Digitization of the Bar Archives: The project is officially launched

To preserve unique historical documents and professional data on Ukrainian lawyers, the archives of bar councils and qualification and disciplinary commissions of the Bar of all regions of Ukraine are being digitized. Today, on August 30, the project was officially launched.
Since the project was launched with the support of the International Bar Association, the event was attended by its Executive Director Mark Ellis, who is currently on a working visit to Kyiv.The project to digitize bar archives will be implemented in Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Odesa, Kyiv, Ternopil, Lviv, Poltava, Rivne, Sumy, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, Kirovohrad, Ivano-Frankivsk, Uzhhorod, Zhytomyr, Dnipro, Lutsk, and Vinnytsia. However, the frontline regions will be the first to implement it.
The bar self-government bodies will install appropriate copying and scanning equipment tomorrow. The UNBA Secretariat will additionally organize training, after which the digitization of documents will begin.
The project's ultimate goal is to reduce the risks associated with the loss or damage of paper archives due to military aggression or other factors, improve access to documents, and speed up the exchange of information between the bar self-government bodies.
As a reminder, the procedure for implementing the project on the digitization of archives was determined during the Bar Council of Ukraine meeting on August 12.
Popular news

Legislation
Those who equate advocates with clients will be fined – law passed
Public identification of an advocate with a client to whom such advocate provides professional legal assistance will become an administrative offense, and forms of interference in the activities of an advocate, for which liability is provided for in Article 397 of the Criminal Code, are detailed.

Discussion
Experts have exceptional potential that should be developed jointly — Lidiya Izovitova
The professions of advocate and expert can and must develop by learning from each other, exchanging experience and best practices. Together, we can build a strong, independent, and effective justice system worthy of a European Ukraine.

Discussion
Strengthening the country's sovereignty requires a new model for forming the HQCJ – round table
The model of the competition commission for selecting members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges, introduced as an anti-crisis measure, has exhausted itself. The inaction of the HCJ in forming a new composition of the CC, the lack of accountability, and the existing signs of political influence indicate that powers should be transferred directly to the entities responsible for forming the HQCJ as defined by law.

Guarantees of the practice of law
One third of complaints to the UNBA are due to unlawful actions by the TCC
In the first half of 2025, the Committee for the protection of lawyers' rights and guarantees of advocacy of the Ukrainian National Bar Association recorded 46 complaints of violations of professional rights. A third of these concerned unlawful actions by territorial recruitment centers—systematic obstruction of advocacy or violation of the right to defense.

Self-government
The HCJ continues to ignore the legal deadlines for forming the Competition Commission of the HQCJ
The High Council of Justice continues to violate the statutory deadlines for forming a new competition commission to select members of the Competition Commission of the High Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine.

Advocacy
UNBA asked the UBA about the facts of the alleged violations of lawyers' rights
The National Bar Association of Ukraine is concerned about information regarding violations of the professional rights of advocates and guarantees of advocacy, which was disseminated on June 16 by the UPO «Ukrainian Bar Association». This issue will be discussed at a meeting of the Bar Council of Ukraine.

Advocacy
Another conflict with the TCC: an advocate's leg was broken and his client jumped out of a window
On June 19, at the premises of the military medical commission, where a bus from the Krasnograd Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support delivered several people, an incident occurred involving the use of physical force against an advocate.

Advocacy
Independence of advocacy and accountability of expertise: different models, shared responsibility
Two different models of professional organization coexist in Ukraine: advocacy with established self-government and judicial and expert activities that remain under state control. How can approaches be balanced, the openness of expert opinions ensured, and effective interaction between specialists established?
Publications

Ihor Kolesnykov A BRIEF SUMMARY REGARDING THE APPLICATION OF THE ORDER ON EXTENDED CONFISCATION IN LATVIA REGARDING FINANCIAL ASSETS OF…

Valentyn Gvozdiy WORKING IN A WAR ZONE

Lydia Izovitova Formula of perfection

Sergiy Vylkov Our judicial system is so built that courts do not trust advocates

Iryna Vasylyk Advocacy in the proclamation of Independence of Ukraine

Oleksandr DULSKY When we cross the border of the Supreme Anti-Corruption Court, we get into another department of the National Anti-Corruption…

Vadym Krasnyk The UNBA will work, and all obstacles and restrictions are only temporary inconveniences

Lydia Izovitova Interview with Lydia Izovitova on the occasion of the 8th anniversary of the founding of UNBA: We are the voice of t…