Will the Ministry of Justice without a minister reform advocacy without advocacy?
The Ministry of Justice plans to establish a working group through the Cabinet of Ministers to improve legislation in the field of advocacy and legal practice. It will include representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Office of the President, members of parliament, academics, and numerous representatives of public organizations and grant projects.
The draft resolution, which is to be considered by the Cabinet of Ministers, was announced during a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy on January 12.
The draft was prepared by the Ministry of Justice, which is currently headed by Deputy Minister Lyudmila Sugak. She also heads the newly formed group. However, according to the document, only one of the 27 members of the group will represent the advocacy association — Oksana Kadenko, a member of the Bar Council of Ukraine from the Khmelnytskyi region.
It is noteworthy that during the Committee meeting, the acting minister stated that advocates and the UNBA would be «involved as widely as possible» in this working group. «I am very sorry. Apparently, you were not provided with the latest or complete information, because the proposed composition included V. Gvozdiy (Vice President of the UNBA, BCU - ed.) and many representatives of the Ukrainian National Bar Association.
However, the inaccuracies regarding the composition of the group were not limited to the representation of advocates. During the discussion, the chairman of the subcommittee on the organization and activities of advocacy, legal aid bodies of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy Volodymyr Vatras informed representatives of the Ministry of Justice that the Ukrainian National Bar Association had already set up a working group to implement the Roadmap on the rule of law in terms of reforming the bar and had invited members of his subcommittee who had already expressed their desire to participate in its activities. At the same time, he noted that, for some reason, the people's representatives had not been invited to join the government group that was being formed. «As the chairman of the subcommittee on the organization of the bar, I did not receive an invitation from the Ministry of Justice to join this working group, - the MP said. - It seems that you are planning to reform the advocacy without the participation of the relevant subcommittee».
In response, Deputy Minister of Justice Lyudmila Kravchenko said that Vatras had already been included in the group, to which he responded ironically: «I am very pleased that you have informed me of this today». The official then read out that other members of the subcommittee had also been included in the government working group.
We remind you that the Cabinet of Ministers' order No. 475-r of May 14, 2025, approved the Roadmap on the rule of law. Among the tasks set out in the document is the development and adoption of a draft law on improving the legal regulation of advocacy by the fourth quarter of 2026.
The Ukrainian National Bar Association was designated as the co-implementer of the measures. That is why, by decision of the Bar Council of Ukraine dated December 12, 2025, No. 125, the Program for the implementation of the Roadmap in the part concerning the reform of the bar was approved, and a working group was created. On January 2, its first organizational meeting took place.
In addition to representatives of central and regional bar self-government bodies, the chairman and members of the subcommittee on the organization and activities of advocacy at the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy, academics, representatives of the Ukrainian public sector, as well as the international professional community, in particular, the current and former presidents and staff of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE), representatives of national bar associations in France, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Luxembourg. The general structure of the working group's activities was also presented at the first meeting.
Recently, the Vice President of the UNBA, BCU Valentin Gvozdiy and one of the authors of the Council of Europe Convention on the protection of the profession of advocate warned about the procedural and substantive risks of parallel initiatives. «Such stories end either in failure to meet deadlines or in hasty compromises that then do not work», - he said in an interview with the publication Law and Business.
The representative of the advocacy association also expressed his own vision of the format of interaction between the advocacy and the state. «The state is working with an already launched process and should help it: provide political and procedural support, access to data, coordination with other bodies, and government procedures where they are needed, - said V. Gvozdiy. - Therefore, if the Ministry of Justice wants to work, that is normal. But it must work in a spirit of consultation and with respect for the already established working group as the place where a coordinated package is being formed».
O. Kadenko, whom the Ministry of Justice agreed to involve in the work on changes to the legislation on advocacy, also shared her doubts about the effectiveness of the government working group following the meeting of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on legal policy. «In its proposed composition, the government working group appears unviable as a platform for preparing amendments to the legislation on advocacy. The UNBA submitted five candidates to its composition, but only one representative of advocacy was left in the draft prepared by the Ministry of Justice. The presence of one person cannot replace consultations with a professional association on government decisions that directly affect our activities and the regulation of the profession as a whole», - she emphasized, referring to Part 3 of Article 4 of the Council of Europe Convention on the protection of the profession of advocate, which Ukraine must sign and ratify.
Recall that, according to this provision, «the parties shall ensure timely and effective consultation with professional associations on government proposals for any changes in legislation, procedural and administrative rules that directly affect the professional activities of advocates and the regulation of the profession».
«In the absence of real representation and consultation, the UNBA cannot consider the government group as a legitimate format for developing decisions. The correct model is interaction in the format of assistance to the working group already created by the Bar Council of Ukraine», - O. Kadenko concluded.
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