To Find a Reasonable Balance between the Interests of the Legal Profession, Society, and the State

The Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Uzbekistan organized a conference entitled "Prospects for the development of the legal profession: the experience of Uzbekistan and foreign countries." The conference was attended by representatives of the bar associations of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Georgia, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Uzbekistan, representatives of international legal organizations. The Russian Federal Bar Association (RFBA) was represented by Yury Pilipenko, President of the RFBA; Akif Beibutov, Vice-President of the RFBA and President of the Bar of the Republic of Dagestan; Elena Avakyan, Vice-President of the RFBA ; Svetlana Volodina, Vice-President of the RFBA, Vice-President of the Bar of the Moscow Region, and Head of the Department of Legal Profession at Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL); Aleksandr Shefer, International Relations Officer. 

In his speech at the session on free legal aid, Yury Pilipenko noted that the world is at the stage of transition to a new way of life, which Western futurists and politicians call the new reality, and China - the policy of social loans. This way of life, according to him, is characterized by concessions in the sphere of traditional rights of citizens in exchange for security. At the same time, the institution of free legal aid will have to be transformed following social changes, changes in world politics and the world economy, which advocates need to take into account.

An alternative to creating state legal aid bureaus

Yuri Pilipenko, President of the RFBA, spoke at the panel session entitled “Free legal assistance: the experience of Uzbekistan and international practice. Guarantees for the efficient activity of the legal profession”.

Yuri Pilipenko drew attention to the fact that recently the state in Russia has been working to create state legal bureaus in all regions of the Russian Federation, with the obvious prospect of monopolizing this area by the state itself in the person of its employees.

According to him, the Russian legal profession does not support this approach, since the creation of state legal bureaus throughout the country could lead to the formation of an institution of “state advocates”, which will undoubtedly entail significant distortions in the nature of qualified legal assistance.

In this regard, Mr Pilipenko spoke about the development by the Russian Bar at its own expense of a chat-bot that will advise citizens on issues related to the scope of the Free Legal Aid Law (pensions, labor disputes, renting issues etc.). it is necessary to collect practical material, analyze, highlight typical questions of citizens and standard answers of advocates, process them and create appropriate algorithms. Thus, Yuri Pilipenko noted, the Russian legal profession will demonstrate to the state that there is an alternative to creating a network of state bureaus. He emphasized that the task of the Russian bar is to find a reasonable balance between the interests of the bar, society and the state. The position of the RFBA on the free legal aid ussue is based on these considerations.

Benefits of advocates

Akif Beibutov, Vice President of the RFBA and President of the Bar of the Republic of Dagestan, spoke at the session entitled "Legal Support for Entrepreneurship" and focused on the advantages of advocates in protecting the rights and interests of entrepreneurs compared to the legal departments of institutions and law firms, such as the availability of attorney-client privilege, the right to an advocate's request and the obligation of authorities to respond to it, the advocate's right to collect certain information.

Mr Beibutov also spoke about the institution of commissioners for the protection of the rights of entrepreneurs, their interaction with advocates and bars.

Crucial steps towards true digital equity

Elena Avakyan, Vice President of the RFBA, spoke at the session “Digitalization of the Bar and Legal Profession in the Modern World” and noted that in connection with the digital transformation that affects all spheres of life, the bar is obliged to ensure the independence and inviolability of advocates' data. In addition, in the context of the active implementation of the e-justice system, the task of the bar is to create a digital flow on a par with the judicial system and interact with it as an equal participant in the process.

Elena Avakyan said that in the period from 2020 to 2022, the RFBA created and implemented in all regional bars of the Russian Federation the Complex Information System of the Russian Bar (CIS RB). She emphasized that the creation and implementation of the CIS RB, the appearance in the Federal Law “On the Practice of Law and the Bar in the Russian Federation” of a chapter dedicated to the CIS RB, the planned connection of the CIS RB to the System of Interdepartmental Electronic Interaction are the most important steps towards creating a true digital equality of advocates with participants in digital public administration.

Improving professional skills

Svetlana Volodina, Vice President of the RFBA, Vice President of the Bar of the Moscow Region and Head of the Department of Legal Profession at Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL) at the session "Advanced training of advocates: practice and trends" spoke about improving the professional skills of advocates in the Russian Federation.

In particular, she spoke about the forms in which the RFBA and regional bars organize the professional training of advocates: on-site events (lectures, trainings, moot courts); online events (webinars, training courses); subscription to the RFBA publication "Advokatskaya Gazeta"; scientific and practical events held by the RFBA (conferences, congresses, round tables, symposiums). Svetlana Volodina reported that in 2021–2022, 131 lectures were given by 63 experts at the RFBA webinars. In 2021, 75,504 advocates watched RFBA webinars, and in 2022, their number reached 75,551. Webinar broadcasts were watched in 506 cities of Russia and 42 foreign countries.

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At the end of the conference, participants expressed their gratitude to the organizers for holding the first major off-line legal event in Uzbekistan in the post-pandemic period.