The reform of the bar self-government under the draft law №9055 will destroy the Bar

The reform of the system of bar self-government, provided for in the draft law "On the Bar and Advocacy" № 9055, will lead to the destruction of the Bar as an independent constitutional institution.

This was discussed during the panel "The Draft Law № 9055: Pros and Cons", initiated by the UNBA Committee on protection of advocates’ professional rights and guarantees. The first block of discussion was devoted to changes in the structure of the bar self-government bodies.

The purpose of the panel was to discuss the new version of the Law of Ukraine "On the Bar and Advocacy" submitted to Verkhovna Rada by the President of Ukraine on September 6, 2018. Thus, the abovementioned draft law caused a wide resonance in the bar community and a flashmob against the adoption of the draft law with the slogan #stop9055 in social media. Supporters of the draft law refused to participate in the event, which provided them a great opportunity to represent their arguments in defense of the presidential draft law.

"When the government wants to ruin a system, it grants the preferences to those whose hands will do the ruination for it," - the Head of the Committee, Ganna Boryak, explained the reasons for radical changes to self-government.

Oleksii Fazekosh, the Head of the Zakarpattia Region Bar Council, criticized the proposed draft law for the election of the bar self-government bodies, which provides for the substitution of conferences by the general meeting of advocates of the regions with a lower quorum.

"If the self-government model of this draft law is implemented, there will be no Ukrainian Bar at all. Implementation of the proposed election model is impossible, as it’s based on mixed rules of the election of people's deputies and the law "On Business Associations". The government creates a controlled chaos, where then, in connection with the inability to form the bar self-government bodies, instructs, for example, the Ministry of Justice to hold the conferences and congresses of the advocates,”- predicts Oleksii Fazekosh.

The Secretary of the Committee, Yurij Grygorenko, expressed the thesis that the procedure of the conferences, set forth in the draft law, opens up opportunities for the creation of several bar self-government bodies in each region. A member of the Committee, Oleg Garnyk, described the actions of the government logical for establishing control over the Bar by the rule of "divide and rule."

The Chairman of HQDBC, Oleksandr Drozdov, emphasized that the destruction of the Bar would be an obvious consequence of the draft law. At the same time, the fragmentation of the bar community will take place not only on a regional basis, but also by criteria of work place.

“The elementary things that are stipulated by international standards are not adhered to. For example, the prohibition of discrimination,” - said Oleksandr Drozdov on the intention of the authors of the draft law to provide for different sizes of membership fees for the advocates depending on the employment.

Oleksiy Yushchenko, the Head of the Committee on Legislative Initiatives on the Bar, said that the draft law № 9055 puts at risk not only the advocates themselves, but their clients as well. He believes that, in contrast to individual regional organizations, the all-national authoritative bar organization, which has international recognition, is able to defend the advocates’ rights more effectively.

"Self-government has the functions of protecting the advocates’ rights, defending independence and protecting advocacy from interference. In this aspect, the issue of protecting the advocates’ rights concerns both the advocates and their clients, and defines the level of protection of human rights," - said Oleksiy Yushchenko.

UNBA has repeatedly opposed the adoption of the draft law № 9055 and criticized its drafting, content and goals. the Regional Bar Councils addressed Verkhovna Rada with official letters urging to refrain from adopting this draft law and implement the reform of the Bar reform as provided for in alternative draft laws in accordance with the Venice Commission’s assessments. The UNBA supports the need for the Commission's conclusions to be drawn up for all draft laws on the Bar, submitted to Verkhovna Rada.