The draft law 9055 restricts the rights of advocates and undermines the protection of people — Lidiia Izovitova
Submitted by the President of Ukraine the draft law 9055 “On the Bar and Practice of Law” restricts the rights of advocates and undermines their ability to protect people.
This was stated by the President of UNBA, BCU Lidiia Izovitova during a speech at the seminar on professional development for advocates in Kherson region.
The draft law was developed by the Judicial Reform Council, which did not include representatives of UNBA.
“Thus, the developers of this project had violated Ukraine's obligations before the Council of Europe and violated the terms and conditions of the agreement on Association with the EU, as the draft law on the bar was developed without the participation of professional legal organisations”, said Lidiia Izovitova.
In content, the draft law bears significant threats of narrowing the professional rights of advocates. In particular, the extended notion of the advocate's request is leveled down by the possibilities of refusals in the responses to these requests. The draft law provides for the amendment of the Criminal Procedure Code that would allow the court to determine abuse of the procedural rights by the parties. The possibility of violations in case of suspicion of special subjects has been expanded.
“We are talking about restricting the rights of advocates and about the destruction of people's rights, because in court we don't represent ourselves, but protect the rights and interests of citizens. This is an attack on human rights, it is a violation of constitutional norms, the ECHR practices and decisions of the Constitutional Court”, said Lidiia Izovitova.
The draft law allows the investigator or the prosecutor to bring an advocate from the free legal aid system at their own discretion, who will operate in parallel with an advocate under contract. This negates the right to free choice of defender and turns advocates into mere underparts.
In the part of the bar self-government, the draft law provides for the liquidation of existing bar self-government bodies as legal entities and the establishment of new bodies according to another model. Moreover, the advocates' conferences are held in the format of general meetings of advocates in the region.“ In a region with 5 thousand advocates, these meetings can only be held at the stadium. With that, the draft law proposes to adopt decision by secret ballot. We already have cloned structures in Kyiv, which conduct parallel conferences, and they are said to be legitimate. We expect that large regions will have both parallel conferences and parallel bar self-government bodies, which will be busy trying to find out which is the one legitimate. This is called the destruction of the bar self-government,” said Lidiia Izovitova.
Overall, the seminar was attended by nearly 150 advocates from Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv and Cherkasy regions.
Popular news
Advocacy
The BCU has removed controversial issues of training standards for young lawyers
The Procedure for the Continuing Legal Education of Advocates of Ukraine provides for special requirements for training in the first three years (after obtaining a certificate) of an advocate's practice. In practice, technical issues have arisen in the application of these requirements.
Advocacy
Free legal aid: lawyers will add up training points for 2023 by April
Lawyers who provide free secondary legal aid or have concluded a contract (agreement) for its provision must receive at least 2 credit points for training on the issue of FLA every year. The deadline for fulfilling this obligation for 2023 has been extended to April 1.
Advocacy
Problems of the Ukrainian Bar were discussed at a conference in Vienna
The 52nd European Conference of Presidents of Legal Organizations, traditionally organized by the Austrian Bar Association (ÖRAK), has recently taken place at Vienna's Ferstel Palace.
Advocacy
Draft law 10449: UNBA submits amendments to the lawyers' booking
In order to ensure the constitutional guarantee of everyone's right to legal aid, the draft law No. 10449 on strengthening mobilization should provide for the reservation of lawyers. The relevant amendments will be sent to the entities involved in the process of preparing the draft law for the second reading.
Advocacy
The final draft of the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Lawyers will appear in 2024
The Committee of Experts on the Protection of Lawyers presented the text of the draft Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Lawyers. The document is being prepared for approval by stakeholders. The final version should be developed by the end of the year.
Advocacy
Notaries and state registrars will be obliged to provide lawyers with information from the registers
When sending lawyers' requests to obtain data contained in state registers, lawyers often receive rejections. The recipients of the requests give various reasons for this. But these refusals impede the professional performance of professional duties!
Advocacy
The UNBA Board of Trustees supported the family of the deceased lawyer from Dnipropetrovs'k region
The first meeting of the UNBA Board of Trustees this year was held to distribute charitable assistance received from international partners. The Board considered 17 applications from affected colleagues who found themselves in a difficult situation due to the war.
Advocacy
Legal fees: how much do lawyers pay abroad
In all countries, advocates pay contributions to ensure the implementation of bar self-government in one way or another. Sometimes they are higher, sometimes lower. Sometimes it depends on the region or the length of service of the advocate. Some bar associations introduce the possibility of installments.
Publications
Ihor Kolesnykov A BRIEF SUMMARY REGARDING THE APPLICATION OF THE ORDER ON EXTENDED CONFISCATION IN LATVIA REGARDING FINANCIAL ASSETS OF…
Valentyn Gvozdiy WORKING IN A WAR ZONE
Lydia Izovitova Formula of perfection
Sergiy Vylkov Our judicial system is so built that courts do not trust advocates
Iryna Vasylyk Advocacy in the proclamation of Independence of Ukraine
Oleksandr DULSKY When we cross the border of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court, we get into another department of the National Anti-Corruption…
Vadym Krasnyk The UNBA will work, and all obstacles and restrictions are only temporary inconveniences
Lydia Izovitova Interview with Lydia Izovitova on the occasion of the 8th anniversary of the founding of UNBA: We are the voice of t…