There is no prohibition for advocates to take part in professional development activities conducted by other regional bar councils

The new Order of Professional Development of Advocates is becoming less and less intimidating for advocates, especially those who have already been trained under the new rules and have learned from their own experience the convenience and ease of the process. However, there are still single colleagues who are openly trying to manipulate the minds of others in a non-constructive way.

"Both UNBA and the Higher School of Advocacy continue to provide clarification on major changes, both individually and through publications in the media and in the training of regional bar self-government bodies responsible for the professional development of advocates of the regions," - says Deputy Head of UNBA, BCU Valentyn Gvozdii.

According to him, under the new rules, regional bar councils:

- are operators of professional development of advocates in their region that do not require accreditation;

- are obliged to organize, on their own or in cooperation with the UNBA Higher School of Advocacy or other operators, professional development activities at the regional level (at least three events per year and with a total duration of at least ten hours).

At the same time, the events for advocates remain free of charge. However, the new order now also regulates the procedure for conducting and remunerative measures, which can be carried out in addition to the free ones. The schedule of all events is published on the UNBA's official website and is announced in the regions and on the website of the UNBA accreditation center. The new rules have no impact on the number or theme of such measures.

The only difference with regard to participation in such activities is in the order of registration. Now you need to do this on a single accreditation center platform online. This mechanism is very convenient for the advocate, as well as unloading the regional bar councils, and today we have exceptionally positive feedback from both the advocates and the operators.

At the same time, in some regions, there have been situations where advocates from other regions seem to have been denied registration in free activities conducted by regional bar councils.

There are cases of failure, but the reasons are always different:

1. The advocate is not registered in the Single Register of Advocates of Ukraine. That is, such a person is not an advocate.

2. The number of seats to the event is limited. It is logical that regional bar council gives priority to the advocates of its region, because it is at the expense of the contributions of the local community that the activity of the bar self-government is carried out.

3. The advocate is registered for the event by mistake. This happens. In such a case, cancellation of the registration for the participation takes place by mutual consent during a telephone call for confirmation of participation.

4. Provocations with "refusals" are created deliberately to mislead the society on social network with a "betrayal'. We understand who is doing what and why, and such actions indicate both a complete misunderstanding of the new rules and a lack of respect for our colleagues and the disregard for the rules of professional conduct.

"There is no prohibition for advocates to take part in professional development activities conducted by other regional bar councils. The registration of advocates from other regions is always at the discretion of the event organizer," - stated Valentyn Gvozdii.

The UNBA Deputy Head advises advocates who want to attend a free seminar in the region other than where their main workplace is located, to focus primarily on the schedule of free UNBA seminars taking place in different regions. Such events are intended for a larger audience and are conducted at the expense of UNBA for all Ukrainian advocates, not just for advocates of a particular region.

For example, such a seminar was held in Odessa on July 27, and was attended by almost 1,000 advocates from different regions of the country.

"Respecting the powers and principles of independence of the regional bodies of bar self-government, the UNBA maintains that the Bar of Ukraine is a unified national institution. We have never supported any divisions between regions and the ideas of "federalization" of the bar, which, by the way, have been proposed by the draft law No. 9055. However, the ideologists of such "changes" have been defeated, and it is obvious that attempts to spread the next myths about some barriers between bar communities of different regions are a phantom pain for those who have had the idea of ​​dividing the bar,” - commented Valentyn Gvozdii.

The Order of Professional Development of Advocates

Schedule of UNBA training activities for the second half of 2019