New Procedure for improving the professional level of advocates approved by the BCU

Starting from January 1, 2025, Ukrainian lawyers will be required to improve their professional level according to updated rules. The Bar Council of Ukraine has approved the relevant Procedure, which provides for 14 forms of advanced training and the number of credit hours that a lawyer must receive during the year.

The decision was made during the meeting of the Bar Council, which is taking place on December 13-14 in Lviv region.

According to the Law «On the Bar and Practice of Law», professional development is a professional duty of an attorney. Compliance with it should ensure continuous deepening, expansion and updating of professional knowledge, skills and abilities by advocates, and, at the request of the advocate, obtaining a new specialization or qualification in a particular area of law or field of activity on the basis of previously obtained education and practical experience, and provide advocates with sufficient information on changes in the current legislation, its interpretation and application.

«The need to adopt the new Procedure was caused, among other things, by the recent decision of the Sixth Administrative Court of Appeal, which questioned the existence of the category of young attorneys and special requirements for improving their professional level, - commented Oksana Kadenko, a member of the Bar Council of Ukraine. - We have studied the experience on this issue in other countries, as well as analyzed its regulation in related institutions of the justice system, in particular, judges and prosecutors».

Ukraine has begun negotiations on accession to the EU, and one of the key areas of these negotiations is ensuring compliance with professional standards in all sectors, including the judiciary. In this context, raising the professional level of lawyers is of particular importance, since the bar is an important guarantor of the rights and freedoms of citizens in the context of European integration.

In particular, in this process, it is necessary to take into account the Recommendations of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) on Continuing Professional Development (CPD), which are aimed at maintaining high standards of professional competence and ethics among European lawyers.

The CCBE recommends the introduction of a mandatory CPD system for all lawyers in the EU to ensure that lawyers constantly improve their knowledge and skills. This involves regular updating of knowledge of law, ethics and other professional competencies. Attorneys are offered a wide range of training options, including participation in seminars, conferences, workshops, online courses, research and scientific publications. This allows the learning process to be tailored to individual needs and conditions. The recommendations often contain specific requirements for the minimum number of CPD hours that attorneys must obtain annually. The requirements may vary from country to country, but usually range from 10 to 20 hours per year.

«The Constitution of Ukraine has united judges, prosecutors and lawyers in one chapter «Justice». Therefore, it is obvious that we have to take into account the requirements for the professional level, including the scope of work, which are defined for our colleagues», - said O. Kadenko.

Thus, according to the new Procedure for raising the professional level of advocates of Ukraine, all advocates, starting from 2025, will be obliged to raise their professional level at the level of 15 credit hours per year, regardless of their length of service.

The following types of professional development of advocates have been established:

• studying or teaching under professional programs of professional development of advocates in higher education institutions of the III and IV accreditation levels, if they are accredited operators of professional development of advocates;
• participation in international, all-Ukrainian and regional scientific, scientific-practical and scientific-methodological conferences, seminars, round tables, trainings, programs, etc. organized and conducted by the operators of the professional development of advocates in Ukraine and abroad;
• participation in any accredited events for the professional development of advocates (including online), organized by the providers of the professional development of advocates, after passing the test (if any) on the online platform of the UNBA's administrator for the professional development of advocates. Number of credit hours within the accreditation;
• delivering a report, presentation or scientific report as a certified lecturer at international, national and regional scientific, practical and methodological conferences, seminars, round tables, workshops, trainings, etc;
• scientific or scientific-practical articles that have been reviewed by the Academic Council of the USPA;
• publication of monographs, textbooks, manuals (including in co-authorship);
• obtaining a Doctor of Philosophy degree in the field of law while practicing law;
• obtaining a doctoral degree in the field of law (or a doctor of law in case of obtaining a degree abroad) in the practice of law;
• work in the bar self-government bodies;
• participation of the advocate in the work of the committees for the protection of the rights of advocates of the bar councils of the regions upon the proposal of the chairman of the bar council of the region;
• participation in the work of other UNBA committees;
• successful completion of online testing with the subsequent accrual of credit hours;
• successful completion of online testing on the topic «Regulatory regulation of the status and activities of the bar self-government bodies»;
• completion of the Council of Europe courses on the HELP learning platform, subject to confirmation of training by the relevant certificate.

«It is important that the Bar Council of Ukraine has changed its approach to accreditation of events held by operators. When determining the number of credit hours within the framework of an accredited event, the UNBA Expert Council, in addition to the duration, will now also take into account the criterion of their complexity, - explained O. Kadenko. - As before, the regional bar councils will conduct free seminars and webinars. However, advocates will be able to choose paid forms of professional development on their own».

The full text of the Procedure for Professional Development of Advocates of Ukraine will be published on the UNBA's website in the near future.