The Ministry of Justice has submitted for public discussion the draft on making changes and additions to the Law on Advocacy.

It is recommended to make the following changes and additions:

• First, review the role of the Board and the Chairman of the Chamber in the executive management of the Chamber of Advocates, giving priority to collegial management as an expression of the principle of self-government of advocacy activities.
• Second, review the internal structures of the Chamber of Advocates and the procedure for conducting internal governance. In particular, envisage new specialized bodies – the disciplinary commission and the control commission. Moreover, it is proposed to include representatives in those bodies, except for the Board, who are not members of the Chamber of Advocates. For example, from the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Finance, the Court of Cassation, the Office of the Human Rights Defender, higher education institutions, and non-governmental organizations. At the same time, it is proposed to clearly envisage the peculiarities of the formation and activity of all bodies: for example, given that they, like the Board, are a separate body of the Chamber, it is expedient to form them on the same principle as the Board; that is, by a meeting empowered to determine the activities of the Chamber. As a result, the authority to form the bodies of the Chamber will be reserved only for its highest body, the Assembly.
• Third, in order to avoid possible conflicts of interest, it is recommended to exclude the simultaneous involvement of one member of the body or an official in different bodies.
• Fourth, in order to ensure the depoliticization of the legal profession and its professional development, it is proposed to determine the requirements for the prohibition of party affiliation and political neutrality and restraint of the Chairman of the Chamber and the Director of the School of Advocates, as well as the requirement for political neutrality and restraint of the Board members.
• Fifth, from the point of view of guaranteeing the efficiency of the management of the Chamber, it is proposed to define the requirement for the Chairman of the Chamber not to engage in advocacy activity during his tenure.
• Sixth, it is proposed to review the role of the Chairman of the Chamber in terms of the formation and oversight of the management of the Public Defender’s Office. Under the current arrangements, the Chairman of the Chamber oversees the activities of the Office of the Public Defender, submits an estimate of the expenses of the Office of the Public Defender to the Government upon the recommendation of the Head of the Office of the Public Defender. Moreover, the head of the Public Defender’s Office is elected by the Board and his/her powers are terminated upon the nomination of the Chairman of the Chamber. In the context of the above, it is proposed to reserve the powers of control over the formation and activity of the Public Defender’s Office to the Board and the Control Commission, which will ensure self-government and collegiality in the mentioned field, as well as the independence of the management and activities of the Public Defender’s Office. For this purpose, it is proposed that the head of the Public Defender’s Office be appointed by the Board and not be nominated by the Chairman of the Chamber, and thus each member of the Board will have the right to nominate his/her candidate. The same procedure is proposed to be applied in case of early termination of the powers of the head of the Public Defender’s Office. This is due to the important role of the Public Defender’s Office.
• Seventh, review the role of the Chairman of the Chamber in the management of the School of Advocates. At present, the Chairman of the Chamber is ex-officio considered a member and Chairman of the Managing Board of the School of Advocates and the Director of the School of Advocates is appointed and dismissed by the managing Board of the School of Advocates upon the recommendation of the Chairman. Thus, the influence of the Chairman of the Chamber is also great in the relations related to the formation and predetermination of the management of the School of Advocates. However, given the importance of the School of Advocates, the need for guarantees for its independence and the need to maintain the principle of collegiality in its formation, it is recommended that the Managing Board of the School be elected by the council, where the Chairman of the Chamber will not be formally involved, especially as the Chairman of the Managing Board of the School. Instead, the Managing Board body of the School of Advocates will elect its Chairman from among its members. With regard to the Director of the School of Advocates, it is recommended that any member of the Managing Board of School shall have the opportunity to nominate a candidate to be elected a Director by the Managing Board.
• Eighth, review the scope of powers of the Assembly, the Board and the Chairman of the Chamber, based on the principle of self-government and the logic of collegiality. In particular, the Chairman of the Chamber currently performs a number of functions, which by their nature should be reserved for the Board of the Chamber: for example, approving the budget of the Chamber of Advocates, providing clarifications on the norms provided by the Code of Conduct for Advocates and the internal acts of the Chamber of Advocates, overseeing the activities of the Public Defender’s Office, etc.
• Ninth, review the rules for conducting secret ballots by ranking members of the Chamber of Advocates to ensure the possible representation of those bodies.
• Tenth, to review the provisions governing the course of disciplinary proceedings, as well as to establish a disciplinary commission on the basis of representation of the subjects, to establish guarantees for the protection of legal secrecy within the framework of disciplinary proceedings.
• Eleventh, provide for a simplified procedure for disciplinary proceedings and their examination on the grounds of non-participation in trainings, non-payment of membership fees or non-provision of reports on the provision of free legal aid.
• Twelfth, to review the procedure for conducting the qualification exams for an advocate, envisaging as an alternative the possibility of participating in the qualification exams without being admitted to the School of Advocates, if certain requirements are met.
• Thirteenth, expand the scope of beneficiaries of free legal aid.
• Fourteenth, to provide mechanisms so that the Public Defender’s Office can organize public protection of persons through other persons who are not public defenders.
• Fifteenth, to provide arrangements for voluntary gratuitous assistance by defining the scope of voluntary pro-bono assistance, the methods and scope of voluntary pro-bono assistance, guaranteeing the promotion of voluntary pro-bono assistance, and ensuring the accountability of voluntary pro-bono legal aid.

The draft will remain for public discussion until 28 January.