UNBA calls for compliance with Council of Europe standards for the legal profession

The recently approved roadmap for EU accession in terms of bar reform refers to non-existent European standards and was adopted in violation of international principles. Therefore, before talking about changes, it is necessary to compare the current model of the bar with the Council of Europe standards embodied in the Convention on the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer.

This opinion was expressed during the round table «Reform of the Bar» organized by the EU project «Pravo-Justice» by the President of the Ukrainian National Bar Association, the Bar Council of Ukraine, Lidiya Izovitova.

Recall that on May 14, 2025, Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 475-r approved roadmaps for Cluster 1, «Fundamentals of the EU Accession Process». The document provides, in particular, for the updating of legislation on the legal profession by harmonizing it with «European standards» and best practices.

But what exactly did the authors of the latest reform have in mind when they referred to European standards? This question was posed by the President of the UNBA, BCU, to the participants of the event. At the time the roadmap was being prepared, there were no formalized European standards in the field of the legal profession. The French, German, English, and Scandinavian models of the legal profession are all significantly different from each other. And each of them is the standard in its own country. According to L. Izovitova, before talking about reform, it is necessary to clearly indicate which standards the initiators of the changes are referring to and in which documents they are set out.

The President of the UNBA, BCU noted that the current Law of Ukraine «On the Bar and the Practice of Law» was adopted in 2012 precisely to fulfill obligations to the Council of Europe. And its compliance with standards was confirmed in the Joint Conclusion of the Venice Commission, which recognized it as complying with «European constitutional standards». And in May this year, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) recognized the Ukrainian Rules of Professional Conduct for Advocates as the best in Europe.

At the same time, the roadmap proposes to resolve issues that have already been resolved, such as the admission of foreign lawyers. This gives the impression that the authors of the latest reform are not familiar with the current law.

On behalf of the Bar Council of Ukraine, L. Izovitova officially stated that the roadmap was approved without prior consultation with the National Bar Association of Ukraine. However, according to the Council of Europe Recommendations of October 25, 2000, and the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers of December 14, 1990, any legislation regulating the activities of the legal profession cannot be adopted without prior notification and consultation with the professional organization of lawyers. This is an international principle that was violated with the adoption of the roadmap on May 14.

Therefore, the adoption of the roadmap on reforming the legal profession on May 14 demonstrates the state's failure to comply with its international obligations in the field of the independence of the legal profession.

Therefore, analyzing the facts — references to non-existent standards, disregard for genuine European documents, procedural violations, attempts to reform a successfully functioning system — there is reasonable suspicion that the hidden goal of the reform's authors is to prevent Ukraine's accession to the EU.

It is interesting that on the day the roadmap was approved, European countries signed the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer. It was the first international treaty in the world to establish formalized European standards for the legal profession. And Ukrainian expert Valentin Gvozdiy, Vice President of the UNBA, BCU, was Vice-President of the commission that drafted this Convention.

Therefore, L. Izovitova called for the new legal realities not to be ignored. In her opinion, before reforming the Ukrainian legal profession, a professional assessment of the compliance of the current legislation with the European standards enshrined in the Convention should be carried out. And only after that, if necessary, should we talk about changes. «The advocacy is ready for constructive dialogue, but on the basis of real, not fictitious, international European standards», - concluded the President of the UNBA, BCU.

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