Are Europe's advocacy associations prepared for a potential war? V. Gvozdiy shared lessons from the Ukrainian experience

The continuity of the bar’s self-governance, the protection of professional registries and archives, as well as equal guarantees of employment for advocates, judges, and prosecutors must be enshrined in advance in legislation in the event of war or another emergency.

This was stated by the Vice President of the Ukrainian National Bar Association and the Bar Council of Ukraine Valentin Gvozdiy in a video address to participants at the annual meeting of the heads of the bar associations of Northern Europe and the Baltic states (Nordic-Baltic Presidential Meeting), which took place September 10–13 in Finland.

The meeting, hosted this year by the Finnish Bar Association in Lapland, brought together the presidents, vice presidents, and secretaries general of the advocacy organizations of eight countries — Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden.

On behalf of the Ukrainian advocacy community, V. Gvozdiy thanked his colleagues for their support since the start of the full-scale invasion. In particular, he mentioned the generators and other equipment donated to Ukrainian advocates, which enabled them to continue working during power outages.

Speaking about the work of advocates under wartime conditions, the Vice President of the UNBA, BCU mentioned court hearings held in shelters during air raid alerts, destroyed offices, and advocates serving in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine some of whom have been killed. «The courts continue to operate. Defense advocates are participating in legal proceedings. Advocacy has proven that it is an integral part of the state’s resilience», - he said, describing how the judicial system has adapted to the realities of martial law.

V. Gvozdiy paid special attention to the independence of the advocacy sector. In this context, he recalled the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Professions of Lawyer and called on advocacy association leaders to promote the swiftest possible ratification of the document in their countries.

He also identified three practical conclusions from the Ukrainian experience, which, in his opinion, should be taken into account in national legislation.

The first concerns the continuity of operations of bar self-governing bodies. The law must provide that, if it is impossible to hold elections, the current bodies continue to exercise their powers in full until new leadership is elected and takes office. «One should not assume that it will always be possible to hold elections, nor should one rely on electronic voting. Modern warfare, accompanied by electronic warfare and attacks on energy and communications infrastructure, makes it impossible to guarantee transparent, reliable, fair, and democratic elections», - noted V. Gvozdiy.

The second lesson concerns the preservation of the advocacy community’s institutional memory—the register of advocates, electronic archives, and documents of bar self-governing bodies. According to the Vice President of the UNBA, BCU such data must be duplicated and protected, and the relevant systems must be accessible for management from any location.

The third lesson is the need for equal protections under mobilization legislation. Valentin Gvozdiy pointed out that in Ukraine, judges and prosecutors are protected from conscription, whereas advocates do not have such protection. «When revising defense legislation, grant advocates the same protections that judges and prosecutors have. The defense should never be the only unprotected party in the courtroom», - he emphasized.

V. Gvozdiy also confirmed the UNBA’s readiness to share its experience working under wartime conditions both bilaterally and through the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE).