Advocates should not be the subject of discussion, but full participants – the President of the UNBA

A professional discussion aimed at highlighting one of the most sensitive aspects of legal practice — the identification of advocates with their clients — is taking place without the participation of Ukrainian advocates themselves.

This was pointed out by Lidiya Izovitova, the President of the UNBA, BCU, during her welcoming speech at the thematic event «Protecting lawyers from being identified with their clients: international standards and the Ukrainian context», organized by the EU Project Pravo-Justice.

L. Izovitova considers her speech, as well as the participation of Valentin Gvozdiy, the Vice President of the UNBA, BCU, who participated in the development of the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Legal Profession, to be merely symbolic. They cannot be considered full-fledged participation of advocacy in professional discussion, since the professional advocacy was not represented.

The UNBA provided the event organizers with a list of advocates who expressed their willingness to participate in the professional discussion and speak at the relevant sessions. However, none of them were included in the program and, accordingly, their voices will remain unheard.

This is deeply concerning, as discussing issues directly related to the advocate profession without the participation of advocates themselves contradicts the principles of open dialogue and professional ethics.

In this regard, the President of the UNBA, BCU suggested that the organizers consider the event as the first part of a professional discussion that must be continued with the participation of representatives of the legal community.

After all, without the participation of professional advocates, any conversation about standards, protection, or the public role of advocacy is incomplete. Advocates should not just be mentioned, but should directly participate in the discussion — as speakers, as experts, as practitioners who face identification with clients, pressure, and discrediting on a daily basis.

L. Izovitova noted that Ukraine is seeing an increase in information attacks aimed at discrediting the advocate profession. Unfortunately, the source of the identification of advocates with their clients today is often individual media outlets, public organizations, and activists on social media, particularly those operating with grant funding.

At the same time, the panel discussion on this issue features representatives of precisely those circles that are themselves the source of the identification of advocates with their clients. This creates a one-sided discussion in which advocates are not participants but objects of evaluation. In fact, under the guise of a «discussion», a platform has been organized for criticizing the laws that protect advocates.