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Why British judges are holding court in Kazakhstan

In a futuristic corner of the former Soviet republic, former High Court judges are integral to the Kazakh government’s initiative to move its economy away from natural resources

Nursultan Nazarbayev with the judges of the AIFC
Nursultan Nazarbayev with the judges of the AIFC

Sir Robin Jacob is a former justice of the High Court in London and one of Europe’s most prominent experts on intellectual property law. At 78, he could be enjoying a quiet retirement. Instead, Jacob is helping to pioneer an obscure legal experiment that involves setting up a corner of the British court system in far-flung Kazakhstan.

“I didn’t know much about Kazakhstan before. It sounded like an interesting project, so I said yes,” says Jacob.

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