On 17 December 2015 the UNBA reporting conference "New Ukrainian Bar - Moving Forward", devoted to the Day of the Bar of Ukraine, took place in Kyiv.

The conference commenced with the welcoming words and introductory speeches by Mrs Lydia Izovitova, UNBA/BCU President, Mrs Valentyna Simonenko, President of the Council of Judges of Ukraine, Mr Pavlo Lutskyuk, member of the Higher Qualification Commission of Judges of Ukraine, Chairman of the Bar Council of Rivne Region, Mrs Olena Kafidova, Judge of the Higher Specialized Court of Ukraine, and Mr Vasyl Gumenyuk, Supreme Court judge.

The first session of the conference was devoted to the presentation of the UNBA results, during which Mr Valentyn Gvozdiy, UNBA/BCU Deputy President, presented a report on the UNBA activities. In particular, he informed the participants of the conference about the institutional achievements of the Ukrainian bar, communication, partnerships, maintenance of the URAU, legal cases which involved the UNBA, continuous legal training of advocates, work of the UNBA Secretariat and Charity Foundation for advocates. In turn, Mr Ivan Grechkivsky, Deputy Chair of the UNBA International Relations Committee, Chair of the Center for UNBA Initiatives "Bar of the Future", reported on the UNBA international activities and its prospects, international partnership development and implementation of the project of electronic library for advocates at the UNBA portal and a possibility of introducing distance-learning system of training for advocates. Mrs Oksana Kadenko, BCU member, presented the results of the BCU activities, outlined key decisions taken by the BCU and made good news that from now on, all BCU decisions are stored in the legal database electronic system “LeagueZakon”. Mr Oleksandr Drozdov, President of the Higher Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar, described the HQDCB activities. Mrs Inna Mokina, BCU member from the Kherson region, presented the report on the activities of the regional bar councils, and Mr Mykola Pavlov, member of the Disciplinary Chamber of the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar of the Kyiv region, reported on the activities of the regional QDCBs.

The UNBA report on the results of 2015 (three quarters) can be found here.

The second session of the event was dedicated to the strengthening of the profession and to the prospects of development of the Bar. The particular issues were as follows: the exclusive right of advocates to represent clients in the courts, insurance of advocates’ professional liability and to the UNBA strategic planning. Leaders of the bar self-government bodies, advocates and international experts acted as speakers.

In the course of the discussion, all participants reaffirmed a unanimous opinion on the need to introduce an exclusive right of advocates to represent clients in the courts.

Summarizing the session, moderator Valentyn Gvozdiy noted: “The Ukrainian Bar has chosen the European vector of development and it is rapidly implementing quality standards for legal aid in our profession. Therefore, the introduction of the advocates’ exclusive right to represent clients in the courts will allow the Ukrainian legal profession to take its deserved place at the forefront of our European and international colleagues”.

The Ukrainian National Bar Association expresses its gratitude to the leaders of the bar self-government bodies, advocates, lawyers, international experts and other participants of the conference for the fruitful work to the benefit and strengthening of the Ukrainian legal profession.