Mobilized lawyers do not have the right to practice law while serving in the Armed Forces – NAAU

In the National Lawyer Association of Ukraine (NAAU) stated, what giving mobilized lawyers the opportunity to continue legal practice while serving in the Armed Forces will destroy the independence of their profession, as well as affect the quality of work and cause a conflict of oaths.

Registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine draft law No. 11014 “On Amendments to Article 7 of the Law of Ukraine “On Advocacy and Advocacy” regarding clarification of grounds for incompatibility with the activity of a lawyer“. It proposes to specify the reasons for the incompatibility of the lawyer’s activity, namely to establish that military service under a contract or alternative (non-military) service is incompatible with the lawyer’s activity.

According to the Committee of Law-Making Initiatives on Advocacy Activities of NAAU, if the draft law is adopted, mobilized lawyers will face the following problems during the provision of legal assistance:

“First of all, the principle of independence of the bar, guaranteed by Article 131-2 of the Constitution, will not be ensured. Because a lawyer undergoing military service must follow the orders of the military command, therefore, he cannot be independent.

Secondly, there is a question regarding the quality of legal assistance provided by mobilized lawyers, who should focus on completing the tasks of repelling armed aggression against Ukraine and protecting the sovereignty of our state.

Thirdly, in the case of combining the statuses of a lawyer and a military serviceman, a situation arises when a person must observe two principles at the same time: independence for lawyer activity and unity of command and subordination – for military service. And they directly contradict each other. Both a lawyer and a military man (including one called to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for mobilization) take oaths, and in the case of combining these statuses, both oaths will be violated.

Under such circumstances, the draft law needs to be revised.” – noted in the Committee of Law-Making Initiatives on Advocacy Activities of NAAU.

At the same time, NAAU recalled that on March 3, 2022, the Bar Council of Ukraine adopted decision No. 24, which established that during the period of martial law, it will not be considered a violation of the requirements regarding the incompatibility of military or alternative (non-military) service by lawyers. It was decided not to apply such a ground for bringing the lawyer to disciplinary responsibility, but this does not give the right to mobilized lawyers to continue practicing law.

Oksana Ishchenko