International activities of a lawyer: key rules

Given the constant expansion of the geography of Ukrainian business, as well as the investment potential of our market for foreign partners during the post-war recovery of the country, the issues of legal support for international activities are of particular importance.

Integration within the European Community and the European Economic Area, as well as the expansion of international activities of lawyers, led to the development of general rules for the activities of lawyers engaged in international practice in the EEA. And on October 28, 1988, the Code of Conduct for European Lawyers was adopted at the plenary session of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE).

According to the Code, the international activity of the advocate includes:

1. professional contacts of advocates of the Member States, except for contacts carried out by advocates of the same country;
2. professional activities of an advocate of one of the Member States carried out in another Member State, regardless of his or her physical presence in that State.

The general requirements for the exercise of professional activity by the advocate are:

• absolute independence and absence of any influence on the advocate both in court proceedings and in extrajudicial matters;
• impartiality in court;
• adherence to the standards for the sake of the client's interests, which prevail over the advocate's own interests;
• observance of professional honor, dignity and decency;
• confidentiality of all information that became known in the course of the Practice of Law.

At the same time, while carrying out international activities, the advocate from another Member State may be obliged to comply with the professional rules of the host Member State in case of participation in court hearings in the case, shall be obliged to comply with the rules of conduct adopted by this court, maintaining due respect and courtesy to the court, and shall protect the interests of the client honestly and fearlessly.

In the course of cooperation, the advocates of the Member States are obliged to take into account possible differences between the legislative systems and professional organizations, competencies and duties of advocates in the respective Member States.

The Code also outlines the procedure for resolving disputes between advocates of different member states. In particular, a lawyer should not take any legal action against a colleague from another Member State without first notifying the bar association or law society of which they are both members.

For reference: The CCBE was founded in 1960 as an international association that promotes the views of European lawyers in defense of the legal principles on which democracy and the rule of law are based.

Today, the organization represents more than a million European lawyers before European and other international institutions. The most important missions of the CCBE are the regulation of the profession, the defense of the rule of law, human rights and democratic values. The CCBE also focuses on access to justice and the digitization of justice processes.

The members of the CCBE are bar associations and law societies from 46 countries of the European Union, the European Economic Area and Europe. The organization consists of 32 member countries and 14 associate and observer countries.

In November 2022, during the plenary session of the CCBE, the Ukrainian National Bar Association was granted associate member status and awarded the Human Rights Award for its outstanding and tireless commitment to human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine.

The material was prepared by Olena Maksymenko, attorney at law, UNBA representative in the Czech Republic.