везде

2) the public can read the articles at Companies House

— The articles can be read by the public at Companies House.

1. To recommend a written partnership agreement

2. Law requires a written partnership agreement

3. To call the partners members

4. To limit liability for the debts of the firm

5. Must register business structures on the Register of Companies

6. To form a company

7. To trade shares publicly

8. Businesses of all sizes use limited companies

9. They will secure the loan on her house

10. Would transfer the assets of the business to shareholders

11. Would issue shares to shareholders

12. To organize the company

13. They have to file the document with the relevant state

14. To call lawyers attorneys

15. To pass the brief on to a barrister

16. To often invite successful barristers to become a Queen’s Counsel

17. They made him redundant from a job.

18. They are making a claim against the firm.

19. They have named us in the claim.

20. They didn’t take our names off the firm’s letter head.

Focus on Reading

SUBJECTS OF RUSSIAN LAW

Business law in Russia is a branch of civil legislation that regulates relations between persons engaged in entrepreneurial activity. The civil legislation is the system of general regulations concerning ownership relations. Major norms of civil legislation are stipulated in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. First of all, these are norms concerning subjects of civil legislation. Subjects of law are the following: 1. Individuals; 2. Legal entities; 3. The state and state bodies; 4. Municipalities and municipal bodies.

Individuals

Task VII

1) Before reading the text “Business Activity of an Individual”, think over the following questions.

1. What is the main aim of business activity of an individual entrepreneur?

2. What are the main advantages of being an individual entrepreneur?

3. Are there any disadvantages in an individual’s business activities?

4. What kinds of entrepreneurial activities have you come across?

2) Read the text and check your answers.

Business Activity of an Individual

An individual has the right to engage in business activities without forming a legal entity from the moment of his state registration in the capacity of an individual entrepreneur, which is the simplest way to form a company. Entrepreneurial activity is defined as “an independent activity, performed at one’s own risk, aimed at systematically deriving profit from the use of the property, the sale of goods, the performance of work or the rendering of services.” An individual entrepreneur actually possesses all rights of legal persons, freely uses the money, does not have to report to a partner or shareholder, does not need to have a registered office, a charter and charter capital and legal address. There are special tax regimes for small enterprises and individual entrepreneurs, including simplified system of taxation.

The disadvantage of remaining an individual entrepreneur is that he has to take full personal responsibility for the business, including debts, with his entire property.

entrepreneurial activity — предпринимательская деятельность

to derive profit — извлекать прибыль

to render services — оказывать услуги

charter — устав

to bear responsibility — нести ответственность

Note:

There are several ways of translating similar terms in legal documents. The terms “Individual” or “Natural person” are both used to mean “human being” («Физическое лицо»).

“Legal entity” («Юридическое лицо») as opposed to “Individual”, is also called “Legal person”, “Artificial person”, “Fictitious person”, “Corporate person” (in descending order of occurrence). In Eastern Europe (including Russia) “Juridical person” is frequently used.

The translation of the Russian Civil Code is an example of “official” translation. One can recover the original Russian almost word-for-word, and it reads extremely specific. This is quite deliberate — the translator avoids familiar western legal terms and sticks closely to the Russian, so for example he uses “juridical person” and “natural person” which are almost unusable in English. The reasoning is clear — this is an independent body of law, with its own terms that has to be understood by western lawyers without them importing their own ideas of what terms mean. To avoid misleading comparisons, it makes sense to avoid too much western terminology.

If however somebody is producing an understandable translation or summary for the non-specialist, he should use terms like “individual” and “legal entity”.

The same might be true for “Individual entrepreneur” («Индивидуальный предприниматель») which is “Sole trader” in British English and “Sole proprietor” in American English.

Internal regulations of an entity are usually referred to as “By-laws” in the United States; English companies have “Articles of Association”; and the Russian «Устав» is translated as “Charter”.

Task VIII

1) Read the excerpts from the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and complete the sentence choosing the correct ending from the phrases given below.

An individual entrepreneur who is not in the state to satisfy the demands of creditors may be deemed to be insolvent…

a. in accordance with the law

b. but registration stays in force

c. by decision of the court

d. and not liable for his obligations

Article 23. A citizen shall have the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity without the formation of a juridical person from the moment of State registration as an individual entrepreneur.

Article 24. A citizen shall be liable for his obligations with all of the property belonging to him except for property against which execution may not be levied in accordance with a law.

Article 25. An individual entrepreneur who is not in a state to satisfy the demands of creditors connected with the effectuation by him of entrepreneurial activity may be deemed to be insolvent (or bankrupt) by decision of a court. From the moment of the rendering of such decision his registration as an individual entrepreneur shall lose force.

2) Focus on Vocabulary. Find the English equivalents of the following Russian phrases in the Articles above.

Индивидуальный предприниматель; заниматься предпринимательской деятельностью; осуществление предпринимательской деятельности; отвечать по своим обязательствам; образование юридического лица; может быть признан несостоятельным; имущество, на которое не может быть обращено взыскание; вынесение такого решения; в соответствии с законом; удовлетворять требования кредиторов; по решению суда; регистрация утрачивает силу.

3) Focus on speaking. Using the English equivalents from the previous exercise say a few words about an individual entrepreneur.

Task IX

1) Match the following English phrases in the left column with their Russian equivalents in the right column.

1. tax regime

a. налоговая льгота

2. tax rise

b. налоговое обязательство

3. tax cut

c. налоговая декларация

4. tax break

d. рост налогов

5. tax obligation

e. снижение налогов

6. tax return

f. налоговый режим

2) Read the newspaper headlines. Scan the newspaper articles and match each headline to its story.

1. Number of Entrepreneurs in Russia Falls after Tax Rise

2. Gerard Depardieu Gets Russian Tax Cut after Registering as an Individual Entrepreneur

3. TAX BREAK FOR SMALL TRADERS SPARKS NEW SPIRIT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

4. Tighter Punishment for Illegal Entrepreneurship in Russia

a. The government is currently considering providing a tax break to all new individual entrepreneurs in Russia during their first two years of operation. Under planned new rules, new start-up companies founded by an individual could soon enjoy a two-year holiday from any tax obligation.
One of the motivations behind the plan is to give new businessmen and women time to concentrate on their newly-born business rather than filing tax returns. It usually takes an entrepreneur two years to understand whether a business venture works.

b. French actor Gerard Depardieu has registered as an individual entrepreneur in the Russian city of Saransk, where he was granted residence earlier this year.
The status of individual entrepreneur will allow Depardieu to pay even lower taxes on his local earnings than the 13% flat rate applicable in Russia. People registered as an individual entrepreneur in Russia pay a six-percent flat-rate income tax on all their revenues. That scheme is widely spread in the local film industry, allowing crew members and talent to save on income tax.

c. The number of entrepreneurs in Russia has fallen 7% in the past three months after obligatory insurance contributions were doubled, the economy ministry said Monday.
The number of registered individual entrepreneurs fell by nearly 300,000 in the period running from December to the end of February.
Insurance payments were raised by the government to 36,000 a year from around 17,000 rubles.

d. The upper chamber of Russia’s parliament had presented to the State Duma a new bill to consider which will increase sanctions for doing business without official registration as an individual entrepreneur. The fine will be 30–50 thousand rubles. It has even provided confiscation of goods, raw materials and equipment there.
Today doing business without registration may be punished for 500–2000 rubles. Authors of the new law think that’s too small amount as compared to profits earned by illegal entrepreneurs and costs which it take to track them down.

Legal Entities (Juridical Persons)

Task X

1) Read the following excerpts from the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and suggest an appropriate name for each Article.

Juridical Persons

— Name and Location of Juridical Person

— Responsibility of Juridical Person

— Commercial and Noncommercial Organizations

— Constitutive Documents of Juridical Person

— Concept of Juridical Person

— State Registration of Juridical Persons

Article 48. A juridical person shall be deemed to be an organization which has solitary property in ownership, economic jurisdiction, or operative management and is liable for its obligations with such property and may in its own name acquire and effectuate property and personal non-property rights, bear duties, and be a plaintiff or defendant in court.

Article 50. Organizations pursuing the deriving of profit as the principal purpose of their activity (commercial organizations) or not having the deriving of profit as such purpose and not distributing profit received among the participants (non-commercial organizations) may be juridical persons.

Juridical persons which are commercial organizations may be created in the form of economic partnerships and societies, production cooperatives, and State municipal unitary enterprises.

Juridical persons which are non-commercial organizations may be created in the form of consumer cooperatives, social or religious organizations, institutions, philanthropic and other foundations, and also in other forms provided for by a law.

Article 51. A juridical person shall be subject to State registration in an empowered State agency in the procedure determined by the Law on the State Registration of Juridical Persons. The data of State registration shall be included in the unified State register of juridical persons open for general familiarization.

Article 52. A juridical person shall operate on the basis of a charter, or a constitutive contract and a charter, or only a constitutive contract.

The name of the juridical person, its location, the procedure for the management of the activity of the juridical person must be determined in the constitutive documents of the juridical person.

The subject and purpose of activity of the juridical person must be determined in the constitutive documents.

The conditions and procedure for distribution among the participants of profit and losses, the management activity of the juridical person, and the withdrawal of founders (or participants) shall also be determined by the contract.

Article 54. A juridical person shall have its own name containing an indication of its organizational-legal form.

The location of a juridical person shall be determined by the place of its State registration. The State registration of a juridical person shall be effectuated at the location of its permanently operating executive organ.

Article 56. Juridical persons shall be liable for their obligations with all of the property belonging to them.

The founder (or participant) of a juridical person or the owner of its property shall not be liable for obligations of the juridical person, and the juridical person shall not be liable for the obligations of the founder (or participant) or owner, except for the instances provided for by the present Code or by the constitutive documents of the juridical person.

2) Focus on Vocabulary. Find the English equivalents of the following Russian phrases in the Articles above.

Учредители (участники); иметь в собственности обособленное имущество; извлечение прибыли; подлежать регистрации; устав и учредительный договор; порядок управления деятельностью; распределение прибыли и убытков; за исключением случаев, предусмотренных настоящим Кодексом; приобретать и осуществлять имущественные права; основная цель; хозяйственные товарищества и общества; уполномоченный государственный орган; выход участников (из состава юридического лица); от своего имени; потребительские кооперативы; в других формах, предусмотренных законом; иметь в хозяйственном ведении.

3) Focus on Vocabulary. Translate the following phrases from the Articles into Russian.

Juridical person; to derive profit; to be liable for obligations; to distribute profit; unified State register; management activity; organizational-legal form; personal non-property rights; non-commercial organizations; production cooperatives; municipal unitary enterprises; in the procedure determined by the Law; the subject and purpose of activity; location of the juridical person; permanently operating executive organ; to bear duties; philanthropic foundations.

4) Answer the questions to the text.

1. What kind of property does a juridical person have in ownership?

2. Is a juridical person liable for its obligations?

3. How can a juridical person effectuate its rights?

4. What is the difference between commercial and non-commercial organizations?

5. What are the forms of commercial organizations?

6. What are the forms of non-commercial organizations?

7. Does the law determine any procedure for registration of a juridical person?

8. On what basis shall a juridical person operate?

9. What important information do the constitutive documents include?

10. What shall a name of a juridical person contain?

11. Where shall the state registration be effectuated?

12. Are the founders (or participants) liable for obligations of the juridical person?

13. Are there any exceptions to this rule?

Task XI. Read the following text and fulfill the tasks.

1) For each gap 1–7, choose the best sentence A–H to fill it. There is an example at the beginning.

The Legal Entity in the Russian Federation

Main Features of a Legal Entity

The legal entity is deemed to be an organization, which has in its ownership, economic management or operative management the set-apart property and which is answerable by its obligations with its property and may on its own behalf acquire and exercise the property and non-property rights, discharge duties (e. g. conclude contracts). (0) ___H___.

A business entity exists in law entirely separate from its owners, also called participants or shareholders, and directors, who manage the company. (1) _______. This feature is also referred to as corporate personality.

Main features of the legal entity are the following:

— Unity of the organizational structure of a company.

That means that any company has its internal structure and independent elements, which form an organic whole (management bodies). Such unity of the organizational structure is expressed in the constituent documents of a legal entity. It means that a legal entity possesses a corresponding stable structure.

Acting as a legal entity as a whole is guaranteed by the fact that a corresponding entity is headed by a body with the defined powers. It executes interior management and acts in external relations on behalf of the legal entity.

— Separate estate of a company.

The property of a legal entity shall be separated from the property of its founders (participants). A company is liable under its obligations with all its property. (2) _______.

— Continuity of existence.

A company is a separate entity which continues regardless of the death of shareholders or the transfer of shares.

The legal entity operates on the basis of the Charter, or of the constituent agreement and the Charter, or only of the constituent agreement.

The Constituent Agreement

(3) _______. The Charter of the legal entity must be approved by its founders (participants).

In the constituent agreement, the founders assume upon themselves an obligation to create a legal entity, define the order of their joint activities, involved in its creation, and the terms for the transfer to it of their property and for their participation in its activity. The constituent agreement also defines the terms and procedure for the distribution of the profits and losses among the participants, for the management of the legal entity’s activity and for the founders’ (the participants’) withdrawal from the legal entity.

(4) _______. The constituent agreement of the legal entity shall include:

(i) The name of the legal entity.

(ii) The place of the location of the legal entity.

(iii) The way in which the legal entity’s activity is managed.

The Charter

The Charter is the fundamental law of the company. The Charter is the condition upon which the company is granted incorporation and the company is therefore bound by its content.

(5) _______. This enables persons outside the company who invest in or deal with the company to ascertain what its name is, what its objects are, what its liability is and what the charter capital is.

The charter capital of a Russian entity is a fixed amount, representing:

(i) The officially stated amount, contributed to the company by its founders/shareholders

(ii) The minimum amount of the net capital, that should be maintained by the company at all times for the purpose of ensuring creditor protection and

(iii) For joint-stock companies, the sum of the nominal value of all issued shares.

Contributions to the charter capital include money, securities, other property and property titles, intellectual property in the form of the right of use of the intellectual property, or other rights, having monetary evaluation.

The Charter must state what the objects of the company are. (6) _______. Any act outside the terms of the objects clause is deemed ultra vires, i. e. outside the powers of the company and therefore void. Objects clauses are stated in broad terms to allow the company a broad spectrum of activities. Participants will sometimes insist on strict objects clauses in order to protect their investment. (7) _______.

A. The objects clause determines the capacity of the company to act.

B. The company is allowed to exist on the basis of what it says it will do in the Charter.

C. The company is therefore a legal person having a separate legal identity.

D. The constituent agreement of a legal entity should be signed by its founders.

E. There is no limit on what can be contained in an objects clause, as long as they are not illegal.

F. The subscribers, being the first participants and members of the company, agree to be bound by the terms of the constituent document.

G. Thus it acquires rights, obligations and duties which are different and distinct from those of its members.

H. It can appear as a plaintiff and as a defendant in the court.

2) Focus on Vocabulary. Match the words in the left column with their Russian equivalents in the right column.

1. operative management

a. распределение прибыли и убытков

2. internal structure

b. цель образования компании

3. to define the order of joint activities

c. получить право

4. to state amount of capital contributed to the company

d. осуществлять имущественные и личные неимущественные права

5. securities

e. учредители/участники

6. objects of the company

f. оперативное управление

7. amount of net capital

g. нести обязанности

8. to acquire rights

h. обязаться соблюдать условия

9. having monetary evaluation

i. действовать от имени общества

10. objects clause

j. определять порядок совместной деятельности

11. withdrawal from the legal entity

k. обособленное имущество

12. to assume upon themselves obligations

l. осуществлять внутреннее руководство

13. to transfer property

m. передать собственность

14. founders/participants

n. имеющие денежную оценку

15. to execute interior management

o. действовать на основании устава

16. to operate on the basis of the charter

p. внутренняя структура

17. to act on behalf of the legal entity

q. выход из общества

18. separate estate

r. принимать на себя обязанности

19. to exercise the property and non-property rights

s. устанавливать размер капитала, внесенного в общество

20. distribution of the profits and losses

t. статья о целях учреждаемого общества

21. to be bound by the terms

u. размер чистой стоимости капитала

22. to discharge duties

v. ценные бумаги

23. subscriber

w. регистрация, оформление общества

24. incorporation

x. подписчик на ценные бумаги

3) Focus on Vocabulary. Find the synonyms to the following phrases from the text above. Translate them into Russian.

Juridical person, to effectuate rights, solitary property, to enter into agreements, purposes of activities of the legal entity, constitutive contract, to confirm the charter, property rights, stockholder, to bear responsibility with all of its property for obligations, legal capacity, outside the powers, to establish, not valid or legally binding, face value of shares.

4) Focus on Speaking. Using English equivalents from the exercises above speak on the juridical persons in the Russian Federation.

Commercial Legal Entities

Task XII. Read the introduction and fulfill the tasks.

Note:
Although the terms concerning the forms of business organizations, or constitutive (founding) documents often share the same names with their counterparts in the US or the UK, they are different in many ways. To render some distinguishing features of Russian law and to divide meanings, the Civil Code of the Russian Federation uses different terms. But if you are dealing with a lay person or an individual contract, there’s much more freedom to use the closest equivalent.

Commercial Partnerships and Companies in the Russian Federation

The types of commercial partnerships and companies are the following:

1. Full partnership — The general (unlimited) partnership — полное товарищество.

2. The limited commandite partnership — товарищество на вере (коммандитное товарищество).

3. The limited responsibility society — The limited liability company — общество с ограниченной ответственностью (ООО).

4. The joint-stock society — The joint-stock company — акционерное общество (АО).

1) Read the following provisions from Article 67 of the Civil Code of the RF “Rights and Duties of Participants of Economic Partnership or Society”. The provisions are put down at random. Refer them to either rights or duties of participants:

Basic rights of participants
The participants shall have the right to:

Basic duties of participants
The participants shall be obliged to:

1. participate in the management of the affairs of the partnership or society;

2. make contributions in the procedure and amounts, by means, and within the periods provided for by the constitutive documents;

3. receive information concerning the activity of the partnership or society and familiarize themselves with its bookkeeping records and other documentation;

4. take part in the distribution of profit;

5. not divulge confidential information concerning the activity of the partnership or society;

6. receive in the event of the liquidation the part of the property remaining after the settlement of accounts with creditors;

7. bear other duties provided for by its constitutive documents.

2) Focus on Vocabulary. Find the English equivalents of the following Russian phrases in the text you have just read. These phrases will help you to speak about rights and duties of the participants.

Участвовать в управлении делами; знакомиться с бухгалтерскими книгами; распределение прибыли; в случае ликвидации; оставшаяся часть имущества; расчеты с кредиторами; вносить вклады; в сроки, предусмотренные учредительными документами; разглашать конфиденциальную информацию; нести другие обязанности.

3) Focus on Speaking. Work in pairs.

Partner A: Give comments on the rights of the participants of Russian partnerships to Partner B.

Partner B: Describe the duties of the participants of Russian partnerships to Partner A.

The English phrases from the previous exercise will help you. You may use the following phrases explaining what a law says:

There are several ways of saying what the Civil Code/a law/a charter/constitutive documents say. For example:
— Constitutive contract establishes that all of the participants conduct the affairs jointly. (Учредительным договором установлено, что все участники…)
— The rules set out in the present point shall apply when transforming a partnership… (Правила, изложенные в настоящем пункте…)
— The rights and duties of creditors… shall be determined by laws regulating the activity of credit organizations. (Права и обязанности… определяются законами, регулирующими деятельность…)
— The constitutive documents of the society provide that transfer of participatory share shall be permitted… (Учредительными документами предусмотрено, что передача доли участника допускается…)
— …information specified in Article 52 (2) of the present Code… (…сведения, указанные в пункте 2 статьи 52 настоящего Кодекса…).
The following verbs can also be used: The law stipulates/prescribes/sets .forth/lays down…

Task XIII. Read the two texts about types of partnerships in the Russian Federation and fulfill the tasks.

1) Decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F) before you read the text, then check your answers.

1. General partners don’t bear liability for the obligations with their property.

2. Profit and losses are distributed among partners in proportion to their share.

3. General partners may not transfer their shares in the partnership.

4. Each partner has votes in proportion to his contribution in the joint capital.

5. The partnership may survive if one of the partners leaves.

The General Partnership

A general partnership is established by the agreement between two or more individual entrepreneurs or legal entities. Each partner bears unlimited joint and several liability (несет неограниченную солидарную ответственность) for the obligations of the partnership with their entire property.

The constituent document of the general partnership is the constituent agreement, which may provide for joint conduct of partnership operations or alternatively each partner has the right to operate in the name of the partnership. A general partnership must enter into contracts in the name of one of its partners. A partner may not engage in transactions similar to those set forth in the partnership’s constituent agreement on his own behalf or in the interest of the third parties without the consent of the other partners.

All management decisions are taken with the unanimous consent of the partners, although the constituent agreement may provide for majority voting in the event of failure to reach a unanimous decision and on certain other issues. Each partner has one vote unless the constituent agreement provides for otherwise. The partnership’s profits and losses are distributed among the partners in proportion to their contribution to the capital unless otherwise provided.

Characteristics

(i) The participants (general partners) bear responsibility of the general partnership by its obligations with all property in their possession, including personal property.

(ii) Each partner must take part in the management (general meeting of the participants). Special management bodies are not constituted.

Liability and Rights of Participants

Participants bear joint and several liability for obligations of the general partnership with their entire property.

Each partner has an absolute right, which may not be altered by the agreement, leave the partnership at any time, provided that he gives notice of not less than six months to the other partners. If the withdrawal of a partner leaves the partnership with only one partner, the partnership must be liquidated or reorganized into a limited liability company.

The cost of the share of the partnership’s property is paid out to the participant, corresponding to this participant’s share (доля участника) in the joint capital (складочный капитал). In this case the shares of the remaining participants in the partnership’s joint capital correspondingly increase. The participant has the right, with the consent of the rest of the participants, to transfer his share in the joint capital, or a part thereof, to another participant of the partnership or to the third party.

Levies on the Participant’s share in the Joint Capital (Обращение взыскания)

The seizure of the participant’s share (выдел, изъятие доли) on the joint capital of the partnership by the participant’s own debts is admissible only if his own property proves to be insufficient to cover his debts. The creditors of such participant have the right to demand from the general partnership that it separate the part of the partnership’s property that would correspond to the debtor’s share in the joint capital, so that the penalty may be turned onto this property (с целью обращения взыскания на это имущество).

2) Decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F) before you read the text, then check your answers.

1. The limited partners are liable with all their property.

2. The limited partners may conduct the management.

3. The limited partners have the right to receive a share of profit proportionate to their contribution.

4. A limited partnership survives if all the limited partners leave.

5. General partners have priority rights (преимущественное право) before the limited partners to get back their investments in case of liquidation.

The Limited Partnership

A limited partnership is an independent legal entity formed by agreement between two or more individuals or legal entities to engage in joint economic activity. The difference between a general partnership and a limited partnership is that in a limited partnership, there are two types of participants: general participants and limited participants. Such “limited partners” are generally liable up to the amount of their respective capital contributions.

Characteristics

(i) The general partners form the main part of the limited partnership.

(ii) The limited partners only bring contributions to the limited partnership.

(iii) The limited partners do not answer with their property under the obligations of the limited partnership. The limited partners may lose only their contributions to the limited partnership.

Rights and Obligations of Partners

Partners may freely transfer their share (передавать свою долю) in the partnership subject to priority right of the other partners to acquire such shares. They are entitled to withdraw from the partnership at the end of the fiscal year and receive their contribution to the partnership in accordance with the constituent agreement.

A limited partnership operates on the bases of a constituent agreement which contains, among other information, the amount and composition of the partnership’s contributed capital, the procedures for making capital contributions and the procedures for changing the amount and composition of the general partners’ participatory shares.

(iv) The general partners conduct the management of the partnership in the same manner as in a general partnership. Limited partners do not have the right to participate in the management (i. e. do not vote). However they do have the right to receive a share of the profits of the partnership proportionate to their contribution.

A general partner may transfer part or all of his partnership interest to a third party with the consent of the other general partners. A limited partner may transfer his share to the third party subject to the priority right of the other limited partners or purchase such share.

Liquidation

The limited partnership must be liquidated in case all the limited partners have withdrawn from it. However, the general partners have the right, instead of the liquidation of the limited partnership, to transform it into a general partnership.

In case of liquidation of the limited partnership, the limited partners have the priority right before the general partners to get back their investments from the property of the partnership, left after the creditors’ claims have been satisfied.

The property of the partnership, left after this, shall be distributed among the general partners and the limited partners proportionally to their shares in the partnership’s joint capital.

3) Focus on Vocabulary. The texts above compare and contrast two company types. Complete the sentences below using the phrases in the box.

(v) unlike in the same manner as differ both… and…
that’s not the case with the difference between

1. (1) ……… a general partnership and a limited partnership is that in a limited partnership, there are two types of participants: general participants and limited participants.

2. The general partners conduct the management of the partnership (2) ……… in a general partnership.

3. A general partner may transfer part or all of his partnership interest (доля) to a third party with the consent of the other general partners. (3) ……… a limited partner who may transfer his share to the third party subject to the priority right of the other limited partners or purchase such share.

4. (4) ……… partners in a general partnership ……… general partners in a limited partnership bear unlimited joint and several liability for the obligations of the partnership with their entire property.

5. In this respect the liabilities of the limited partners (5) ……… . They do not answer with their property under the obligations of the limited partnership and may only lose their contributions to the limited partnership.

6. If the withdrawal of a partner leaves the general partnership with only one partner, the partnership must be liquidated or reorganized into a limited liability company. (6) ……… general partnership, the limited partnership must be liquidated in case all the limited partners have withdrawn from it or transformed into a general partnership.

Task XIV. Read the extracts from a presentation about how to setup a company in the RF. Complete the gaps with advice given by a lawyer of a law firm. Do it by choosing the appropriate option from the right box. And from the left box choose an appropriate sentence opener signaling sequence of the steps involved in the procedure.

Sequence of the steps
a. Then
b. Finally
c. After that
d. Secondly

Legal advice
I. Select, Register and Trademark Your Business Name
II. Agree upon the Charter Capital
III. Select the Appropriate Tax Regime

e. As a next step
f. To begin with
g. Following that

IV. Select Your Business Legal Form
V. Find Your Business Location
VI. Hold the Founding Meeting
VII. Appoint a Head

How to Set Up a Company in the Russian Federation

The procedure of setting up a company in Russia is similar for the two most common business forms: limited liability companies and joint stock companies. The main difference consists in an additional procedure in case of joint stock companies, where the founders must register the issuance of share certificates (именное свидетельство на акцию).

These are preliminary activities before registering Russian limited liability companies and Russian joint-stock companies.

1. ________

New business owners are often overwhelmed with the tasks and steps for business start up. Here is a checklist to help you make a decision of what form of business legal entity you will start. The types of entities range from partnerships through limited liability companies to joint-stock companies.

2. ________

Most business owners start out with a business name but before you solidify that name by putting it in a logo, and on your website, make sure it will be a good name for many years. Selecting a name, registering that name, and possibly trademarking the name mean that you have made a commitment to that name. In Russia, the company name can not contain the word “Russian” or “Russian Federation” and the chosen name must be searched for uniqueness.

3. ________

Unless you are working out of your home, you will need a location for your business. It might be an office or a retail space (розничная торговая площадка). Here are the steps to take: to find that location, negotiate the lease (обсуждать условия аренды) and get favorable terms. In short, supply the address of a future office together with the consent of the leaseholder to provide the future legal entity with the premises.

4. ________

One of the first steps in business start-up, after you have a name and a business address and you know your legal form, is to adopt a joint resolution of the founders, carried out in the form of minutes (протокол) of the founding meeting. The founding meeting should reflect the voting results and contain: unanimous (единодушное) decisions on setting the company up and approving its charter; as well as a decision on electing the company’s management bodies.

5. ________

Decide upon contribution of assets agreed by the founders (participants), upon distribution and nominal value for each participant’s stake (LLC), the categories and types of shares subject to placement among the shareholders (JSC).

6. ________

Here is what you need to know about the main management body of a company. It can be:

— an individual executive manager, usually referred to as the General Director;

— a General Director together with a collective executive body, usually referred to as the Management Committee, that must be chaired by the general Director unless the managerial functions are delegated to an outside management body;

— an outside management body, if the charter of the company provides that management may be delegated.

The appointment of the first General Director is recorded in the minutes of the founding meeting of the company and these minutes are filed with the registration authorities. The company is required to notify the registration authorities of subsequent changes.

7. ________

Learn about two systems of taxation of Russian companies: the traditional or the simplified. The simplified system can only be used with less than 60 million rubles in turnover.

The procedure of setting up a company in Russia requires a longer period of time, compared to other countries. However, the incorporation procedure can be easily accomplished by hiring a specialized firm in the legal field. Each phase of the procedure can be completed in a day or two, except for registration with the Tax service, which is completed in about 20 days.

The documents which are required for the state registration of legal entities as taxpayers will be the subject to discussion to which we will move on after the break.

Task XV. Read the text and suggest an appropriate headline.

Each type of Russian legal entity is formed upon adoption by its founders of a Charter and/or constituent agreement and the registration of such documents.

Russian companies must be registered with several state authorities: with tax authorities which take care of both the state and tax registration; with the state statistics service, and with three social benefit funds. The establishment of a commercial legal entity may also require obtaining the prior approval of the Federal Antimonopoly Service. Additional steps are necessary for the entities to be fully operated, e.g., opening of bank accounts, manufacture of a corporate seal (печать), and registration of the issuance of shares (for joint-stock companies only) with the securities authorities.

The following documents must be presented to the local department of the Tax Administration:

• A brief application for registration;

• The founder’s decision establishing the company (for joint-stock companies and limited liability companies with a sole founder);

• The constituent agreement and minutes of the founders meeting, approving its constituent documents and the resolution to establish the company (for limited liability companies with several founders);

• The constituent documents;

• Receipt of payment of the state registration fee (квитанция об оплате государственного регистрационного взноса).

Where the local department of Tax Administration finds the filed documents in order and the purpose of the company lawful, it must register the company and issue a state registration certificate certifying that the company is incorporated.

Task XVI. Complete the text using the words and phrases from the box.

The Limited Liability Company

1

the charter participants charter capital

A Limited Liability Company (LLC) may be established by one or more individuals or legal entities (participants). However, if the number of (1) ……… exceeds fifty, then the entity must be reorganized into an open joint-stock company.

The (2) ……… of an LLC is divided into participatory sakes (доли участников), as indicated in its constituent documents — (3) ……… and the constituent agreement.

The participants of an LLC are not liable for the obligations of the company and bear the risk of losses to the extent of their respective contributions.

2

Russian law the legal entity increased charter capital approved
participant’s stake registered unanimously

The Charter

A Limited Liability Company exists as a legal entity from the moment when its Charter and constituent agreement are registered with the local department of the tax inspectorate. The Charter provides for the operation of the company, including:

• General information (the name of (4) ………, the place of the location of the legal entity, the way in which the legal entity’s activity is managed, etc.).

• The volume of the charter capital. The minimum charter capital for a limited liability company is 10 000 rubles. The charter capital is the fixed amount specified in the Charter, and each change in such amount must be recorded as an amendment to the Charter and (5) ……… with the local department of the tax inspectorate. The charter capital may be (6) ……… or decreased only pursuant to (в соответствии с) a decision of a general meeting of the company (7) …...... by two thirds of the participants.

• The volume of the stake of each of the participants of the LLC. The participants agree upon a nominal value for each participant’s stake, which represents the minimum contribution for that participant to the (8) ……… . The value of the actual contribution cannot be lower than the nominal value. The total nominal value of all contributions forms the charter capital and the size of the (9) ……… is the nominal value as percentage of the charter capital of the company. A participatory stake is not regarded as a security under (10) ……… . Therefore, unlike the shares of a joint-stock company, an LLC participatory stakes do not require registration with the Financial Market Access Department of the Bank of Russia (Департамент допуска на финансовый рынок).

• The volume, terms and procedure of payment of contributions of the participants.

• The membership and competence of the management bodies and the procedure of the decision-making process.

• The questions which are considered (11) ……… or by the qualified majority (квалифицированное большинство, часто ⅔ голосов).

3

responsibility management bodies contributions prevail defines

The Constituent Agreement

The constituent agreement of the limited liability company (12) ………:

• The order of founders’ joint activity on drawing it up.

• Composition of founders (participants), amount of the charter capital and (13) ……… of each of the founders, amount and composition of contributions and terms and due dates of making them.

• Founders’ (participants’) (14) ……… for violating the order of making contributions and for distributing the profit.

• Composition of the company’s (15) ……… .

• The order of participant’s withdrawal from the company.

• If the provisions of the constituent agreement and the Charter differ, the Charter provisions shall (16) ……… .

4

in proportion non-proportionate order priority right
participatory stake third party consent

Transfer of Participatory Stakes

The participant of the company has the right to sell or in any other way transfer his stake in the company’s charter capital to the participants of this company. No (17) ……… is required from the company or any other participants of the company, unless otherwise is stipulated by the company’s Charter. All restrictions on stake transfers must be set forth in the Charter.

The company’s participants enjoy the priority right to buy the stake of the company’s participant at the price offered to a third party (18) ……… to the size of its stakes. The following persons can enjoy the priority right for the (19) ……… at the asked price:

(i) The company participants pro-rata (пропорционально) their stakes ((20)……… may be set by the Charter);

(ii) The company, if the participants do not exercise their right.

In case the company’s participants and/or company itself do not use the (21) ……… of buying the stake, it may be sold to a (22) ……… . All rights and duties of the participant are assigned to the purchaser.

5

court decision actual value to withdraw

Withdrawal of a Participant from the Company

A participant of the company has the right (23) ……… from the company at any time, regardless of the consent of other participants or of the company itself, and receive the (24) ……… of his participatory stake.

A participant may be excluded from the company only under the (25) ……… based on the claim of the participants jointly having 10 or more per cent of the charter capital of the LLC.

6

net profit general meeting twelve months

Distribution of a Net Profit

Every quarter, once in six months or once in (26) ……… the company takes a decision on the distribution of its (27) ……… among the company’s participants. The decision on estimating a part of the company’s profit to be distributed among the company’s participants shall be taken by the (28) ……… of the participants.

7

ordinary meeting extraordinary general meeting highest management body stake

The General Meeting of Participants

The (29) ……… of the limited liability company is the general meeting of its participants. The general meeting of the company’s participants may be ordinary and extraordinary.

An (30) ……… of the company’s participants is held within the period specified by the company’s Charter, but at least once a year. Each participant has the number of votes which is proportionate to his (31) ……… in the company’s charter capital.

The (32) ……… is held in cases defined by the company’s Charter, and as well in any other cases, if such general meeting is necessary for the company’s interests.

Task XVII. Work in pairs. Read the texts and fulfill the tasks:

Partner A. Read Article 71 and do Ex. 1, 2, 5.

Partner B. Read Article 91 and do Ex. 3, 4, 5.

Management in Full Partnership and Limited Responsibility Society (Excerpts from the Civil Code of the Russian Federation)

Partner A

Article 71. Management in Full Partnership

1. The management of the activity of a full partnership shall be effectuated by the common consent of all the participants. Instances when a decision is adopted by a majority vote of the participants may be provided for by the constitutive contract of the partnership.

2. Each participant of a full partnership shall have one vote unless another procedure for determining the number of votes of its participants has been provided for by the constitutive contract.

3. Each participant in a partnership, irrespective of whether he is empowered to conduct the affairs of the partnership, shall have the right to familiarize himself with all of the documentation relating to conducting the affairs. A waiver of this right or limitation thereof, including by agreement of the participants of the partnership, shall be void.

1) Find the English equivalents of the following Russian phrases in the text you have just read.

Управление деятельностью; осуществляться по общему согласию всех участников; решение принимается; большинство голосов; случаи… могут быть предусмотрены; вести дела; если не предусмотрен иной порядок; отказ от этого права или его ограничение ничтожны.

2) Find the synonyms to the following phrases from the text above. Translate them into Russian.

— general partnership

— to make a decision

— foundation contract

— by mutual agreement of all the participants

— is granted authority

— limitation of it

— to acquaint oneself with all the documentation

— not binding

Partner B

Article 91. Management in a Limited Responsibility Society

1. The highest organ of a limited responsibility society shall be the general meeting of its participants. An executive organ effectuating the current direction of its activity and accountable to the general meeting of its participants shall be created in a limited responsibility society.

2. The competence of the management organs of the society, and also the procedure for the adoption of decisions by them and acting in the name of the society, shall be determined in accordance with the present Code by the law on limited responsibility societies and by the charter of the society.

3. There shall be relegated to the exclusive competence of the general meeting of participants:

(1) change of the charter of the society, change of the amount of its charter capital;

(2) formation of executive organs of the society and the termination of their powers before time;

(3) confirmation of the annual reports of the society and distribution of its profits and losses;

(4) decision concerning the reorganization or liquidation of the society;

(5) election of an audit commission (or internal auditor) of the society.

4. The audit verification of the yearly financial report of the society may be carried out at the demand of any of its participants.

3) Find the English equivalents of the following Russian phrases in the text you have just read.

Досрочное прекращение их полномочий; распределение прибылей и убытков; аудиторская проверка годовой финансовой отчетности; может быть проведена по требованию; исполнительный орган; выступления от имени общества; избрание ревизионной комиссии; общее собрание участников.

4) Find the synonyms to the following phrases from the text above. Translate them into Russian.

— limited liability company

— the highest body

— to carry out day-to-day management

— that reports to the general meeting

— the powers of governing bodies

— the following (matters) are in the exclusive jurisdiction of the general meeting

— decision-making

— approving of annual reports

— audit review

5) Focus on Speaking. Prepare for the talk with your partner explaining the contents of your Article as if you were speaking to a client with little knowledge of the law. Focus on the techniques that you might use:

Lawyers often need to explain the contents of a legal text to a client in their own words so that the client could catch the meaning.

(1) Break long sentences down into shorter sentences.

(2) Make passive sentences into active ones (where possible):

e. g. The competence of the management organs is determined by the charter of the society. — The charter of the society determines the competence of the management organs.

(3) Replace shall with verbs of necessity:

e. g. There shall be relegated to the exclusive competence of the general meeting… — The following duties must/are required/have to be in exclusive competence of…

(4) Replace formal vocabulary with more common, everyday words.

For example:

— Article 71 paragraph 1 of the Civil Code specifies that management of the activity of a full partnership must be conducted by the general agreement (or common consent) of the participants.

— Article 91 paragraph 1 of the present Code determines that the highest body of a Limited Liability Company (or Limited Responsibility Society) must be the general meeting of its participants. The participants of a LLC have to create an executive body that conducts the day-to-day management of its activity and reports to the general meeting.

Task XVIII. The paragraphs from the text “The Joint-Stock Company in the RF” are put down at random. Refer them to the headlines that are given in proper order.

1. Overview

2. Two types of Russian joint-stock companies

3. Formation

4. Charter

5. Registration

6. Shares

7. Governance

The Joint-Stock Company in the RF

a. .……….

The JSC charter must satisfy a number of requirements. In addition to the name and business address, the charter must specify whether the JSC is open or closed. It must specify, among other things: the amount of the initial capital; the number, nominal value and classes of shares; the composition and powers of governing bodies of the JSC; the procedure for shareholders meetings; other provisions required by law.

b. ……….

Founders of a joint-stock company sign a written agreement for its formation. This agreement establishes procedures for creation a company, such as the size of charter capital, types and categories of shares, the order of settling payments and the rights and responsibilities of the founders. This agreement then becomes the organization charter.

c. ……….

For registration, a set of documents must be submitted to the Financial Market Access Department of the Bank of Russia (FMAD) (Департамент допуска на финансовый рынок): an application for registration signed in front of the public notary to the local Tax Service office where the company is located; a list of the activities the company intends to perform; charter for the JSC; a receipt of payment of the state registration fee. The procedure is completed with the issuance of the certificate.

d. ……….

Joint-stock companies (JSC) are presently the most popular vehicle for foreign investors forming active business ventures in Russia, particularly if there is a Russian party involved. Joint-stock companies are the only type of Russian legal entity which may issue shares. The charter capital of a JSC is divided into a certain number of shares; shareholders bear no responsibility for its obligations and run the risk, within the value of shares belonging to them, of losses associated with the company’s activity.

e. ……….

The General Shareholders Meeting is the governing body that holds ultimate authority in a JSC. Most decisions require a simple majority. All joint-stock companies must have an Executive Body in addition to the General Shareholders Meeting. The Executive Body may be a single person or a committee.

Any JSC may, and an open JSC with more than 50 shareholders must have a board of directors. The charter must set forth the powers granted to the board. In joint-stock companies without a board of directors, governance powers must be granted to the General Shareholders Meeting.

f. ………

Open joint-stock company (OJSC) is a legal entity where shares may be publicly traded without the permission of other shareholders. An OJSC can distribute its shares to an unlimited number of shareholders and sell them without limitations. The statutory limited charter capital is 100.000 rubles.

Closed joint-stock company (CJSC) is a legal entity whose shares are distributed among a limited number of shareholders — maximum 50. The statutory minimum charter capital is 10.000 rubles.

Any OJSC as well as CJSC must keep a shareholders’ register where the holdings of the shareholders must be noted.

g. ……….

Joint-stock companies are required to register the issue of shares with the Financial Market Access Department of the Bank of Russia, so that shares can be treated either publicly (for OJSC) or among a limited number of people (CJSC). A joint-stock company may issue both ordinary and preference shares (обыкновенные и привилегированные акции) although preference shares may not exceed 25% of its charter capital. The holder of ordinary shares is entitled to vote at the general meeting of shareholders, receive dividend, receive part of property of the company left after its liquidation. Preference shares confer no voting rights, but these shareholders will be paid dividends prior to the ordinary shareholders. Preference shares allow shareholders to have their capital investment returned before ordinary shareholders receive theirs on winding up.

Task XIX. Read the introduction about the discourse markers and fulfill the tasks.

Discourse markers either point to a relationship between ideas and sentences or highlight individual ideas.

1) Decide which functions the following words and expressions fulfill: expanding on a point, contrasting, cause and effect, emphasizing, summarizing.

furthermore on the other hand in short in contrast to while
unlike however in fact this is especially true consequently as a result

2) Complete the text using the words and phrases from the box.This information will help you to fulfill the further tasks.

Choosing between types of companies:Limited Liability Company or Joint-Stock Company?

(1) ……… a joint-stock company presents several advantages compared to typical commercial enterprise, the burden of creating a joint-stock company (2) ……… outweighs that of a limited liability company. (3) ……… in Russia, where the excessive legal and bureaucratic challenges, facing prospective entrepreneurs, dissuade most from starting a JSC (4) ……… .

(5) ……… a joint-stock company, a limited liability company does not need to issue shares what makes an LLC much more flexible when the need arises for members to change the charter capital of the company. (6) ………, members of a limited liability company can collectively or individually hold at least a 10% interest in the company’s charter capital and, (7) ………, have the power to request a court to expel another participant. (8) ………, all of this is not possible in a JSP, or prohibitively difficult. (9) ………, limited liability companies have most advantages of closed joint-stock companies and at the same time they aren’t subject to regulation by the Financial Market Access Department of the Bank of Russia.

(10) ………, joint-stock companies, (11) ……… limited liability companies, are now used for complex ownership structures.

Task XX. Read the text and fulfill the following tasks.

Limited Liability and Joint-Stock Companies in the Russian Federation

There are three types of business entity in the Russian Federation. These are: limited liability entities, joint-stock entities and partnerships. The first two are joint-stock companies (in that they are owned by their shareholders) and have limited liability (the shareholders are only liable for the company’s debts to the nominal value of the shares). The maximum number of participants in a limited liability company or closed joint-stock company is limited to 50 persons. If the number of participants exceeds 50, the LLC must be reorganized as an open joint-stock company. A closed JSC with over 50 shareholders must be reorganized as an open JSC.

The general registration requirement for a JSC is the same as for an LLC. In an LLC the participatory stakes (participatory shares) related to shareholders (participants) are not considered securities and are not subject to Russian securities legislation. Shares in a CJSC and an OJSC are considered to be securities and are subject to registration with the Financial Market Access Department of the Bank of Russia. Therefore establishment and operation of a limited liability company in the Russian Federation is generally less administratively burdensome than a joint-stock company.

For an LLC 50% of the charter capital must be paid by the date of its state registration, and the balance must be paid in full within a year after completing state registration. For a JSC, both open and closed, a 50% of the charter capital must be paid within 3 months of state registration, and the balance must be paid in full within a year after completing state registration.

Participants in an LLC have a pre-emptive right to purchase another participant’s share. An LLC cannot give public subscription to its shares or list them on a stock market. The shareholders in a closed JSC have the same right of first refusal that an LLC have. If a shareholder in a closed JSC offers to sell their shares to a party who is not a shareholder, the remaining JSC shareholders have a right of first refusal at the price offered to that party. The shareholders of an open JSC lack this right of first refusal, thus making a secondary market possible in which the company’s shares may be freely traded.

In contrast to the JSC law, where majority voting is typical, the LLC law lists a large number of issues that require a unanimous vote of all the LLC participants. Minority partner may provide strong veto right. While this may be favorable for a minority participant, it is unattractive to a majority part.

If permitted by the limited liability company’s charter a participant is entitled to withdraw from the company at any time and without cause, irrespective of the consent of the other participants. The participatory share is transferred to the company. The company must pay his proportionate share of the value of the LLC’s assets. The right of withdrawal, if done at a wrong time, might cause substantial difficulties to the company. This might be considered a disadvantage of using a limited liability company. This exit route is not available to the shareholder of a JSC. If a shareholder decides to withdraw, he can do so via the sale of his shares either to the other shareholders or to a third party. The value (selling price) is determined by the parties.

In addition, participants in an LLC who either individually or collectively hold at least a 10% interest in a company’s charter capital can apply to a court seeking expulsion of another participant. If a participant is expelled, the company must pay the expelled participant only the balance sheet value (балансовая стоимость) of his shares. The general rule for the JSC is that a shareholder may not be expelled from it. However, in the case of an open joint-stock company a shareholder that has a cquired more than 95% of the voting shares may “squeeze out” the minority shareholders.

1) Complete the table with the information from the previous texts on limited liability and joint-stock companies. Some information is filled in for you.

Provisions

LLC

CJSC

OJSC

Liability of owners

Similar to LLC

Constituent document

Registration procedures

Standard registration procedures. A stake is not a security, no need to register with FMAD

Minimum charter capital

Payment period of charter capital

Not less than 50% of the charter capital shall be paid up within 3 months after the registration

Maximum number of participants/shareholders

Limitation of the circulation of shares/stakes

Management structure

Similar to LLC and CJSC. However a Board of directors is mandatory (обязателен)

Withdrawal from the company

Dismissal/expulsion from the company

2) Compare and contrast two company types, using the following phrases:

as opposed to; unlike; in contrast to; whereas; while; however; similar to;
the same (as); the same + Noun, that; correspond to; comparable to

Look at the examples:

Registration procedure of a closed joint-stock company is similar to that of an open joint-stock company.

An LLC is generally a less expensive form of legal undertaking than a JSC, but, unlike JSC, an LLC must register every change in its shareholding.

Joint-stock companies distribute ordinary shares among their shareholders and in contrast to limited liability companies, have the right to distribute preference shares.

The shareholders in a closed JSC have the same right of first refusal that an LLC have.

As opposed to an LLC, joint-stock companies are now used for complex ownership structures.

Focus on Writing

Task XXI. Translate into English the following excerpt from a shareholder agreement of a limited liability company.

Общее собрание

Высшим органом управления Общества является общее собрание.

(а) Общее собрание принимает решения по вопросам (shall decide on the matters), находящимся в его компетенции согласно Уставу.

(б) Годовое общее собрание проводится (shall be held) один раз в год, не ранее 1 марта и не позднее 30 апреля каждого года. Внеочередные общие собрания проводятся в случаях, когда это необходимо в интересах Общества, либо по требованию участника, доля участия которого составляет не менее 10% уставного капитала Общества. Если иное не предусмотрено российским законодательством, письменное уведомление о созыве (written notice of the convening) общего собрания направляется каждому участнику не менее чем за 30 дней до даты собрания (prior to such meeting), заказным письмом или по факсу (by registered letter or facsimile). В уведомлении указываются дата, место проведения и повестка дня (agenda) собрания. Участники вправе отказаться (may waive) от формальных требований в отношении (with respect to) уведомления, времени и места проведения или повестки дня собрания при условии согласия (provided that… have consented) всех участников на такой отказ.

(в) Решения любого общего собрания принимаются большинством голосов всех участников, если иное не предусмотрено в законе.

(г) Участники простым большинством голосов избирают (nominate) одного из участников или его представителя (representative of a participant) председателем общего собрания.

Writing a Letter of Advice

Task XXII. Read the introduction and fulfill the task.

An advice letter is written by a lawyer to provide a client with an analysis of the legal situation for him to make an informed decision. There are various ways of writing the appropriate advice letters, as it depends on the particular condition and situation.

1) The paragraphs of the following advice letter are put down at random. Refer them to the requirements of the general format that are given in proper order.

1. Salutation.

2. Opening paragraph states the client’s problem, specifies the legal issue on which the client seeks advice.

3. The paragraph sets out legally significant facts — facts upon which the lawyer will base his analysis. Here he also gives his reasoning to support his suggestions.

4. The lawyer offers alternative actions or choice the client has to face, starting with advantages (pros — аргументы «за»).

5. The paragraph clarifies the possible risks involved (cons — аргументы «против»).

6. The professional presents summary of the facts, emphasizing conclusions and recommendations.

7. Finally, the letter invites a follow-up conversation with the client, encourages to contact the lawyer if something is not clear.

8. Complimentary closing and lawyer’s name.

a
Unlike buying a business or network marketing — you are 100% on your own.
Before you dive in at the deep end, there are plenty of things you can do to increase your chances of success e. g. getting to know your market and com

petition, creating a realistic business plan, constantly motivating yourself and your staff. There will be plenty of problems to deal with and many things to learn. Nothing is impossible, but things can get very difficult. I would advise you to maintain a positive attitude when facing problems. But be realistic. You ought to deal with problems head on, if you bury you head in the sand the problem will get worse and the only person you can blame is yourself! Most successful entrepreneurs have found themselves in exceedingly hairy situations — taken the correct course of action — and survived.
b
Dear Mr. Jones
c
The Cons:
— Comparatively little “hands-on” help and advice than other methods.
— Steep learning curve.
— May fall in love with the business and forget the point e. g. to make profit.
— Most business start-ups fail in their first year.
— Ability for your friends to say “I told you so”.
d
I appreciate the opportunity to advise you regarding starting a business on your own.
Starting a business “from the scratch” can be the most rewarding method of business start-up.
e
Please let me know if you wish to discuss any of these issues further. I have certainly enjoyed dealing with you and look forward to assisting you in future when you need advice.
f
So, working for yourself has both pros and cons. On the one hand, you are your own boss and can set your own schedule and do things the way you want to. On the other hand, you will work much longer hours in your own business than you would for any employer, and if you make a mistake, there is no one else to blame. Although you have the opportunity for greater financial success if you work for yourself, the risks you take are also much greater.
g
Best regards,
Albert H. Fisher.

h
There’s a lot of money to be made in this big-wide-world but working for yourself has both advantages and disadvantages.
The Pros:
— Initial investment level is decided by yourself or your ability to attract investment.
— Many organizations offer support/subsidies/funding.
— You have the ability to explore new business concepts.
— All post-tax profits are your own.
— No restrictions on your business methods.
— Ability to adapt quickly to changing economic circumstances.
— Potential to sell, franchise or float on stock market once business has stabilized.
— Great sense of achievement and ability to say “I told you so”.

2) In an advice letter a lawyer makes suggestions and recommendations. Complete the sentences using the phrases from the box.

a. I strongly recommend that… b. You ought to… c. I suggest you analyzing… d. I suggest that… e. I would advise you to… f. It is my recommendation that…

1. ………… maintain positive attitude when facing problems.

2. ………… deal with problems head on.

3. ………… you continue to do careful research on the type of business you are going to run.

4. ………… you show great attention to detail in clarifying the terms of the partnership from the start.

5. ………… you first give due consideration to personal liability of the partner.

6. ………… all the advantages and disadvantages of setting up a partnership.

3) Write an advice letter to a client who wants to form a Full Partnership in the Russian Federation. Look at the letter format and the phrases for making suggestions given above. Refer back to Focus on Reading section for the information about partnerships. Make use of the phrases given below.

I am writing to reply to your letter asking for advice about…

Since you asked for my opinion regarding whether you should …

This letter is designed to introduce you to some of the considerations on the type of entity that…

I draw your attention to the benefits… drawbacks …

I have summarized some of the advantages and disadvantages…

In this correspondence I have briefly recapped (резюмировать, подводить итог)…

I look forward to hearing from you about how you would like to proceed.

If you have any questions about this letter, you are welcome to contact my office to make an appointment to discuss things further.

Please feel free to consult me if I can be of further assistance.

I hope this will be of help./I would very much like to know if this was helpful.

Yours sincerely,/Sincerely,/Yours truly, …

Writing a Memo

Task XXIII

A memo (or memorandum, meaning “reminder”) is a formal paper document. Memos can be external (e. g. to a client) or internal (e. g. to shareholders of the same firm). Memos are useful in situations where e-mails or text messages are not suitable. Most business memos are written for the following purposes:
1. Persuading readers to do something (Persuasive memo).
2. Communicating a directive (Directive memo).
3. Providing (technical) information (Informative memo).
4. If you are sending an object, such as a book or a paper that needs to be signed, through internal office mail, you can use a memo as a covering note to explain what the receiver should do (Covering note).

1) What are the purposes of the following memos and what kind of memos are they (internal or external)?

Memo A
To: Staff and Workers
From: Tanu, Head of Directors
Date: December 11, 2013
Subject: Outdoor Activities
To improve the relationship between staff members and workers, I have invited an Executive Officer to arrange several outdoor activities for us. It will be held on the 21st of December 2013, workers and staff are able to use free clothes during that day and I hope that all of you can gain better relationship.
Cheers,
Tanu

Memo B
To: My darling Jane
From: John
Date: Yes, please: - )
Subject: Chocolate
I had great time last night, let’s meet again soon. Hope you like this chocolate.
Love, John

Memo C

To: All staff

From: The Boss

Date: June 23, 2006

Re: New Memo Format Effective June 23

In order to make interoffice communication easier, please adhere to the following guidelines for writing effective memos:

— Clearly state the purpose of the memo in the first paragraph.

— Keep language professional, simple and polite.

— Use short sentences.

— In a longer memo use headings to help guide the reader through the document.

— Attach additional information below: don’t place it in the body of the memo.

Please put this format into practice immediately. We appreciate your assistance in developing clear communication.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call in.

Thank you.

MEMO D

To: Board of Directors

From: Company Secretary

Date: May 5, 2008

Subject: Memorandum and Articles of Association

Constitutions that have not replaced their [old] M&A may well find that there are a number of provisions which they are not following — but should be — because such are not mentioned in [modern] Constitutions. Typically one such provision relates to the need for an AGM — which Proprietary Limited (Pty Ltd) company no longer need under the Corporation Act, and would not generally be included in a Pty Ltd company’s Constitution these days — but most M&As would have such requirements because amongst other things, that was under the Act in the pre-July 1998 days.

Memorandum of Association

A Memorandum usually listed the objects for which the company was established to undertake, in the ‘old days’ it was often seen as being outside the scope of a company’s capabilities to do anything not spelt out in its M&A. These days a Constitution does not usually list objects, and it is generally taken that a company can do anything that a natural person could do.

Articles of Association

The Articles usually covered everything to do with the operational framework of a company, including: Corporate powers; Shares — issue, allotment, liability, class rights, transfers; General meetings — voting, proxies; Directors — appointment, powers, meetings; Company Secretary, execution of documents, bank signatories.

Constitution

These days most companies have a Constitution or they may, instead, adopt the ‘Replaceable rules’.

For a public company, when it is formed, any Constitution must be lodged with Australian Securities and Investment Commission. This original Constitution must be signed by all the original members of the company. Changes of the Constitution must be lodged there too.

A proprietary company cannot lodge its Constitution to the ASIC.

Any original Constitution, and any changes, must be retained at the company’s office and a copy must be provided to any member requesting it (section 139). ………………….

Changes to a Constitution require a special resolution (at least 75% of shareholders/members approving).

2) Go through the memos above again to compare the given examples. Match the halves of these sentences explaining the elements of a memo.

1. A heading

a. refers to any sentences providing background information about the project in question (reference to an event or to a previous request for information)

2. The opening section/The subject line

b. includes any information the reader might need to know. The most important information should come first, followed by less important (and more general) information. For longer memos, use headings to help the reader quickly grasp the main points of the memo.

3. The context/Introduction

c. indicate your recommendations, the action you want the reader to take. If no particular action is necessary, end the memo on a positive note.

4. The body section/The main message

d. includes the components: To (recipients’ names and job titles), From (sender’s name and job titles), Date (current date: month, date, year), Subject (or RE, which stands for “regarding”: purpose of the memo).

5. In the action close/In the closing

e. states the main idea of the memo in less than ten words. Memos do not begin with a salutation.

6. Signature line

f. is not traditionally included. The practice of doing so is becoming more common, however. No closing remark (Sincerely/Best regards) is necessary.

3) Think of your own sentences using the phrases in the box.

are like each other are similar in respect of however

need not is/are optional not more than unlike

e. g. All the memos are similar in respect of the headings.

Task XXIV. Read the memo, then answer the questions.

MEMO

To: Katherine Smith, Regional Manager

From: Stephen Yu, Sales

Date: 3 June 2014

Subject: My resignation

I am writing to inform you of my intention to resign from G&S Holdings.

I have appreciated very much my four years working for the company. The training was excellent and I have gained valuable experience working within an efficient and professional guidance during these first years of my career.

I feel now that it is time to further develop my knowledge and skills base in a different environment.

I would like to leave, if possible, in a month’s time on Saturday, 8 July. This will allow me to complete my current workload. I hope that this suggested arrangement is acceptable to the company.

Once again, thank you for your support.

1. Why is Stephen Yu writing this document?

2. Which part of the memo indicates this information?

3. Why has the sender used a number of polite phrases?

4. What are those phrases?

5. Stephen Yu is uncertain when he informs Katherine Smith about his departure date. Which words indicate this uncertainty?

Task XXV. Put the lines on the right in a logical order to complete the memo.

1

a. I attach the doctor’s note

2

b. Message

3

c. Thank you

4

d. Please confirm that the cost of the medicine is covered by the company health scheme

5

e. I was sick yesterday, and therefore I couldn’t come to work

6

f. To: Julia Wong, Human Resources

7

g. Date: June 2, 2014

8

h. Subject: Sick leave certificate

9

i. In order to receive sick pay, I need to send in my doctor’s note

10

j. From: K.K. Ditch, Sales

Focus on Listening

Task XXVI. Listen to the dialogue “Setting up a business” and fulfill the following exercises. The vocabulary list will help you to understand the talk:

Vocabulary List
1. set up — учреждать; основывать, открывать (дело, предприятие и т. п.)
2. option — выбор, альтернатива, (возможный) вариант
3. objective — цель
4. confidentiality agreement — соглашение о конфиденциальности
5. non-disclosure agreement — соглашение о неразглашении информации
6. articles of association — устав компании (товарищества, акционерного общества)
7. Public Register — государственный реестр, государственный регистратор; государственный архивариус
8. PA (private account) — личный счет
9. freelancer — фрилансер; внештатный специалист, внештатный сотрудник, свободный художник
Vocabulary Notes
1. sole trader — индивидуальный предприниматель (физическое лицо, осуществляющее предпринимательскую деятельность от своего имени и за свой счет; для того чтобы начать индивидуальную предпринимательскую деятельность, не требуется проходить специальную государственную регистрацию; вместе с тем учет индивидуальных предпринимателей осуществляется налоговыми органами для целей налогообложения; финансовые результаты деятельности не подлежат обязательной проверке и могут не публиковаться; индивидуальный предприниматель отвечает по обязательствам, возникшим в результате осуществления им предпринимательской деятельности, всем своим имуществом)
2. limited company — компания с ограниченной ответственностью; акционерное общество с ограниченной ответственностью
3. partnership — товарищество (форма предпринимательства, представляющая собой объединение двух или более лиц (партнеров), совместно осуществляющих коммерческую деятельность; для организации этой формы требуется устное или письменное соглашение партнеров об их вкладах, участии в прибыли, ответственности и т. п.; партнерство не образует юридического лица)
4. limited liability partnership — товарищество с ограниченной ответственностью (юридическая форма предпринимательства, характеризующаяся всеми признаками товарищества и отличающаяся от него тем, что партнеры отвечают по обязательствам товарищества только в пределах своего вклада; обычное товарищество может стать товариществом с ограниченной ответственностью, заполнив заявление о соответствии установленным требованиям; в Великобритании эта организационная форма существует с 2002 г.)

1) Decide whether the statements are true or false.

1. You don’t need any documents when setting up a business.

2. There are six options to start your business.

3. You can operate as a sole trader, that is under your own name or business name that you registered.

4. The first thing you have to think about is the domain name, because almost every business nowadays will have a website.

5. The shareholders agreement sets out such matters as the day-to-day management of the business, what happens if somebody wants to sell or dies, and maybe restrictions on people who leave and say they don’t want to set up in competition with you.

6. If you are employing people or using anybody to provide services to you, there is no need to have a contract with them.

7. They don’t sell any packs of documents at a discount.

2) Fill in the missing words.

1. What are the ____ for legal structures when setting up a business?

2. You can form a ____, if you’re in business with more than one person.

3. You could have a limited liability partnership, which is, as the name suggests, a partnership but with ____ ____.

4. You’re going to need a ____ ____ at an early stage to work out what your objectives are and how you’re going to achieve them.

5. What types of documents do I need to ____ a company with other people?

6. We’ve got ____ on the same sort of theme depending on whether it’s a two partner agreement or three partner partnership whatever.

3) Answer the following questions:

1. How many options are there in the UK to set up a business?

2. What are they?

3. What is the first thing you need to check?

4. Do you need a business plan? What for?

5. In which cases do you require a confidentiality agreement or non-disclosure agreement?

6. When do you need a shareholders agreement?

7. What is the main function of the Articles of Association?

8. Does the shareholders agreement have to be listed on the Public Register?

9. What do you need to do if you are selling goods?

10. Why do you have to make an agreement when engaging a freelancer?

11. How many contracts do they have on their website?

4) Draw up the plan for the summary and summarize the text.

Focus on Speaking

Task XXVII. Describe each form of business structures in the UK. The following questions will help you.

Sole Trader

1. Can a person work as a sole trader if he wants to work for himself?

2. Can he set up a business?

3. Is it necessary to register a business in this case?

4. Does the sole trader manage the business on his own?

5. When is it necessary for the sole trader to register with the tax authority?

6. Is there a limit to the amount of capital the sole trader can take out of the business?

7. Does the sole trader have liability for his debts?

General Partnership

1. How many types of partnership are there in the UK?

2. What are the types of partnership?

3. Are the partners of the general partnership personally liable for the debts of the firm?

4. Is a written partnership agreement required by law?

5. Does law require that a general partnership should provide a minimum amount of equity?

6. What do partners usually do with capital when they join the partnership?

7. What are the partners of the general partnership called?

Limited Liability Partnership

1. What are the partners of the LLP called?

2. Are the members of the LLP owners of the business?

3. Does this business structure have a separate legal identity from the people who form it?

4. Do the members have liability for the debts of the firm?

5. Is this liability limited or unlimited?

6. Does the LLP publish regular financial information about itself or keep it private?

Limited Companies

1. Does the business structure have a separate legal identity from the people who form it?

2. Who is liable for the debts of the firm, the company or the members?

3. What are the members liable for?

4. Who puts capital into the company when it is formed?

5. What does the company capital consist of?

6. What is the name of a written agreement of limited companies?

7. What are the two types of limited company?

8. What is the difference between the private company and the public company?

9. What is the difference in the name of these companies?

10. Are shares of the public company traded publicly?

11. What are the requirements to the public company and the private company?

Task XXVIII. The following questions will help you to fulfill exercise 2 on page 7 of Unit 1. Share your ideas about legal aspects of the company types, answering the questions.

1. Why is a limited liability partnership a good idea nowadays?

What’s the difference between limited liability and unlimited liability?

Why don’t law firms want to accept unlimited liability in partnerships?

2. Why is it important for a public company to have minimum equity?

Does equity create confidence in a company?

Can the company spend some assets to satisfy creditors?

Can the public company go bankrupt if the company capital is not available?

3. Why is registration required by law?

Does the law in the RF require that business structures of all types register themselves before they start trading?

4. Do you feel sorry for entrepreneurs who form a limited company?

Can you risk your assets?

What can start-up capital be like?

Where can you get start-up capital?

What’s the risk like when you get start-up capital from the bank?

Task XXIX. Work in pairs. One of you will be a lawyer. The other is his client.

Partner A. You are a potential entrepreneur who seeks advice from a lawyer helping clients to start up their own business in the Russian Federation. Specify the activities (services) in which you plan to be engaged. You are concerned with benefits and risks of individual entrepreneurship. Think of the questions you will need to ask.

Partner B. You are a lawyer. Think of the questions you should ask to give your client the best advice. Speak on advantages and disadvantages of small business, using phrases for recommendations. Paraphrase the Civil Code of the RF to the client who lacks legal knowledge.

Task XXX. Compare requirements, pros and cons of being an individual entrepreneur in the RF and a sole trader in the UK.

Refer back to the Focus on Reading, Focus on Writing and Focus on Listening sections for information. Use special phrases for comparing and contrasting ideas from Task XIII Ex.2.

Task XXXI. Work in pairs. Two partners are negotiating the type of partnership they are going to set up in the RF.

Contrast and compare limited and general partnerships. Decide if you will be a general or a limited partner, what responsibilities you will bear, what rights you will be conferred.

Task XXXII. Prepare a presentation “How to set up a company in the Russian Federation” as if you were a lawyer specializing in company counseling.

Refer back to the Focus on Reading section, Tasks XIV, XV. Use the guidelines in the box to help you:

Each speaker should begin his presentation by welcoming the audience, introducing himself and his topic. Following this, he provides an overview of the points he plans to cover step by step (First of all, after that…), enumerating reasons (Firstly, secondly…).
The following list provides useful phrases for the beginning of the presentation:
Allow me to introduce myself. My name is…
I’ll be speaking about…
At this point, I’d like to give you a short overview of my presentation.
I’m going to start with a few comments on how to…
Then I’ll deal with the issue of …
After that, I’ll discuss the process of…
Next, I’ll move on to…
At the end, I’ll conclude with a look at…
If you have any questions, please feel free to interrupt me at any time.

Moving from one point to another, signal the move by the following phrases:
I’d like to move on to the next point.
Turning to the second type…
This leads to another important step.
Closing the talk you may say:
To finish my talk, I’d like to say…
Summing up…

Task XXXIII. Prepare presentations on the following topics. Use the Internet to find information. You can look for additional sources.

1. Piercing the corporate veil.

www.kftrlaw.com/Media/9_07_DirectParticipantLiability.pdf

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piercing_the_corporate_veil

2. Ultra vires doctrine.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_vires

3. Priority (pre-emptive) right of a shareholder.

www.warsawvoice.pl/WVpage/pages/article.php/25150/article

www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-pre-emptive-right.htm

Practical Application

Task XXXIV. Speak on the advantages and disadvantages of each business structure in the Russian jurisdiction.

Task XXXV. Work in groups. Law students from the RF, the UK and the USA compare business entities in their jurisdictions covering aspects of liability of owners, capital contributions, management, etc. They come up with the idea that although some of the characteristics may vary from country to country, the general picture will be sufficiently similar to allow comparisons.

Task XXXVI. You are a British lawyer. Write an advice letter to your less experienced colleague who plans to take on a partner for his law firm.

Task XXXVII. You are a lawyer of a limited responsibility society. A group of the participants have received a written notice of a convening of a General Meeting. The date of the Meeting doesn’t suit them. They turned to you. Write a memo to fill them in on what they can do.

Keys to Module 1

Focus on Vocabulary

Task II

1. Дать заем компании — to make a loan to the company

2. Гарантировать выплату займа — to guarantee the loan

3. Взять дом в качестве обеспечения кредита — to take a house as security

4. Не выполнить обязательств по выплате займа — to default on the loan

5. Поднять (затронуть) вопросы — to raise matters

6. Позволить себе что-то сделать — to afford to do smth.

7. Начать судебный процесс — to take legal proceedings

8. Получить денежное возмещение по суду — to recover money

9. Банковские займы доступны для индивидуального предпринимателя — bank loans are available to a sole trader

10. Получить банковский заем — to obtain a bank loan

11. Личное имущество — personal assets

12. Предоставлять предприятию права юридического лица — to incorporate the business

13. Нести правовые обязательства — to be under legal obligations

14. Принять правомерное решение — to make a valid decision

15. От имени компании — on behalf of the company

16. Управлять компанией — to run a company

17. Учредительные документы — the constitution of the company

18. Выпускать акции для акционеров — to issue shares to shareholders

Task III

1. Articles of association

2. Sole trader

3. Equity/company capital

4. Tangible assets

5. Register of companies

6. Unlimited liability

Task IV

1. I suggest/recommend that he (should) sell shares on stock exchanges. I suggest/recommend selling shares on stock exchanges.I (strongly) advise you to sell shares on stock exchanges. You should sell shares on stock exchanges.You ought to sell shares on stock exchanges. What about selling shares on stock exchanges?

2. I suggest/recommend that he (should) convert a private company into a public company. I suggest/recommend converting a private company into a public company.I (strongly) advise you to convert a private company into a public company. You should convert a private company into a public company.You ought to convert a private company into a public company. What about converting a private company into a public company?

Task V

(1) founders

(14) settlements

(2) completely

(15) organizations

(3) acquired

(16) obligation

(4) transferred

(17) religious

(5) Losing

(18) associations

(6) management

(19) commercial

(7) liquidated

(20) performed

(8) corresponding

(21) deriving

(9) consumption

(22) distribute

(10) transferring

(23) production

(11) operation

(24) owners

(12) possessed

(25) stipulated

(13) liquidation

Focus on Grammar

Task VI

1. A written partnership agreement is recommended

2. A written partnership agreement is required by law

3. The partners are called members

4. Liability for the debts of the firm is limited

5. Business structures must be registered on the Register of Companie