The elections of the Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates will be held on 12 September. The candidates registered in connection with the election are Gevorg Gyozalyan, Tamara Poghosyan and Simon Babayan.
Iravaban.net spoke with Simon Babayan, who is also the director of the School of Advocates.
– Do you consider the Chamber a politicized structure?
– Of course no. The Chamber is not a politicized structure. We have lawyers who are involved in certain political processes. The profession of a lawyer is an independent profession. The Chamber, except for violations of the rules of ethics, has no opportunity to influence the lawyer’s private life and activities. We do not have such a legal prohibition.
– How do you assess the work of the School of Advocates during these years?
– In 2014, when I assumed the position of school director, we had many problems. The first step was separation of the professions, the curricula were separated as well. I am aware of cases when it is said that the School of Advocates teaches academic courses, which are taught in universities. That does not correspond to reality. On the contrary, our emphasis is on the fact that the courses taught at school are of a strictly legal-practical nature.
For example, today the students of the School of Advocates have to go through 2 simulation trials. It is a trial that is as close to reality as possible, which is conducted by a judge.
– Is the approach of having several chambers acceptable for you?
– There are opinions that there is an opportunity to create several chambers. I think that example is not the best. Years ago we had that problem, there were several chambers. The protection of lawyers, the factor of independence was at a low level. Most of our achievements are conditioned by the fact that we have a unified structure. The law institute will not benefit of such step.
Besides, the phenomenon is not widespread among our international partners. For example, in the CIS we deal with mono-chambers of advocates..
Details in the video.
P.S. Interviews with other candidates will be published in the coming days as well.
Read also the interview of the other candidate for the Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce Gevorg Gyozalyan.
