Ministry of Justice initiated reforms in the field of the profession of advocate

Today, on 18 February, a discussion was organised on the draft Law “On making amendments and supplements to the Law ‘On the profession of advocate’”. Deputy Minister of Justice Grigor Minasyan, Chairperson of the Chamber of Advocates Simon Babayan, and representatives of the interested structures attended the discussion.

The draft was elaborated by the “Center for Legislation Development and Legal Research” Foundation.

At the beginning of the discussion, Director of the Foundation Tigran Dadunts presented the recommendations made as a result of the public discussion on the draft Law “On making amendments and supplements to the Law ‘On the profession of advocate’”. Before presenting for public discussion, the draft was circulated among all the advocates of the Republic of Armenia to collect their opinions.

It is recommended to make the following amendments to the draft, which stems from the 2021-2026 Government Programme and the 2019-2023 Strategy for Judicial and Legal Reforms:

● review the internal structure of the Chamber of Advocates, within the scope of which, it is envisaged to form a separate body — Disciplinary Commission — responsible for examining disciplinary cases;

● establish — for the purpose of ensuring depoliticisation of the profession of advocate and its professional formation — a requirement for banning the Chairperson of the Chamber of Advocates and the members of its Board to make use of their status to make political statements, and for displaying political restraint and neutrality while exercising their powers;

● expand the scope of beneficiaries of public defence, including therein also:

-   foreign nationals under cases for appealing against deportation decisions;

-   persons with regard to whom proceedings are being conducted for declaring as having no or having limited active legal capacity, declaring citizens that have been declared as having no active legal capacity as having active legal capacity, or for lifting limitations on citizens’ active legal capacity, as well as:

-   victims, if the latters are compulsory military servants, or children not having attained the age of 16;

● introduce new standards for accountability and evaluation of the Office of Public Defender, aimed at improving the services rendered by the Office;

● in addition to public defence, the legislation stipulates schemes for provision of pro bono legal aid by individual advocates or law firms, as well as other individuals, also envisaging appropriate incentives to develop this culture in Armenia;

● review the procedure for qualification of advocates, in the case of which some persons will be able to participate in qualification examinations without complying with the compulsory requirement to attend the School of Advocates, in particular, persons with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in law, or a higher legal education with a specialist’s degree, with at least seven years of professional legal experience, as well as with at least five years of previous legal experience as an advocate, at least five years of experience as a prosecutor or a judge, or persons with PhD, or Doctorate degree;

● review the procedure for election of the bodies of the Chamber of Advocates, in the case of which each participant of the voting will be able to elect half of members of the body being elected;

● as well as the legislation stipulates various regulations on the procedure for instituting disciplinary proceedings against advocates, aimed at protection of the rights and interests of advocates within the scope of the mentioned proceedings.

The participants of the discussion with regard to the above-mentioned draft came up with various recommendations, stating their position and vision of solving the issue.

The participants of the discussion, the Chairperson of the Chamber of Advocates, and the Director of the School of Advocates expressed positively on the qualification examination procedure, stating that in case of persons stepping into the community, the qualification examination will test the knowledge they would have received if they attended the School of Advocates, therefore, as a result, good specialists will step into to the community.

The Chamber of Advocates and the Office of Public Defender raised the issue of work overload of the Office of Public Defender. They emphasised that it is necessary to envisage certain legislative mechanisms that will contribute to the reduction of work overload of the Office of Public Defender. The draft submitted by the Ministry of Justice resolves this issue as well.

During the meeting, various recommendations were heard, which will be discussed during the refining stage of the draft, and when presenting it for public discussion for the second time, the presented recommendations will also be examined, if necessary.

The need to have a special judicial procedure under cases on terminating the licence of advocates was also highlighted, within the scope of which such cases will be examined under a special expedited procedure. Within the scope of this issue the Ministry expressed readiness to study the issue.

The attendees also welcomed the introduction of legislative schemes for provision of pro bono legal aid; moreover, the participants insisted that the scope of beneficiaries of pro bono legal aid should not be limited by legislation so that if desired, advocates could provide free legal aid to people facing financial problems, which will not only contribute to reducing the work overload of the Office of Public Defender, but also to the developing the culture of provision of pro bono legal services in Armenia, and to the more complete and proper enjoyment of rights of persons to legal aid.

Questions and recommendation will continue to be accepted, which will be studied while refining the draft. Director of the “Centre for Legislation Development and Legal Research” Foundation Tigran Dadunts stressed that the draft Law will be put up for public discussion after the final refinement.