The delegation of the Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Armenia took part in the international conference held in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia, organized by the Bar Association of Georgia, the Council of Europe, the United Nations Development Program and the European Association of Lawyers.

The theme of the conference was “Exclusiveness of the lawyer’s profession”.

Among the members of delegation were the Chairman of the Chamber Ara Zohrabyan, members of the Board of the Chamber: Simon Babayan, Sedrak Asatryan and Tigran Khurshudyan. The representatives of the unions of advocates of Georgia, Armenia, France, Russia, Austria, Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Turkey as well as Maria Slazak, the president of the European Association of Lawyers, also took part in the conference.

 A number of key issues, related to the institute of advocacy, were touched upon at the conference. In particular,

• exclusiveness of the lawyer’s profession,
• protection of legal services,
• European standards of obtaining advocate’s profession and best practice,
• the role of the advocates’ unions and individual advocates in the process of providing free legal service
• the vision of establishing European Convention on the profession of lawyer

Within the framework of these issues, the Armenian delegation presented the experience of the Chamber of Advocates of RA and the School of Advocates. Once again, special attention was drawn to the Armenian procedures of becoming an advocate and activities of the School of Advocates. In this regard, the possibility of exchanging experience between Armenia and Georgia was also discussed.  

The key issue of the conference was the prospect of establishing the European Convention on the profession of a lawyer.

A number of distinguished international experts presented the necessity of conventional regulation of advocate’s profession. Parallels have been made with the professions that have relevant regulations.  

At the end of the conference, as a result of the discussions, by the unanimous decision of the participants, a joint declaration was adopted on assisting the establishment of the European Convention on the profession of lawyer.

The following statements were also adopted during the conference of advocates;     

• The Sstate is obliged to provide its citizens with access to justice, guaranteeing that all citizens who have financial difficulties should have the opportunity to obtain professional legal advice and representation through an advocate.

            Thereby;

1. the Chamber of Advocates should assist the expansion of legal aid programs by government,
2. the Chamber of Advocates should create formats of providing with free legal aid (pro bono),  
3. the  Chamber of Advocates should promote an initiative, in the Government,  to provide compensation to a lawyer who provides free legal services (e.g., tax relief).

• The best interest of a client requires that the legal assistance be provided through advocates, since

        1․        the independence of advocates and professional secrecy is guaranteed by law,

        2․        advocates have proper education and take part in training on  constant basis  

        3․         advocates act in accordance with the Code of Conduct that is regulated by the Chamber of Advocates. The latter may apply disciplinary sanctions if advocates violate the provisions of the Code of Conduct,   

     4․   the professional responsibility of an advocate is insured, as a rule.