Cross-border disputes | JVS Law
Foreign counsel taking on a Ukrainian matter usually needs one thing first, and it is rarely a point of law: the shape of the system. Which court, in what order, with what procedural furniture, and where the whole thing ends. That is what a national monograph in an encyclopaedia is for — and it is why Civil Procedure in Ukraine is the volume most often opened before any of the case-specific work begins.
Contents
Anna Tsirat and Gennadii Tsirat write the Ukrainian national monograph for the International Encyclopaedia for Civil Procedure published by Wolters Kluwer, and have written it since 2011. The Ukraine chapter is on the publisher’s own site under both their names, published in May 2019.
What the monograph covers
It starts further back than a procedural commentary would, and that is deliberate: a reader outside Ukraine cannot use the rules without the frame they sit in.
- The setting — the political and economic system, the structure of the judiciary, how courts are organised and how judges reach them.
- The whole of civil procedure — jurisdiction and the parties, commencement, evidence, the hearing, judgment, appeal and cassation, execution.
- Access and cost — legal aid, representation, court fees and the security a foreign party may or may not be asked to give.
- The alternatives — arbitration and mediation, and how they connect back to the state courts at the enforcement stage.
The encyclopaedia format is what makes it usable across borders: every national monograph in the series follows the same structure, so a lawyer who knows the Dutch or German volume can find the Ukrainian answer in the same place.
Why an annual update matters here
Ukrainian civil procedure has not stood still since the authors first wrote this monograph. The three procedural codes were rewritten at once by Law No. 2147-VIII, in force from 15 December 2017, and the new Supreme Court began work the same day — what that changed for cross-border cases. Since then the treaty layer moved as well: the 2005 Hague Choice of Court Convention has been in force for Ukraine since 1 August 2023, and the 1980 Hague Access to Justice Convention since 1 August 2026.
A monograph revised once a year is the difference between a description of the system and a description of the system as it was. That is the practical case for using this volume rather than an older secondary source.
Where it sits among the authors' other work
This is the English-language entry point. Underneath it sit the Ukrainian-language textbooks that go deeper on the two subjects a cross-border dispute actually turns on: International Civil Procedure (Yurincom Inter, 2026, 448 pp.) and International Commercial Arbitration (2019). The full set of books and academic papers is indexed here.
Need the Ukrainian answer, not the Ukrainian bibliography?
We give foreign counsel and tribunals what the monograph cannot: a position on the file in front of you. Expert opinions on Ukrainian law, representation in Ukrainian courts, and enforcement of foreign judgments and awards in Ukraine. Describe the matter and we will respond within one business day.
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Practice: Independent Legal Opinions on Ukrainian Law · Enforcement of Foreign Court Judgments
Originally posted on 11 July 2019 as an announcement of the edition. Rewritten in August 2026; the publisher’s page is linked above and is the authoritative source for the current edition and its contents. Both authors are Doctors of Laws and partners at JVS Law; Gennadii Tsirat teaches international civil procedure and international commercial arbitration at the Institute of International Relations in Kyiv.