How the reform of advocacy is «preventing» Ukraine from signing the Council of Europe Convention

During the regular meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy held on January 12, MPs heard information from the Ministry of Justice on resolving the issue of signing and ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on the protection of the profession of advocate.

The position of the Ministry of Justice on how Ukraine should proceed with the Convention was presented by Deputy Minister Lyudmila Kravchenko and Acting Minister Lyudmila Sugak.

Kravchenko emphasized the need for a preliminary legal analysis of the compliance of national legislation with the provisions of the Convention, the identification of possible statements and reservations, and the fact that, as of the time of the discussion, the Convention had not been ratified by any state and had not entered into force.

The official referred to a letter they had received from the Directorate-General of the European Commission: «The reform of advocacy requires consultation and coordination with the relevant stakeholders, and the correct sequence of the various stages of reform will be crucial for the overall effectiveness of the reform. Those that have not yet been completed should be prioritized», - she read from the document.

According to L. Kravchenko, this determines a certain sequence for the country. «That is, we are being asked to focus primarily on implementing our roadmap (on the rule of law, approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 475-r of May 14, 2025, - ed.) and the commitments we have made as part of the negotiation process. To this end, we have prepared and submitted to the government for consideration a draft resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers on the establishment of a working group on improving legislation on advocacy and legal practice», - the deputy minister noted.

Its head, L. Sugak, also linked the issue of signing the Convention to the European integration track and the Roadmap, stating that the European Commission's position implies that the reform of advocacy must precede accession to the Convention.

«We have received two letters from the European Commission, specifically from two relevant directorates. These are DG ENEST and DG JUST (Directorate-General for Enlargement and Eastern Neighbourhood and Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, respectively - ed.), where they explicitly state that these processes cannot move in parallel or separately. Moreover, Ms. Anna Galego, Director of DG ENEST, noted that we must first reform the advocacy profession, regulate this issue at the legislative level, and then accede to the Convention accordingly. This is the exact wording provided in the letters from the European Union», - explained the Acting Minister of Justice.

She also justified the ministry's position with the procedure: after signing, an international treaty is submitted for ratification, and an implementation law is submitted along with it, so signing without a complete understanding of the approaches set out in the document, in particular the terminology, is risky.

Other participants in the event insisted that the Convention and the reform under the Roadmap are different processes and should not be dependent on each other.

The chairman of the Subcommittee on Political Reform and Constitutional Law of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy Maksym Dyrdin, emphasized that the Convention aims to guarantee the protection of advocates and the independence of legal practice. «It only talks about protecting the legal profession, about the independence of advocates in their work, so that there is no discrimination, no unlawful obstacles, no interference in the activities of advocates... That's all that this convention is about», - he reminded. At the same time, the position of the Ministry of Justice on this issue is somehow based on the need to reform the advocacy profession, although, according to him, these are different things.

«In this case, you are proposing to wait until we reform the advocacy profession. And then we will only proceed to sign it, - the MP summarized the ministry's position. - Well, these are different things: signing and ratification. They are different in their legal essence. We have heard from the latest response from the Ministry of Justice that even the draft documents for signing this convention have not been developed. Twenty-four countries have already signed (the Convention - ed.), even those that are not members of the European Union... What are we waiting for?».

The chairman of the subcommittee on the organization and activities of the advocacy and legal aid bodies of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy Volodymyr Vatras wanted to clarify the ministry's arguments: «So, as I understand it, if we sign this Convention now, we will not fulfill the conditions of the Roadmap or our European integration processes?, - he asked the representatives of the Ministry of Justice. - This does not mean that we will not fulfill the conditions of the Roadmap. It means that we will violate the logical order of actions», - replied L. Sugak.

V. Vatras directly formulated the dilemma as a choice between parallel and sequential movement «It is my deep conviction that reforming the advocacy, implementing the Roadmap, and signing and ratifying the convention are two different processes that cannot be linked in any way, because then we will not achieve the main goal of European integration. Indeed, we have an obligation to adopt the Law on Amendments and Additions to the Law on Advocacy and Legal Practice by the fourth quarter of 2026. The points that we must reform are clearly spelled out, - the MP noted. - But the issue of ratifying the Convention on the Protection of the Advocate's Profession is primarily a matter of our country joining the Council of Europe, the European Union, and a number of countries in order to protect the advocate's profession. And I believe that we can move in this direction synchronously and in parallel».

This approach was supported by the UNBA's leading expert on European integration Hanna Udovenko. She recalled that the UNBA has already set up a working group to implement the Roadmap and is working on analyzing the compliance of national regulations with the standards of the Convention. Hanna Udovenko also pointed out that the Convention was adopted by the Council of Europe before the Cabinet of Ministers approved the Roadmap, and therefore the process of Ukraine signing the international treaty should have started earlier.

It is noteworthy that at the end of the discussion, the acting Minister of Justice «briefly reflected on all the points» and nevertheless acknowledged the possibility of moving forward in parallel (which contrasted with the previously stated logic of «first reform, then the Convention»). «We will move forward in parallel: simultaneously developing changes to the legislation and working on the issue of accession to the international treaty», - she concluded.