Discussion on key provisions of the Draft Amendments to Law of Ukraine “On Bar and Advocacy”

On March 4, 2016, Interlegal represented by Oleksandr Chebotarenko, senior lawyer and the member of the Bar Council of Odessa Region, participated in the discussion on key provisions of the Draft Amendments to the Law of Ukraine “On Bar and Advocacy”. The event, organized by the Ukrainian Bar Association, jointly with the EU Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine” and the Bar Council of Odessa Region, was held in Odessa.

The aforesaid Draft has been placed on the official website of the Council upon the issues of judicial reforms for further professional and public discussion.

In the opinion of legal professionals, the Draft contains some useful changes. However some provisions cause concern among attorneys which actively took part in discussion and are preparing their own proposals.

Active discussion started from the first presentation. Attorneys expressed their opinions (sometimes contrary) upon each issue, such as access to the Bar, disciplinary responsibility and self-organization of lawyers. Keynote of discussion was the need of essential improvement of the Draft regarding implementation of practical mechanisms of compliance with the principle of equality of arms among defense and prosecution both in pretrial and court proceedings. At present, this principle is not observed in fact and the defense is actually deprived of many mechanisms of evidence collecting and support, as compared to prosecution.

Oksana Tsymbrivska and Rytis Jokubauskas, experts of the EU Project “Support to Justice Sector Reforms in Ukraine”, shared their precious international experience in regulation of law practice.

We hope that attorneys will further actively participate in improvement of the principal profiled law on advocacy and it will result in the mature and balanced regulatory act.