Training opportunities are being expanded for FLA lawyers

Completion of the Council of Europe HELP program courses and obtaining the relevant certificate will be taken into account by the Higher School of Advocacy when calculating the points that must be gained by the lawyers of the FLA system in accordance with the Procedure for the Advanced Training of Advocates of Ukraine.

This decision was recently made by the Bar Council of Ukraine.

It is also planned to create a working group that will study the best practices of Ukrainian lawyers who have experience and desire to conduct special advanced training courses on legal aid.

As a reminder, in accordance with clause 21-1 of the Procedure for the Advanced Training of Advocates of Ukraine, approved by the decision of the Bar Association of Ukraine dated 03.07.2021 No. 63, advocates who have submitted information on inclusion in the Register of Advocates Providing Free Secondary Legal Aid or have concluded a contract or contracts for the provision of free secondary legal aid must receive at least two credits for training on free legal aid per year.

From now on, the certificate of completion of the Council of Europe courses on the HELP platform (the courses are free of charge) will be counted as training for lawyers cooperating with the FLA system to fulfill these requirements of the Procedure.

The relevant amendments to the Procedure were proposed during a meeting of the Bar Council of Ukraine by Valentyn Gvozdiy, the Vice President of UNBA, BCU. The day before, he held a working meeting with the HELP project management.

«It's a training platform and they hold a lot of events. They have already translated 33 products for Ukraine. Among them are those devoted to legal aid, - said Gvozdiy. - For our situation, topics on hate crimes, human rights in the Armed Forces, and others may be interesting. The courses are available on the HELP website and Ukrainian lawyers can study remotely».

For reference. The Council of Europe's HELP (Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals) program is an educational program that has been implemented within the Council of Europe since 2006. It is implemented in accordance with Recommendation (2004)4 of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the application of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in university education and the training of legal professionals, including lawyers.

The program is necessary, among other things, because the European Court of Human Rights is trying to reduce the number of complaints it receives by training legal professionals to effectively and correctly apply the Convention in their work.

The HELP network consists of representatives of national institutions for the in-service training of judges and prosecutors and bar associations from the CoE member states. The participants meet annually to share experiences, consult each other and adopt a roadmap containing topics that will be prioritized in the development of new HELP training programs and materials.