The State Duma adopted amendments to the law on the legal profession – Kommersant
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On Wednesday, the State Duma adopted in the third reading amendments to the law “On advocacy and the legal profession in the Russian Federation.” The initiative was developed by the Ministry of Justice in dialogue with the Federal Chamber of Lawyers (FBA) of the Russian Federation and submitted to the lower chamber in February 2023. The document, in particular, tightens the requirements for candidates for lawyers – it is mandatory to have a higher legal education with a master’s degree in jurisprudence. Among other things, the Ministry of Justice included in the bill provisions on the creation of a unified state register of defense attorneys and on the regulation of the status of the general lawyer information system.
In April last year, deputies adopted the amendments in the first reading, and in October a government commission proposed adding an important provision to the law: “The status of a lawyer is terminated by the council of the Bar Chamber if there is a conclusion from the qualification commission if it is revealed that the lawyer has left for permanent residence or for a period of more than one year outside the Russian Federation.” As Kommersant previously reported, the proposal caused a mixed reaction in the legal community. The defenders interviewed by Kommersant said that such a basis for deprivation of status contradicts Part 2 of Art. 27 of the Constitution, according to which everyone can freely travel outside the Russian Federation. However, FPA vice-president Oleg Baulin hastened to reassure his colleagues and told Kommersant that deprivation of status certainly does not threaten lawyers who defend the interests of Russian citizens and companies abroad.
In addition, during the preparation of the bill for the second reading, another proposal was included in it – on the transfer of powers to approve the “Regulations on the procedure for passing the qualification exam and assessing the knowledge of applicants for the status of lawyer” to the Ministry of Justice. The Moscow Chamber of Lawyers then stated that they were against “any kind of ‘coordination’ of the internal affairs of the legal profession with the justice authorities” as violating the principle of independence and self-government. However, Mr. Baulin told Kommersant that, taking into account the “established” approaches of the Ministry of Justice and the Chamber “and the general understanding of the conditions for acquiring the status of a lawyer and changing membership, these procedures are unlikely to lead to disputes and conflicts.”
Despite the mixed reaction from the legal profession, on April 9 the State Duma adopted the bill in the second reading. The next day, the bill was unanimously adopted in the third reading.
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