Requirements for judges' complaints against lawyers have been amended

Court decisions, rulings, special rulings or resolutions submitted by judges to the QDCB on the actions of advocates are not subject to the requirements established for an application (complaint) regarding the advocate's misconduct.

The relevant amendment to Article 10 of the Regulation on the Procedure for Receiving and Considering Complaints Regarding Improper Conduct of an Advocate that May Result in Disciplinary Liability was introduced by the Bar Council of Ukraine at its meeting on October 21 (BCU Decision No. 67).

Until recently, judges had to take into account the requirements of the complaint when making a decision on the advocate's behavior. Although the possibility of a judge's response is provided for by the procedural codes, the Law «On the Bar» provides for its own procedure for initiating disciplinary proceedings, an obligatory element of which is the application (complaint).

Thus, according to its Art. 36, anyone who has knowledge of the facts of such behavior has the right to file a statement (complaint) with the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar regarding the advocate's behavior that may be grounds for disciplinary liability.

The requirements for the application (complaint) are set forth in clause 14 of the said Regulations. Thus, it must contain the following information:

• the name of the qualification and disciplinary commission of the Bar of the region to which the application (complaint) is submitted;
• full name (title) of the applicant (complainant), position, place of work - for an official and an employee, postal address, as well as the number of the means of communication and e-mail address;
• full name of the advocate, whose behavior is the subject of the application (complaint), postal address, as well as the number of the means of communication and e-mail address, if known;
• a statement of the circumstances by which the applicant substantiates the fact of the presence of a disciplinary offense in the advocate's actions;
• requirements of the applicant (complainant).

In support of the circumstances that substantiate the application (complaint), the applicant (complainant) shall provide evidence, and in case of impossibility - shall indicate the evidence, the provision of which is impossible on their own, with the obligatory indication of the reasons and a request to the QDCB to request them.

A copy of the application (complaint) and copies of all documents attached thereto shall be attached to the application (complaint) for delivery to the advocate whose behavior is the subject of the application (complaint), except when the application (complaint) is submitted by e-mail. A written consent to the processing of personal data by the bar self-government bodies, including the collection, storage, use and dissemination, shall also be attached.

At the same time, the application (complaint), executed without observance of these and other requirements of clause 14 of the Regulations, shall be returned to the applicant (complainant) with the relevant explanation.

From now on, according to the amendments, the requirements for an application (complaint) set forth in Article 14 of these Regulations do not apply to court decisions, rulings, individual rulings or binding resolutions filed against the actions of advocates.

It is worth reminding that according to para. 10 of the Regulations, applications (complaints) concerning the advocate's conduct include: applications (complaints) of citizens; decisions, rulings, resolutions, appeals of judges; applications (complaints), resolutions, submissions of investigative bodies; applications (complaints), submissions of the heads of qualification and disciplinary commissions or its members, heads of regional bar councils or its members; applications (complaints) of advocates, law firms, law offices, associations of advocates, enterprises, institutions, organizations and other persons filed against the actions of advocates.