The lecture hall at the Saratov State Academy of Law (SSLA) was filled with students during the five-day lecture series of U.S. federal judge Stephen P. Friot.

Since 2004, U.S. District Judge Stephen P. Friot of the Western District of Oklahoma has taken part in Russian-American professional exchange programs. Judge Friot has visited Russia many times and has hosted numerous delegations of lawyers from Russia in the United States. Judge Friot’s trip to Saratov in 2016 was his tenth visit to Russia. On earlier trips, Judge Friot traveled to Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Vologda, and Pskov.

Judge Friot has also become a scholar of Russian history and culture. The judge studied about the Great Patriotic War and he tries to visit memorials to the fallen soldiers in the Russian cities that he goes to. Wherever he goes, Judge Friot is sure to bring his camera with him. The judge admires the beauty of Russian Orthodox churches, ancient cathedrals, as well as rural and winter landscapes. Some of these Russian photos decorate the judge’s chamber at the Oklahoma City federal courthouse. Judge Stephen Friot is now writing a book about Russia.

– How did you become interested in Russia?

– I have had a general interest in Russia since I was a boy. As a young school student, I was drilled in the “duck and cover” procedure, by which students and teachers were supposed to protect themselves from being injured or killed by bombs dropped by “the Russians.” That made me very curious about “the Russians,” but I didn’t have the opportunity, as a student, to study the Russian language. In April, 1992, as the president of the Oklahoma County Bar Association, I brought Boris Notkin to Oklahoma from Moscow to be our Law Day speaker, because I was fascinated by the liberalization process that was then under way in Russia.

– What was your first experience of participating in a professional exchange with Russia?

– In October, 2007, I was the U.S. judicial delegate to the Tenth International Forum on Constitutional Review, sponsored by the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation and the Institute for Law and Public Policy, in Moscow. While on that trip, I also had the honor of visiting Pskov and Vologda, as the guest of judges I had hosted under the Open World program in the fall of 2006.

– How many times have you visited Russia?

– Ten times, the most recent of which was last month.

– What cities have you visited?

– From north to south: Petrozavodsk, St. Petersburg, Vologda, Pskov, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow, Ulyanovsk, and Saratov.

– How many times have you hosted delegations from Russia?

– Eight times. My Open World delegates have come from Pskov, Vologda, Tomsk, Tver, Rostov-on-Don, Ulyanovsk, and Nizhny Novgorod.

– What do you think about the Russian people?

– I have gotten very well acquainted, personally and professionally, with upwards of a hundred Russian men and women, mostly (but not entirely) from the legal profession, academia, or the judiciary. They are decent, hard-working, fun loving and thoughtful people who care very much about their country, their professions and their families. I hope that that also describes me, so I have a high opinion of my Russian friends.

– What was the purpose of your visit to Saratov, Russia in April of this year?

– I traveled to Saratov because I was invited to return to the Saratov State Law Academy to lecture. A year ago, I had a brief visit to Saratov and to the SSLA. I was honored to have been invited to return for a solid week of lectures.

– How were you received in Russia during this last visit?

– I received a very warm welcome. My week in Saratov was an outstanding personal and professional experience.

– How did your lectures go?

– I believe that the lectures went very well, and I think that evaluation is borne out by the reactions of the faculty and the students. The impact of my lectures was aided immeasurably by the fact that my PowerPoint presentations were in Russian. So, I lectured in English while the students viewed the PowerPoint presentation of the same material in Russian. The students and faculty (especially the English teachers) really liked that. I encouraged the students to ask questions, so that we could have a two-way conversation. I was delighted with the willingness of the students to ask questions – even the hard questions. And their English proficiency was remarkably good. The faculty members encouraged the students to ask questions, and also asked some of their own questions, which was very helpful.

– Are you continuing your professional relationships with the participants of exchanges that you’ve had the opportunity to meet over the years?

– Yes. I stay in touch with good friends in several Russian cities, and I hope there will be more opportunities for future professional activities in Russia.

– Have you formed professional relationships with Russian jurists?

– Yes, and I anticipate that those relationships will be long-lasting.

– Over the years of your exchanges with Russia, have you found that the Russian legal system changed? In what ways?

– First, more emphasis has been put on support of the Justice of the Peace system, which can only increase public confidence in the judicial system at the grassroots level. Second, Russian lawyers and judges are getting more comfortable with jury trials. In my opinion, jury trials are very important for several reasons. To name only two of those reasons: Jury trials bring citizens into the courtroom as full partners in the administration of justice. And they subject prosecutors and investigators to independent scrutiny of their work by citizens.

Third, legislation is now pending, as I understand it, that would extend jury trials to the rayon courts. I think that is a positive development. Fourth, many courts are now moving in the direction of maintaining their records online, so that citizens can conveniently get access to court records. That, also, will increase public confidence in the judicial system.

– Judge, have you also developed an interest in Russian history?

– Yes. I quickly concluded, as a result of my first trip to Russia, that if I was going to get a good understanding of this nation and its people, I would need to start reading, and I have been reading ever since – more than 100 books in the last nine years.

– To your mind, what was the defining period of that history that shaped the Russian society to be what it is today?

– I don’t think that any one period of Russian history can be pointed out as the defining period. There are several defining periods, in my opinion. The earliest one that comes to mind was the period of Christianization of the Rus that followed the trip by Vladimir’s envoys to Constantinople late in the first millennium. The long period of dominance by the Mongols was a defining period – with effects on Russian society to this day. And if we look at the long sweep of history for the last 500 years, it is undeniable that Russia, with virtually no substantial natural geographic barriers on or near its western and southern borders, has been invaded by more countries than any nation in history. In my view, that goes far to explain some major aspects of public consciousness in Russia. More recently, we have the fact that the Great Patriotic War was, by far, more devastating to Russia and Russians than World War II was to any other nation (including Germany and Japan). The historical, geopolitical and demographic echoes of the Great Patriotic War will be heard for many generations to come. Some western leaders and commentators do not have a good understanding of this.

– Russian-American relations are not seeing their best times today. Why is it important to maintain good relationships on a people-to-people level? 

– People-to-people relationships at the grassroots are important because those relationships reduce the likelihood that the leaders of either country – and I emphasize either country – will be able to control the narrative and tone of the nation-to-nation relationship for their own purposes.