In Volyn UNBA NextGen has launched a new format for advocates' meetings

The UNBA NextGen in collaboration with the Volyn Regional Bar Association launched a series of professional meetings titled «Not just about codes». The first meeting was dedicated to the history of the Volyn Regional Bar Association in the 16th–18th centuries.

The meeting took place in July at the Volyn Regional Bar Association’s offices. Participants discussed the book by the UNBA Center for Research on the Bar and Law, «The Volyn Regional Bar Association during the Lithuanian-Polish period of the 16th–18th centuries», authored by Mykhailo Dovbyshchenko, Ph.D. in History and a participant in the All-Ukrainian project «History of the Ukrainian Bar».

The event was moderated by the chairman of the Volyn Regional Bar Association Galina Rudenko and the UNBA NextGen regional representative in Volyn Taras Mankut.

The discussion focused on the education and professional training of defense advocates of that time, their compensation, the practice of applying various sources of law, as well as specific court cases and the biographies of Volyn advocates.

In the 16th–18th centuries, a defense advocate could be referred to as a procurator, an umotsovany, a plenipotentiary, a patron, or a lawyer. In the book, they are broadly divided into three categories: «friends-of-the-court» advocates, who defended the interests of a particular corporation free of charge; «contract» advocates, who worked on a professional basis and received a fee; and representatives of the parties, who did not practice law professionally but could represent relatives or close associates in court.

Although the Lithuanian Statutes were the primary source of law in Right-Bank Ukraine, they did not regulate all spheres of social relations. To fill these gaps, court defenders drew upon Sejm constitutions, Crown law, and Magdeburg law. This required them to be well-versed in the complex legal landscape of the Polish-Lithuanian state.

The participants also discussed the system of attorneys’ fees. Remuneration could be paid in cash, provided in kind, or in the form of property transferred into the advocate’s possession. In particular, advocate Jan Salecki received a sheepskin coat for his legal services, while Fedir Bonyakevych was granted possession of the monastic village of Sapogov for successfully defending the interests of the Zhydychyn Uniate Monastery in 1678.

«This is a fine example of an initiative by the Volyn Regional Bar Association — to host an evening dedicated to the history of advocacy in their region and to discuss a book published by our Center for Research on Advocacy and Law at the UNBA. It is important that UNBA NextGen engages young advocates in learning about these studies, thereby supporting the continuity of the legal tradition. This is a successful format for discussing the past and present of the profession», - commented the head of the Center Iryna Vasylyk.