Institutional issues in the legal profession: subgroup to systematize approaches

On June 3, the Ukrainian National Bar Association hosted a meeting of the «Institutional issues of the profession» subgroup, which operates within the Working Group on the implementation of the Rule of Law Roadmap regarding the reform of the advocacy profession.

The subgroup’s chairman, BCU member Oksana Kadenko noted that the work builds on the findings of other subgroups and aims to finalize the vision for the institutional aspects of the profession. According to her, this is necessary to give regulatory form to the provisions regarding the model of interaction between advocacy and the state and to clearly delineate the basic concepts of the institution.

Based on this, to further systematize the work, participants were asked to organize their efforts into five areas:

• general provisions and terms;
• advocacy as an independent self-governing institution and «advocacy and the state»;
• the principles of legal practice;
• The Unified Register of Advocates of Ukraine;
• the status of a foreign advocate in Ukraine.

Regarding terminology, the President of the UNBA, BCU Lidiya Izovitova noted that it would be advisable to draft the article on definitions only after the bill has been fully prepared. In her opinion, it would be optimal for this article to ultimately «incorporate» the entire conceptual framework so that the reader can immediately see what exactly is regulated and what is covered by the relevant terms.

Speaking about the URAU, a member of the scientific and advisory Council at the UNBA Nana Bakayanova highlighted the practical problem of the dispersion and duplication of certain information across various databases, particularly in the context of data related to FLA. In her view, this situation creates risks of misinterpretation regarding the current status and scope of information, complicates data verification, and reduces predictability for users. Therefore, during regulatory updates, she said, it is worth establishing a coordinated approach to the presentation of such information and the interaction of relevant systems to avoid duplication and ensure the integrity of the information.

A member of the UNBA Committee on human rights Ihor Fomin emphasized the need to «get the full picture» across all thematic subgroups. He proposed that participants’ suggestions be compiled into a single database, distinguishing between common approaches and issues requiring separate discussion.