Lawyers who went to military service are called to eliminate incompatibility

Since military service is incompatible with the practice of law, military units began to warn servicemen who failed to comply with the law on incompatibility about the initiation of disciplinary measures against them.

Taking into account the relevant separate order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Bar Council of Ukraine invalidated its decision of 03.03.2022 No. 24 «On Peculiarities of Military or Alternative (Non-military) Service by Advocates during the Period of Martial Law».

At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, many lawyers took up arms to defend the country, joining the ranks of the Armed Forces and territorial defense. At that time, they were objectively unable to comply with the requirement of the Law «On the Bar and Practice of Law» to eliminate incompatibility and submit an application to the Bar Council of the region at the address of their workplace to suspend their practice of law. That is why in the spring of 2022, the BCU decided not to consider military service by lawyers during martial law a violation of the incompatibility requirement and not to use this ground for disciplinary action. However, some perceived Decision No. 24 as a permission to combine military service with the practice of law and a loophole for additional income

At the same time, the combination of professions leads to improper performance by a citizen of the duties of both a military officer to protect the sovereignty and independence of the state and an advocate to provide defense, representation and other types of legal assistance to a client. After all, according to the Statute of the Internal Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, one of the main principles is sole authority and strict subordination, and the specifics of the goals and objectives of the Bar require maximum independence of the advocate in the exercise of his or her professional rights and duties. This implies freedom from any external influence, pressure or interference in the provision of professional legal aid, defense or representation of a client (read more about this here).

Thus, as of today, lawyers who are performing military service but have not filed an application for suspension of their practice of law to the bar council of the region at the address of their workplace must do so and eliminate the circumstances of incompatibility.

If any entities impede the fulfillment of this obligation, which follows from Article 7 of the Law «On the Bar and Practice of Law», the BCU asks its colleagues to contact the Ukrainian National Bar Association for response measures.