UNBA Committees became a source of legal positions — reports for 2025

The Ukrainian National Bar Association has published the results of its Committees' work for 2025: 115 conclusions on draft laws, 108 educational events, and 457 publications on its website. Behind these figures are ready-made legal positions, practice digests, and applied materials that advocates can directly use in cases and in their daily work.

Protecting colleagues

Throughout the year, the Committee for the protection of advocates' rights and guarantees of legal practice maintained a hotline, involved committee members in 104 investigative actions, and reviewed 97 complaints concerning violations of advocates' professional rights.

As a result of this work, five criminal proceedings were opened in cases of illegal mobilization of advocates, seven official investigations were initiated against officials, and ten working meetings were held with representatives of law enforcement agencies, the Ministry of Defense, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Committee also conducted explanatory activities for the personnel of territorial recruitment and social support centers.

Analysis of draft laws

One of the key areas of work for the Committees in 2025 remained the examination of legislative initiatives. During the year, advocates prepared 115 conclusions and legal positions on draft laws in various fields, ranging from criminal procedure and family law to tax, agricultural, construction, and medical legislation.

Among the practical results was participation in the preparation and promotion of a draft law on introducing liability for identifying an advocate with a client. The corresponding Law «On amendments to the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses and the Criminal Code of Ukraine to Ensure Compliance with guarantees of advocacy» was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada and is awaiting the President's signature.

At the same time, the Committees worked on recodifying the Civil Code and prepared proposals for changes to electoral, labor, and migration legislation.

Most of the legislative work was done by the Committees on criminal law and procedure, family law, civil law and procedure, as well as the Committees on tax and agricultural law and legislative initiatives on legal practice.

During the year, Committee members participated in four dozen meetings of parliamentary Committees and working groups, in particular during the consideration of initiatives in the Committees on law enforcement, social policy, legal policy, finance, and tax policy.

Particularly intensive was the participation in the work on draft Law No. 12439 on improving guarantees for the protection of business entities during criminal proceedings. The UNBA Committee on criminal law and procedure alone participated in more than ten meetings of the relevant working group.

Professional dialogue

In 2025, the UNBA Committees organized 108 events of various formats, ranging from round tables and webinars to workshops, seminars, and conferences.

The agenda was largely shaped by the war. Among the topics discussed by advocates were indefinite detention after sentencing, excessive bail amounts, personal data protection in criminal proceedings, countering disinformation, and occupational safety in a state of martial law.

A separate format was a series of thematic events and publications: Business Protection Week, Land Law Week, and Labor Law Week. In addition, the UNBA NextGen, together with the Committee for the protection of advocates' rights and the Committee for the protection of human rights, held a regional series of workshops entitled «Preventing violations of guarantees of advocates' activities.”

The international block included the conference «Bridges of Justice: cross-border enforcement of court decisions», a two-day roundtable «Mediation in Ukraine» and a series of events on the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards.

To coordinate their work, the Committees also held 114 meetings, maintaining a steady pace throughout the year.

International cooperation

The UNBA has increased its international activity. Representatives of the association held a series of working meetings abroad, including with the First Minister of Scotland, the chairman of the Bar Council of England and Wales and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Czech Republic.

UNBA delegates also participated in the annual conference of the Council of Europe's HELP network in Strasbourg, Cyprus Arbitration Day, the GLOBALCIT conference, and other international forums.

As part of applied communication for advocates, the International Relations Committee held a regular series of webinars on the legal aspects of Ukrainians staying abroad, the recognition of Ukrainian court decisions in other jurisdictions, and attorney-client privilege from a comparative perspective.

Working with young people

One of the most active was UNBA NextGen. Over the course of the year, it held dozens of webinars, workshops, offline lectures, and panel discussions in Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Rivne, Vinnytsia, Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Volyn.

The focus was on topics directly related to daily practice and professional development: the use of artificial intelligence in legal work, personal branding, time management, information security, and the algorithm of actions for an advocate during a search.

Art and sports

Advocacy is not only a legal community, but also a cultural one. Throughout the year, the Committee on Humanitarian Issues and Creative Initiatives held an exhibition of paintings by advocates entitled «Inspiration», a master class in painting, creative evenings, and a presentation of the collection «My advocate's diary». A literary competition entitled «In the language of prose» was also held.

Another area of focus was sports initiatives. The Committee on business and investor protection, together with the Committee on sports law, organized regular combat sambo training sessions led by a world champion, as well as swimming lessons in the pool.

Analytical component

Throughout 2025, 457 materials prepared with the participation of Committees were published on the UNBA website, including news, analytical articles, expert comments, digests, and interviews.

The Committees also prepared a number of analytical products, including digests of court practice on mobilization and reservation issues, manuals on information security and digitization of court decisions, methodological materials on wartime labor law and EU labor law, a guide for the media on identifying advocates with their clients, as well as a series of translations of the positions of the European Committee of Social Rights.

«The overall conclusion of 2025 for the UNBA Committees is confirmation of their role as permanent expert platforms. They have become an authoritative source of legal positions. Conclusions on draft laws, participation in working groups, and preparation of analytical materials are daily tasks that yield practical results and influence the quality of legal regulation, - noted UNBA Committee coordinator Svitlana Hrusko. - The year was difficult in terms of working conditions, but the Committees kept up the pace. In most cases, this is an additional burden for practicing advocates, who, in parallel with their own cases, prepare positions, materials, and participate in working meetings. This daily, non-public work yields results. And thanks to this involvement, the Committees remain an effective tool for the professional community, and advocacy remains an institution capable of systematically defending the standards of legal aid and the guarantees of the profession».

It should be noted that the activities of Committee members, including their leaders, are carried out on a voluntary basis. The Committees of the Ukrainian National Bar Association remain open to any advocate who wishes to contribute to the development of the profession.