Rights and obligations of lawyers and legal entities

The law-in-draft “On advocacy and the legal profession in the PMR” was adopted in the second non-final reading by the Supreme Council. After the third reading, the document will replace the law “On the Bar” in force since 1993. The Prosecutor of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic sent the law-in-draft to parliament for consideration in 2020. The goal is to streamline the activities of lawyers in the territory of Pridnestrovie, eradicate norms that have lost their relevance, create healthy competition in the legal services market, and establish state control over the number, formation of legal entities, assignment, suspension and termination of the status of a lawyer. This form of control operates in Russia.

The Committee on Legislation created a working group to take into consideration the opinions and position of relevant and regulatory government bodies, as well as the lawyers themselves. As noted by the Chairman of the Committee, Vice-Speaker Galina Antyufeeva, the working group included representatives of the Investigative Committee, the Prosecutor's Office, the Bar, the Ministry of Justice, and State Security. Meetings of the working group took place over a long period of time to verify each article of the draft new law.

Approximately 150 amendments were prepared to the law-in-draft as a result of the working group. They were adopted by parliament in the second reading of the law-in-draft before the end of the spring session. The newly received amendments, and there are over 70 of them, were reviewed again by the deputies at today's plenary meeting in the second reading of the law-in-draft. In general, they are of a clarifying and editorial nature. The Prosecutor's amendment concerning the possibility of carrying out operational search activities against a lawyer without a court decision was discussed. It be possible only with the permission of the court will to carry out operational search activities if we are talking about restrictions on constitutional human rights, for example, to the secrecy of correspondence, telephone conversations, and the inviolability of the home. The relevant committee and the majority of deputies supported the amendment in order not to place the lawyer in a privileged position. It was noted in the parliament that operational investigative measures should be carried out based on violations of current legislation by lawyers if necessary. An example was given that this year two lawyers were convicted of fraud and incitement to give a bribe in support of this.

The new law “On advocacy and the legal profession in the PMR” prescribes the rights and responsibilities of lawyers, the requirements for obtaining the status of a lawyer: the applicant must have a higher legal education, work experience in the specialty of at least 3 years, an internship in legal education or pass qualifying exam, thereby confirming your ability to practice law. The exam will be administered by a qualification commission consisting not only of lawyers, but also representatives of the Supreme Council, the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme and Arbitration Courts. The Qualification Commission will consider complaints about the actions or inactions of lawyers.

The new law will include rules on the organization of advocacy and the legal profession. Legal entities can be in the form of a lawyer's office, a law office and legal consultations. Provisions are laid down for the work of the Chamber of Lawyers, which is a non-governmental non-profit organization and has the right to represent and protect the interests of lawyers in relations with government authorities. The procedure for providing free legal assistance to the population by the Chamber of Lawyers is prescribed.

The law-in-draft contains other provisions relating to the activities of lawyers. Most of them are similar to the Russian law “On advocacy and the legal profession in the Russian Federation”.

A relevant parliamentary committee will prepare the law-in-draft for adoption in the third reading.