V. Gvozdiy told his Finnish colleagues about the experience of the Bar during the war

Finland, which has about 1,300 kilometers of land border with Russia, joined NATO in April 2023. However, bordering on an aggressive neighbor obviously leaves the risks of conflict and even war relevant. Therefore, Finnish lawyers are interested in the experience of their Ukrainian colleagues in organizing work under martial law.

On October 10, Valentyn Gvozdiy Vice president of the UNBA, BCU, held a webinar for representatives of the Finnish bar self-government bodies, during which he spoke about the challenges faced by Ukraine since the beginning of the war and after the full-scale invasion, and presented the main steps taken by the Ukrainian National Bar Association to establish the normal operation of the bar in the new conditions.

V. Gvozdiy emphasized the importance of cooperation with international and foreign professional societies, their assistance, including financial, as well as support for those lawyers (mostly female lawyers) who have moved abroad with their families and integrated into the professional environment of European countries.

In addition to organizational measures aimed at ensuring sustainable operations, Vice president of the UNBA, BCU emphasized the special role of digitalization of as many work processes as possible. In particular, he spoke about the capabilities of the Ukrainian system «Electronic Court», which provides for the exchange of electronic documents between the court and participants in the trial, as well as remote participation in court hearings. «Thus, despite the war, we continue to comply with the guarantees of access to justice, defense and professional legal assistance», - said V. Gvozdiy.

In addition, he spoke about the peculiarities of the Unified Register of Advocates of Ukraine, which is maintained by the UNBA in terms of protecting personal data of advocates, creating conditions for the proper exercise of their rights and observance of guarantees of the practice of law.