The Verkhovna Rada Committee criticized the format of the government working group on advocacy

The implementation of the Roadmap on the rule of law (approved by Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 475-r of May 14, 2025) in relation to advocacy raises the practical question of who exactly should prepare legislative changes and how.

At the last meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy, which took place on February 19, MPs raised questions about the composition and format of the government working group on improving legislation in the field of advocacy and legal practice, established by Resolution No. 42 of January 12, 2026.

Deputy Chairman of the Committee Valery Bozyk recalled that this group was formed as an advisory body, which included representatives of the Ministry of Justice, MPs, partner organizations, and other stakeholders. In this regard, the MP requested that the purpose and responsibility for preparing the draft law be clear at the start of the process.

V. Bozyk asked the Ministry of Justice to coordinate its work with parliament in advance in order to avoid situations where issues remain unresolved for months and then the Committee is asked to support a draft document «the day after tomorrow» with reference to obligations to Europe. He stressed that he does not object to the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders and public organizations, but asks that this not replace interaction with MPs as future voting entities.

The chairman of the subcommittee on the organization and activities of the advocacy and legal aid bodies Volodymyr Vatras supported his colleague's logic, while shifting the focus to the composition of the working group.

He explained that the Ukrainian National Bar Association, which, like the parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers represented by the Ministry of Justice, is responsible for implementing the Roadmap, is not represented in this group. In this regard, the MP recalled that only Oksana Kadenko, a representative of the Bar Council from the Khmelnytskyi region, was included in the group, while a number of public organizations were involved in the work. Vatras saw this as a risk to the reform. «Once again, we are starting a conversation about wanting to reform the advocacy without involving the advocacy in this reform», - he explained his position and appealed to the leadership of the Ministry of Justice to reformat the composition of the working group.

The head of the relevant subcommittee reported that on February 17, he prepared and submitted a deputy's appeal to the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, regarding the need for proportional representation in this working group of the parliament, the government, and the UNBA. According to V. Vatras, there should be «at least nine people» from each side, and he also voiced the idea of three co-chairs of the working group: from parliament, from the UNBA, and from the Ministry of Justice.

Separately, he named additional candidates for the group who, according to him, were not included (People's Deputies Ivan Kalaura and Pavlo Pavlish).

Among other things, V. Vatras raised the issue of the methodology of the Ministry of Justice's work with the roadmap for reforming the Law «On advocacy and legal practice». According to him, the participants received a letter with a proposal to submit ideas and suggestions, but without a draft act to which these proposals could be formulated. He asked the Ministry of Justice to first develop a draft and only then collect proposals, and also called for a decision on the format of future regulation: whether it would be a new law or a law amending and supplementing the existing one.

The MP also linked the discussion to the Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer. He recalled that on February 18, the President signed a decree authorizing Mykola Tochitsky to sign an international treaty, and asked the Ministry of Justice what specific steps had already been taken to sign and subsequently ratify the document, given that the head of state had designated an authorized person.

In response, Deputy Minister of Justice Lyudmila Kravchenko stated that her ministry had initiated the signing and that it was the Ministry of Justice that had begun the procedure for authorizing the person to sign (although earlier the agency saw obstacles to this in the need to amend the legislation on advocacy and in the implementation of the Roadmap). L. Kravchenko also linked further information for MPs to the first meeting of the working group after the collection of proposals. According to the official, at the first meeting, the Ministry of Justice will present the steps it plans to take and promised to improve the working mechanism so that the group becomes more focused on the legal community.

The chairman of the subcommittee on political reform and constitutional law Maksym Dyrdin also took an interest in the launch of the working group. He mentioned a letter sent to parliament requesting proposals on the ideas outlined in the letter and asked why the Ministry of Justice did not first gather all the members of the working group, discuss the direction to take, what exactly needed to be changed and in what context, and only then collect proposals. «It turns out that the Ministry of Justice has already determined in advance the points that interest it most», - he explained. In response, L. Kravchenko explained that there are different ways of working and that the Ministry of Justice chose to collect proposals first so that the first meeting of the working group would be substantive.