Regulation of advocates’ contributions by law does not comply with European practice – CCBE

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14:00 Fri 03.02.17 434 Reviews
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The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) informed the higher political leadership of Ukraine that the regulation of advocates’ contributions by law does not comply with European practice. This was reported by Ivan Grechkivskyy, Head of the UNBA International Relations Committee, during the session of the Kharkiv Regional Bar Council.

 The CCBE relevant letter was sent to President Petro Poroshenko, Speaker Andriy Parubiy and Chairman of the VRU Committee on Legal Policy and Justice Ruslan Knyazevich.

"In our opinion, attempts to legislate the amount of the annual contribution are contrary to the European core values ​​of the bar - independence and self-governance. Self-governance is a means of retaining the professional independence of the bar as it allows an advocate to carry out professional activities without any influence or pressure from external sources", - stated the CCBE letter.

Attention was also drawn to the fact that this approach contradicts both the national legislation of the European countries and international instruments governing the status of the legal profession.

"Based on a survey conducted among the CCBE members, no European country establish at a legislative level the amount of annual membership contributions for members of bar and law societies of Europe, except for one, where the law stipulates the procedure for determining the amount of such contributions. The right to determine the amount of annual contribution for the development of the bar self-governance is reserved for the bars and law societies", - emphasized the CCBE letter.

The CCBE expressed its confidence that the issue of advocates’ mandatory payments should remain within the domain of the bar self-government. In determining their amount, legal, social and economic factors of each country and the needs of the profession and the services provided by advocates and their clients should be taken into account.

In light of these comments, the CCBE urged the President and the Parliament to review these changes and take appropriate measures to preserve the independence and self-governance in the bar.

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