Preserving values of the profession
On May 19, the International Conference of the Russian Federal Chamber of Advocates, one of the key events of the VI St. Petersburg International Legal Forum
At the Annual International Lawyers’ Conference titled “Current challenges for the legal profession: Russia and worldwide”, which was held as a part of the VI St. Petersburg International Legal Forum, predictions were made as to development of the Bar for the next few years. The general trends are a unified profession and unified standards, implementation of up-to-date technologies, participation in the improvement of legal systems and socially important projects.
Project of reforms
In this context the activity of the Bar is especially important, therefore, the state pays much attention to it, dedicating a special section in the “Justice” State Program to protection of public interests: “The project of governing professional legal assistance was much in discussion, but the Federal Chamber of Advocates was a reliable partner for the legislative power branch, and we managed to resolve a lot of controversies. It is necessary to restore justice: legal assistance should be provided by persons that match certain requirements, including qualification ones”.
State secretary - deputy minister of justice of the Russian Federation Yury Lubimov commented on the situation around adoption of the new version of the “Justice” program. “We consider unification of legal advising community and the Bar in a common profession strategically correct, as the persons providing services to the population should have unified rules and a unified code of conduct. However, technically it is very difficult to execute, and in my opinion the only chance to carry out the reform is to reach consensus between the advocate community and other segments of the market”, he underlined.
Foreign experience
Another important mission of the Bar in a rule-of-law state is the social one. For example, since lately Germany has accepted a great number of refugees, advocates help to consider applications for the refugee status. To accelerate this process, an additional specialization was introduced - immigration law.
Stephen Hung, the president of the Law Society of Hong Kong dedicated his speech to such aspects of globalization as advocate’s activity in other jurisdictions. He gave a detailed explanation of the conditions on which foreign advocates are admitted to practice in Hong Kong.
To obtain permission, it is necessary to fill out a special form, submit a certificate of a practicing lawyer in the lawyer’s own country, a certificate of professional material liability insurance, confirmation of employment. Before admission to practice in Hong Kong, a foreign lawyer must undergo special training and pass qualification exams - five written ones and an oral one. If the lawyer’s work record in his own jurisdiction exceeds five years he may be exempt from one or two exams (for example, in civil and procedural law).
Jonathan Smithers, president of the Law Society of England and Wales, analyzed the British legal services market which is according to him very diverse - solicitors may use different legal structures.
As for the application of new technologies, the speaker mentioned that law firms are implementing various computer programs, but it is connected with a risk for the business: a hacker may break into the system and steal the data. For their part, clients prefer to use legal information and receive legal advice online, which contains a risk to receive services from an unqualified provider.
“It is necessary to understand what makes our profession special and guarantees rule of law and legal order”, said the treasurer of the French National Bar Council Francois-Antoine Cros. “These are the key principles of our profession: first of all - independence, self-regulation, client-lawyer privilege and fair treatment of clients”. In France these principles are determined by the National Bar Council (a professional organization that currently unites about 65 thousand of advocates).
There are concerns that practical application of the new law may lead to violations of the fundamental professional principles. First of all, the contents of codes of conduct will be emasculated, as ethical rules for different professions are not identical. Secondly, the law provides that the client-lawyer privilege shall not impede communication with other employees in the course of providing legal assistance.
Past president of the American Bar Association (ABA) William Hubbard focused on the implementation of new technologies and socially important projects in which lawyers of the US participate.
“Our purpose is to become a single voice that expresses all standpoints of the legal system”, he concluded. “Our association maintains common dialogue to ensure the Rule of law”.
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