“Atovmyan Law” Law Firm offers a wide range of legal services provided by knowledgeable and experienced professionals. The Company was founded by Marat Atovmyan in 2019. He worked for many years in state, international and non-governmental organizations. He worked as an expert in various international programs. Mr. Atovmyan has delivered lectures on human rights, integrity, good governance and the fight against corruption both in Armenia and in foreign countries. He is a member of the RA Chamber of Advocates, the Group of Independent Experts (GIE) on the European Charter of Local Self-Government.
Iravaban.net continues to introduce the readers information on the law firms operating in Armenia. The interlocutor of the “Law Firms of Armenia” series is Mr. Marat Atovmyan, the founder of the “Atovmyan Law” Law Office. He will tell about the policy adopted by the office, the difficulties and problems of the lawyer’s activity.
– When was your law office founded, will you tell us briefly about your activities?
– Our law office was founded in 2019. Naturally, my professional path began much earlier, in 1996. I have worked in various fields, in various bodies: state, international, and non-governmental organizations, and in 2019, I founded this company as am entity providing various legal services. We work in several directions, in one direction we provide various legal services to individuals and citizens. We provide corporate service for legal entities or establish companies, and the third direction includes professional courses in the format that will give more practical benefit to young professionals, lawyers in their practical work.
Our Company operates in Yerevan and regions, we deal with all kinds of cases: civil, criminal and administrative.
Basically, my activity was closely related to law. Having a license to practice as a lawyer myself, I did more legal consulting in various organizations. I worked in the Social Security Ministry, in the HRD staff, I headed the Anti-Corruption Centers in Hrazdan and Yerevan, that is, my professional path was connected with providing legal support to people. After 24 years of working in other organizations, there came a moment when I decided to found my own company and within its framework continue what I have been doing for years.
– What obstacles arise for law firms in Armenia, and what solutions do you see for them?
– In general, the work of a lawyer is very difficult, because, for example, you can have 3 or even 4 court hearings in a day. I have had days like this in different parts of the city. You have to participate in all those sessions, carry out your work actively, it is not only a matter of physical movement, but also you have to spend enough time to prepare for the court sessions. Your working day begins at 08:00-09:00 in the morning and ends at 11 or 12 at night. The work is quite hard physically and emotionally. Working with people is difficult, because each of your clients has their own approaches, their own ideas, and you must be able to work and communicate with everyone. Each judge has his own approach, one judge can apply the same norm in one way, and another judge can apply it in another way, which complicates the work of a lawyer because it is difficult to decide whether you have approached the issue correctly. In one case, you approach the case in this way and you win, in the other case, the judge, may reject your claim.
– What kind of problem to solve or to receive legal advice do the citizens often apply?
– Marital and family disputes are common among us, we also have many cases related to divorce, alimony, property division, visiting the children, labor disputes, activities of various state bodies, law enforcement agencies. For example, how to formulate or receive an inheritance, sign contracts? In regions, rural areas, where there are problems related to the age of acquisition of land and property, for example, a person has been living or working on that land for years, taking care of it, etc., but his ownership right has not been formalized. We have various cases, mostly won, when we were able to recognize the property of the given person by virtue of the statute of limitations. Difficulties occur mainly when the parties act from hostile positions towards each other and do not compromise in any way, each party wants to advance itself, to prove itself, often forgetting the best interest of the child. Here, of course, it creates an unnecessary emotional background, emotions, there are cases when the parties start disrespecting each other during the court session.
– What should a lawyer be like in the framework of his activities?
– You have to be persistent, patient, first of all you have to patiently listen to your client, try to understand the essence of the problem in the whole complex through clarifying questions, carefully study the documents, if there is a need to obtain additional documents, be able to properly organize all of that with a lawsuit, so that both the situation and your demand shall be be clear and obvious for the judge. You must be able to conduct the entire judicial process consistently and conscientiously, based on the interests of your client. There are cases when your client comes and says: I have this problem, you listen to him or look at his documents and simply advise him not to go to court.
Mariam Shahnazaryan
Details in the video.
