Advocacy - that's us!

The Volga region forum of young lawyers, held in Samara from August 23 to 26, 2022, has completed its work. Going far beyond the boundaries of its geographical name, he gathered young lawyers from all over the country - from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok.

In addition to 112 delegates from 39 Bar Chambers of the Russian Federation, the forum was attended by 150 young lawyers from the Samara Region, members of the Council and the Qualification Commission of the PASO, guests of honor: President of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation Yu. S. Pilipenko, Head of the Department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for the Samara Region V. Sokol, Vice-President of the FPA RF S. I. Volodina, Executive Director of the FPA RF O.E. Sergeeva, First Vice-President of the Federal Union of Lawyers of Russia A.I. Tsvetkova, President of the Bar Association of the Republic of Bashkortostan B.G. Yumadilov, President of the Bar Association of the Republic of Karelia A.P. Zakatov, Vice-President of the Bar Association of the Kaliningrad Region A. A. Sozvariev.

The forum organizers are the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation, the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara Region and the Union of Young Lawyers of Russia. As Yuriy Pilipenko noted, the law does not oblige the bodies of lawyers' self-government to pursue a youth policy and organize events for young people. But, understanding the responsibility to the corporation and its future, the older generation of lawyers makes great efforts, spends their time, effort and finances (in this case, the Samara Regional Chamber and the Federal Chamber) in order to gather young colleagues on one platform, to give them the opportunity to communicate, express yourself. “We very much hope and hope,” said Yuri Sergeevich, addressing the participants of the Volga Region Forum, “that when the future defeats the past (and this will definitely happen) and many of you become prominent representatives of our profession, enter the bodies of lawyer self-government, you will also pay tribute to the new the younger generation and will remember the importance of such events to realize their corporate unity ... If youth is a disadvantage, then it passes quickly. We would very much like you to live your youth brightly, responsibly, with benefit for yourself and for the legal profession. I wish you success. Live brightly!

Tatyana Butovchenko called on the delegates to show that they represent an excellent replacement for veterans of the bar:

- Be not only cheerful, be smart, intelligent, head and shoulders above everyone else! I wish you to meet all the parameters of the future, do not forget that we live in a harsh present and be ready to repel any attack by both the prosecution and the opposing side in the process. Remember that a lawyer with his client is a huge force. I wish you success in your professional activities!

The attitude of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation towards young lawyers was expressed by the head of the Samara Regional Office Pavel Sokol. According to him, the younger generation is a guide and accelerator for the introduction of new ideas into practice. By its nature, youth is an opponent of conservatism, but the secret of the successful development of any corporation, any system is a fusion and balance of tradition and innovation. It is precisely such a harmonious composition, said Pavel Viktorovich, that the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara Region represents.

He reminded the audience about the changes in the legislation governing the activities of bar associations, including in terms of digitalization of processes, namely: the creation of a comprehensive information system "The Bar of Russia", which is being implemented since March 2022, and the project of a unified state portal of legal education and free legal assistance. He also reported on the project to create a unified state register of lawyers of the Russian Federation. In such a situation, when remote services are becoming more and more in demand, P. Sokol believes, the bar cannot lag behind these processes, and young lawyers must put everything new into practice. “I am sure,” continued the head of the Department, “that the digital environment created in our regional chamber (this is the Center for Subsidized Legal Aid, which has been operating for more than 15 years, and the unique mobile application developed in our region - a lawyer’s information resource, and much more), will serve as an example for other subjects of the Russian Federation, and the vector of its development will not change.”

In parting words to the young lawyers, Svetlana Volodina wished that each of them, speaking in the process, would make the same stunning impression as Fedor Nikiforovich Plevako.

Evgeny Panin warmly thanked the Federal Chamber of Lawyers of the Russian Federation for the support it provides to young lawyers by regularly organizing such events, and the Chamber of Advocates of the Samara Region, headed by T. D. Butovchenko, for the all-round cordial welcome and incredible organizational efforts made for this, a rich and varied program, impeccable conduct of the forum.

Most of the delegates visited such a large-scale event for the first time.

The host party - the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara Region - once again demonstrated to colleagues unsurpassed hospitality and maximum openness for the exchange of experience. Any participant of the event could look into the holy of holies of the Chamber of Advocates, discover as many organizational and technological options of PASO as they did not see and did not know in their region; communicate informally not only with young colleagues, but also with the PASO President, members of the Council and the Qualification Commission, leaders of the Young Lawyer School, coordinators of the Subsidized Legal Aid Center and other employees.

To make communication as productive as possible, the talented organizers of the Samara region provided a variety of forms of communication: excursions around Samara and acquaintance with the space capital, the nature of the Samara Bend, the collection of Avtograd equipment; a cultural and sports program with shooting (according to T. Butovchenko, the ability to shoot - read: hitting the target - a lawyer will not hurt); photo shoots, songs and dances, walks, a gala dinner in a restaurant with the symbolic name "Life is good!" on the longest Volga embankment. By the way, many guests discovered a beautiful city in the heart of Russia - Samara, admired its ancient and modern architecture, wonderful beaches, delicious drinks and hospitable people.

The intellectual program of the forum - the apotheosis of the event - was also held in an exciting form of competition. At the first session, representatives of the regional chambers fought in the individual championship, and during the second session, lawyer teams competed.

The format of speeches proposed by the organizers for the first session - “pecha-kucha”, which provided for a speech time limit of 6 minutes 40 seconds and a presentation of 20 slides, is focused on learning to feel the time, focus on the main thing, develop oratory skills and creative skills that speakers successfully demonstrated.

Of course, any forum is famous for fresh ideas and new projects. Of the 35 papers sent to the competition on the topic “The Future of the Bar: Youth View”, the jury selected 12, the authors of which got the opportunity to broadcast their vision of the development of the bar throughout the country.

According to the host of the first session of the forum, PASO Vice President Alexei Borodin,

the speeches gave an analysis of the issues and problems of the legal community, while the participants used a scientific approach, dividing the problems into external and internal. Colleagues referred to external issues the observance of the rights of lawyers, social security, raising the general level of legal culture of all law enforcers. Internal problems were formulated based on the specifics of the regions. For example, representatives of the chambers of lawyers, where the development of digital technologies is just beginning, saw this as a task for the future, although in PASO this problem has not existed for a long time.

Many authors linked the future of the legal profession with digitalization, realizing that “the achievement of the most significant results in the field of law lies not in the competition between a person and a computer, but in their interaction” (Alexander Kormilitsyn, a lawyer from the Republic of Crimea).

It is gratifying, Aleksey Borodin noted, that young people see that in many respects everything depends on the lawyer himself, he must improve himself, improve his professional level. legal education and probono activities. Therefore, the most important thesis of the forum is that the future depends on all of us.

It is no coincidence that the entire hall expressed solidarity with the speaker from the Penza region Tatyana Bluzma with thunderous applause:

- I believe in us! In the fact that in the near future, with our efforts, we will be able to achieve the solution of many of the tasks facing the Bar. I would like to express my deep gratitude to the organizers of the forum for the opportunity to communicate. This meeting inspires, gives strength and faith in our bright future.

According to the results of the first session, Artyom Dyachenko, a participant from the Samara region, won the victory, he was ready to take full responsibility for the corporation, advocating for the preservation of continuity, offering to take the best and offer something new. Since there is indeed a lot of the best in PASO, the jury could not but agree with such a view on the development of the legal profession. The thesis of the Samara lawyer - "We must adopt the experience of the history of the formation of the independence of the lawyer corporation in Russia and harmoniously develop it in the future, without interruption following the established lawyer traditions" - is indisputable.

The second participant from Bashkortostan, Evgeny Gusev, demonstrated not only a desire to create an all-Russian lawyer portal, but also easy communication with the audience.

The conceptual approach, fluency in the material, the charm of the youngest forum participant Andrey Makarenkov (Omsk region) brought him not only 3rd place according to the professional jury, but also the audience award of the entire hall, as well as a personal invitation from the vice-president of the Russian Federal Chamber of Lawyers S.I. Volodina for graduate school.

The winners received well-deserved awards from the masters of the bar. But as the delegates themselves said, there were no losers at this forum, because the opportunity to be in the very center of advocacy events is already a success.

The task of youth lawyer team building was brilliantly implemented at the Brainstorm legal game, where 5 teams of lawyers competed in understanding the rules of the lawyer profession, the ability to quickly and correctly resolve the issues raised as part of the team.

All the tasks compiled by Samara colleagues were not specially invented for the game, but were taken from real life - the disciplinary practice of PASO. As noted by the participant of the game, the captain of the winning team Anna Mikhailova (Pskov Region Administration), the questions were not only interesting, but also useful: they were aimed at protecting young lawyers from rash actions that could lead to the initiation of disciplinary proceedings.

And the variety of answers became for the jury both a reason to be proud of smart young people, and a ground for professional jokes, and an incentive to think about the need to bring disciplinary practice to uniformity in the country. Chairman of the jury, Chairman of the PASO Qualification Commission Alexei Kokin, and presenter, member of the PASO Council Dmitry Taraborin, commenting on the answers of the teams, willingly taught lessons of professional skills, explaining to young colleagues the nuances that were still unknown to them. The players themselves understood: the Lawyer's Code of Professional Ethics must be known by heart (especially if you are going to Samara!).

According to the results of three rounds, the Astrea team won:

Anna Mikhailova - AP of the Pskov region (team captain)

Alexandra Butovchenko - PA of the Samara Region

Artem Vorobyov - Presidential Administration of the Tambov region

Evgeny Rakhalsky - Presidential Administration of the Orenburg Region

Irina Semerikova - Presidential Administration of the Perm Region

Ekaterina Khudova - Presidential Administration of the Moscow Region

Natalia Schegortseva - Presidential Administration of the Belgorod Region

Igor Shchekin - Presidential Administration of the Leningrad Region

The teams "Green Light" (captain Alexander Kormilitsyn) and "Neighbours" (captain Maxim Volotskov) scored the same points. The team "Winners" (captain Elena Balabaeva) took third place. Team "Unity" (captain Sakinat Gamzaeva) received an honorable 4th place.

Team "Astrea" PASO President T.D. Butovchenko presented memorable prizes, wishing never to waste her energy and optimism.

Participants called the Volga region forum of young lawyers “the best event of the year”.

PASO Press Center