Deferral from mobilization for lawyers: discrimination based on seniority should be eliminated

The criterion of continuous experience in the practice of law for ten years or more, as one of the criteria for granting lawyers a deferral from military service during mobilization, is discriminatory.

This conclusion was reached by the Committee for the Protection of the Rights of Advocates and Guarantees of the Practice of Law of the Ukrainian National Bar Association following the analysis of the draft Law No. 12348 of 19.12.2024 on Amendments to Article 23 of the Law «On Mobilization Training and Mobilization».

As a reminder, the document proposes to include advocates in the list of persons entitled to a deferral from military service during mobilization if they meet four criteria, one of which is continuous experience in the practice of law for 10 years or more. More details are available here.

The UNBA reminded that lawyers are an integral part of the judicial system. An essential feature of the practice of law is that lawyers perform an important function that is of a public law nature: they promote justice.

The term defense is understood as a type of advocacy activity that consists in ensuring the protection of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a suspect, accused, defendant, convicted, acquitted person, a person in respect of whom it is envisaged to apply compulsory medical or educational measures or the issue of their application in criminal proceedings is being decided, a person in respect of whom the issue of extradition to a foreign state (extradition) is being considered, as well as a person who is brought to administrative responsibility during the consideration of a case.

Pursuant to the Law «On the Bar and Practice of Law», the Ukrainian advocate shall practice law throughout Ukraine and abroad, unless otherwise provided by an international treaty ratified by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine or the legislation of a foreign state.

An advocate may be an individual who has a complete higher legal education, speaks the state language in accordance with the level determined in accordance with the Law «On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language», has at least two years of experience in the field of law, has passed the qualification exam, has completed an internship (except in cases established by this Law), has taken the oath of the Ukrainian Bar and has received a certificate of the right to practice law.

In other words, the Law does not contain any gradation in terms of the available legal experience and does not create a division of lawyers by the length of their legal practice. Therefore, it is unclear on what principle the criterion of 10 years or more of continuous practice of law for persons entitled to deferment from mobilization is established.

While supporting the draft law in general, the UNBA proposes to exclude this criterion for granting the deferral.

The letter with the relevant arguments was sent to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, which was designated as the specialized committee for the processing of the draft Law No. 12348.