Lidiya Izovitova outlined the approach to implementing the Roadmap for advocacy

The general approach to working on the implementation of the Roadmap on the Rule of Law in terms of reforming advocacy should not be based on «slogans», but rather on gathering facts, comparing them with standards, consulting with the professional community, and formulating norms for which participants are prepared to take responsibility.

This was emphasized by the President of the UNBA, BCU Lidiya Izovitova during the meeting of the Working Group on the implementation of the Roadmap, which took place on January 2.

She noted that the Working Group was established by Decision No. 125 of the BCU dated December 12, 2025, in order to prepare changes to the regulation of advocacy in the context of negotiations on EU accession within the time frame specified in the Roadmap. At the same time, European standards should be the basic guideline for any proposals, with the mandatory preservation of the independence and self-governance of advocacy.

To this end, the CCBE and representatives of European bar associations were invited to join the group as external experts to ensure that decisions comply with standards and red lines.

L. Izovitova drew particular attention to attempts to present the Roadmap as a basis for state intervention and administrative control over advocacy, recalling the recent «public» discussion at the National Agency for Corruption Prevention on the draft Anti-Corruption Strategy for 2026-2030 in relation to advocacy, where a representative of the state body referred to the Roadmap as the state's obligation to interfere in the activities of a number of institutions, including advocacy. According to the chairman of the UNBA, this interpretation is manipulative and legally flawed, and the move towards “nationalization” poses a threat to the independence of advocates, the right to defense, and trust in justice. A corresponding open statement was recently made by the Bar Council of Ukraine.

The quality of initiatives surrounding the «reform of advocacy» poses a separate problem. L. Izovitova described a situation in which the position of the professional community is being replaced by a circle of “experts” without a mandate from advocacy and without experience in self-government, sometimes with the logic of project/grant activities.

Against this backdrop, the President of the UNBA, BCU outlined the practical agenda of the working group: improving self-government bodies and their working procedures; access to the profession and assessment tools; disciplinary procedures (transparency and predictability); accountability and financial discipline/internal audit without encroaching on independence; digitalization and data security; improving professional standards; guarantees for the practice of law in wartime.