UNBA program for implementation of the Roadmap on the rule of law published

In order to ensure the implementation of measures set out in the Roadmap on the Rule of Law, the Bar Council of Ukraine approved a program for its implementation in relation to the reform of advocacy.

The relevant decision of the BCU dated December 12, 2025, No. 125, is available on the UNBA website.

It should be recalled that the Roadmap on the Rule of Law was approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 475-r dated May 14, 2025. Among the tasks set out in the document is the development and adoption of a draft law on improving the legal regulation of the legal profession by the fourth quarter of 2026. The Ukrainian National Bar Association has been designated as the co-implementer of the measures.

The UNBA program defines a set of organizational, methodological, and regulatory measures aimed at:

• increasing the transparency, accountability, and effectiveness of bar self-government bodies;
• improving mechanisms for access to the legal profession;
• introducing modern digital tools into the activities of advocacy;
• strengthening the independence of advocacy as a professional self-governing institution;
• ensuring that the activities of the advocacy in Ukraine are brought into line with the standards of the European Union and the Council of Europe;
• promoting the implementation in Ukraine of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer by bringing legislation on advocacy and acts of advocacy self-government closer to the standards of this Convention.

The main areas of implementation of the Program include 12 thematic issues.

The Program is the main document to be used by the working group established on the basis of the UNBA. Representatives of the Ministry of Justice, bar self-government bodies at all levels, the scientific community, representatives of European advocacy, and the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) will be invited to join the working group.

The priority area for the implementation of the Roadmap is to strengthen guarantees for the practice of law and the protection of advocates.

The working group will analyze the compliance of existing guarantees of the independence of advocates and bar self-government bodies, mechanisms for the protection of advocates in criminal proceedings, and procedures for responding to violations of the professional rights of advocates with the requirements of the Constitution and laws of Ukraine, the practice of the European Court of Human Rights and the standards set forth in the Convention on the protection of the profession of advocate.

The group will also prepare proposals for amendments to Ukrainian legislation and acts of advocate self-government aimed at clarifying and expanding guarantees for the practice of advocate, preventing the identification of advocates with their clients, preventing the use of mobilization procedures as a means of pressure on advocates, strengthening procedural safeguards during investigative (search) actions against advocates, and improving the mechanisms for the rapid response of bar self-government bodies to violations of advocates' professional rights.

Based on the results of the work, consolidated proposals on the implementation of the Roadmap and on changes to the legislation on advocacy and acts of advocacy self-government will be submitted to the Bar Council of Ukraine for consideration.