DIFFICULT DECISIONS – 2

The past meeting of the Council of the Chamber of Advocates of the Samara Region can be unconditionally called professionally difficult, but, at the same time, full of vivid impressions.

Young colleagues have been accepted to the corporation of advocates. A solemn oath to honestly and conscientiously fulfill the duties of an advocate, to protect the rights, freedoms and interests of clients, guided by the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the law and the Code of Professional Ethics of an Advocate was taken by 16 applicants. We hope that the welcoming corporate applause that sounded when the words of the oath were pronounced will become an accompanying algorithm for the professional activity of each novice colleague.

The status of five advocates was terminated upon personal application, one of whom - Shadrina Galina Mikhailovna - was awarded special attention and honors.

Galina Mikhailovna devoted more than 50 years of her life to the professional duty of an advocate, and was awarded the Order "For Loyalty to the Advocate's Duty". Over the years of her work, she has become an example of high professionalism, integrity and honesty. Together with wishes of good health, spiritual harmony and happiness, words of gratitude for the experience of working together, a friendly applause was once again heard in the conference hall of the Chamber of Advocates of the Samara Region in honor of the lawyer.

Shadrina Galina Mikhailovna, Zhukova Lidiya Vladimirovna, Zakomoldin Valery Alekseevich, Kravets Sofya Moiseyevna, Sibiteva Yulia Evgenyevna, Syurakshina Vera Gerasimovna, Khalturin Aleksey Semenovich, Erastova Maria Fedorovna celebrated the golden jubilee of their professional activity in the position of lawyer, thereby inscribing their names in the Golden Fund of PASO.

The Chamber of Advocates of the Samara Region is rightfully proud of its members, advocates by vocation, Professionals with a capital letter, whose conscientious work has served and serves as an example for others, and whose skill and talent are deservedly recognized by colleagues.

50 years is a whole life, and to dedicate it to protecting the rights and interests of clients is priceless!

-----

Returning to the agenda items regarding registry changes, we note that, despite the arrival of new members to the Chamber, the trend towards a reduction in the total number of advocates in the Samara Region remains. The number of advocates whose information has been excluded from the register of active advocates on the grounds of termination and suspension of status, as well as transfer to other regional chambers, exceeds the quarterly indicators of the number of applicants for status.

Today, the PASO Council, having renewed the status of two advocates, decided to suspend the status of four colleagues due to their inability to perform professional duties for more than six months, and three - due to personal circumstances. One lawyer has ceased to be a member of the Chamber of Advocates of the Samara Region due to moving to another region.

The status of lawyer Zuev Felix Vladislavovich has been terminated due to death. The Council expressed condolences to the relatives and friends of the deceased.

The register of advocacy entities of the Samara Region has been replenished with two law offices and a law bureau.

-----

The disciplinary section of the summons consisted of five points. The hearing of one disciplinary proceeding was postponed at the request of the lawyer who wanted to settle the dispute with the client amicably.

The conclusions of the Qualification Commission on disciplinary proceedings regarding four lawyers, considered by the Council, did not raise any doubts about their validity.

Disciplinary proceedings against two lawyers were terminated due to the absence of violations of the legislation on advocacy and the bar in their actions.

One proceeding was terminated due to reconciliation between the lawyer and the person who filed the complaint. By the way, this lawyer is a “record holder” in the number of disciplinary proceedings. Most of them were resolved by reconciliation, possibly because the issues were “simple”. However, the law of the transition of quantity into quality inevitably tends to extend its effect to a colleague, which is confirmed by each subsequent complaint received. But today the Council again terminated the proceedings due to reconciliation. I would like to believe that conclusions will be drawn...

The fourth trial ended with a unanimous decision to terminate the lawyer's status, since here quantity has long since grown into quality and the 14th!!! disciplinary proceedings became the final one in the lawyer's career.

From the complaint received: in 2021, the lawyer accepted an assignment to represent the interests of LLC "A..." in arbitration proceedings on the insolvency (bankruptcy) case of LLC "E...", as well as to organize the participation of the principal or a third party indicated by him in auctions for the sale of claims belonging to LLC "E...", for debt collection from LLC "A...". The lawyer received a remuneration in the total amount of 2,000,000 rubles. The lawyer did not take any legally significant actions in the case for two years, except for formalizing relations with the principal and receiving remuneration, and stopped communicating.

All these circumstances, including the fact of the lawyer's failure to fulfill his professional duties, were established by a court decision that came into legal force, where the client applied for protection of his rights. The lawyer was ordered to pay the entire fee received.

As part of the disciplinary proceedings, the lawyer did not provide an explanation, did not appear at the meetings of the Qualification Commission and the Council.

At the time of consideration of the disciplinary proceedings, the funds had not been returned to the applicant, the debt had not been repaid.

The PASO Council fully agreed with the findings of the Qualification Commission, which found in the lawyer's actions a violation of the norms of the legislation on advocacy and the Bar and the Code of Professional Ethics of a Lawyer, a violation of financial discipline, and a failure to fulfill professional duties to the client. In addition, the Council specifically noted that by evading the execution of a court decision to return the client a sum of unjust enrichment due to failure to execute an accepted instruction, the lawyer commits actions that form a negative attitude towards the legal profession as an institution of civil society and undermine trust - one of the main principles of the lawyers' community. Abuse of trust is incompatible with the status of a lawyer.

The Council also took into account that the lawyer has two current disciplinary sanctions in the form of warnings for similar disciplinary offenses.

Taking into account the totality of the above circumstances, the Council came to the conclusion that the professional behavior of the lawyer is incompatible with belonging to the lawyers' community, believing that termination of status as a measure of responsibility meets the requirement of proportionality and the achievement of the goals of disciplinary proceedings, stipulated by paragraph 3 of Article 19 of the Code of Professional Ethics of a Lawyer, expressing the attitude of the lawyers' community to such behavior of members of the corporation as professionally unacceptable.

The Council set a three-year period after which a lawyer can again apply for the status.

----

For the second meeting in a row, the PASO Council has paid special attention to the issue of payment for the work of appointed lawyers. The issue is certainly not new. But if previously we were concerned about rates, payment terms and the presence of debt, today the issue of the good faith of lawyers when invoicing the budget for the legal assistance provided is at the forefront.

The beginning of an active discussion on this issue was information about the situation in the Bar Association of the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania (see DIFFICULT DECISIONS-1, https://paso.ru/press-czentr/novosti-i-sobyitiya/neprostyie-resheniya.html). The meeting of the PASO Council held on October 26 was marked by a number of heatedly discussed issues: from the eternal questions - "Do we have this problem?" and “What to do about it?”, to difficult decisions for preventive purposes, so as not to bring down punishment by law on the heads of Samara lawyers.

The Chamber of Advocates is fully aware of the extent of its responsibility to the state for compliance by advocates with the requirements of regulatory and legal acts governing the procedure for making relevant payments. Particular attention is paid to the goals of suppressing personal, informal relationships between law enforcement officers and advocates, as well as the problem of abuse of the right to pay for the work of an advocate at the expense of budget funds.

The phenomenon of "pocket advocates" in Samara has been over for good. The Center for Subsidized Legal Aid has been distributing claims in the order of an electronic queue since 2008, and no law enforcement officer would think of calling an advocate at his own discretion, or of an advocate joining a case, bypassing the Center for Subsidized Legal Aid. At the same time, not everything is correct in the area of ​​possible options for participation in legal proceedings and the amount of payment for court days.

From words to deeds...

The criteria for the scheduled inspection of lawyers' compliance with the Decision of the PASO Council No. 14-11-08/SP of 27.11.2014 in the Kuibyshevsky and Sovetsky districts of the Samara urban district, in the Komsomolsky district of the Tolyatti urban district, in the Novokuibyshevsk urban district, in the Kamyshlinsky and Klyavlinsky districts of the Samara region have been strengthened, with a shift in emphasis to identifying signs of unfair behavior by lawyers in terms of issuing invoices to the federal budget for legal assistance rendered.

The activities of 21 lawyers attracted the attention of inspectors in terms of the problematic issue. The following took place: drafting of obviously far-fetched petitions and applications, unjustified performance of procedural actions by lawyers on weekends/at night, or clearly pursuing an attempt to artificially inflate the cost of legal assistance rendered.

The final analysis of the comprehensive audit showed that there are grounds for initiating disciplinary proceedings against two lawyers. As for the remaining 19 colleagues, the Council decided to limit itself to indicating the inadmissibility of committing such actions and the need to comply with the principle of reasonableness in determining the actual volume and cost of the work performed.

Briefly about the general results of the audit:
• There are 847 lawyers in the List of the Center of the Legal Advisers of the Russian Federation.
• The planned audit was conducted in 6 administrative districts of the Samara Region.
• The activities of 267 lawyers were audited.
• 1,674 demands were distributed to lawyers who provided subsidized legal assistance during the audited period.

253 lawyers submitted their lawyer dossiers, registration data, records and other information carriers related to the lawyer's participation in the provision of subsidized legal assistance for the audit. The reasons for the failure of the remaining 14 lawyers to comply with the requirements of the decisions of the Bar Association are subject to disciplinary consideration, and for now, the distribution of demands to them by the Center of the Legal Advisers of the Russian Federation has been suspended.
All submitted dossiers were checked for compliance of the defense attorney's actions with the interests and position of the defendant, the requirements of the legislation on advocacy and the Bar, and the Standard for the implementation of defense by a lawyer in criminal proceedings.
Questionnaire, protocols of investigative actions and court hearings, interim and final judicial acts, petitions, appeals, signatures of defendants: on the agreement of the position/on the refusal to appeal the judicial act/on the absence of any claims against the defense attorney - markers of the defense attorney's work.
The comments of the auditors are mainly limited to the lawyers' keeping of the questionnaire and the fulfillment of the requirements of Art. 13 of the Code of Professional Ethics of the Attorney, paragraph 9 and paragraph 16 of the Standard for the implementation of the defense by the attorney in criminal proceedings in terms of appealing interim and final judicial acts, other decisions that violate the rights and legitimate interests of the defendant.
The results of the inspection will traditionally be sent to each attorney's personal e-mail via the InternetP@SO system.

On November 15, 22 and 29, 2023, free webinars on the topic: “Features of a lawyer’s work in appointed cases” were held for lawyers participating in cases by appointment, in which 764 listeners took part. Another 70 lawyers who prefer live communication signed up for an in-person seminar on December 6, 2023 on the same topic. Completion of the seminar is a mandatory condition for participation in the subsidized legal aid system. The current electronic accounting system makes it possible to identify by name lawyers who have avoided participation in the seminar without good reason. If such are identified, this will entail the suspension of their activities in the subsidized legal aid segment. However, judging by the statistical accounting data, all lawyers, including those who are not involved in the SLA system, took part in the training events. The purpose of the universal coverage of lawyers participating in cases by appointment is to convey to everyone the basic rules and nuances of advocacy in the segment of obligations subsidized by budgetary allocations, ensuring the safety of lawyers from unfounded claims from clients and law enforcement officers.

During a series of training events, the President of the PASO T.D. Butovchenko, based on the norms of current legislation, existing law enforcement acts on this issue, an analysis of his own disciplinary practice and the experience of other regional chambers, provided the most relevant recommendations on problematic topics, and also gave detailed answers to numerous questions from listeners.

The leitmotif was that any attempts to artificially, in the absence of grounds provided by law, inflate the cost of legal assistance provided by lawyers are unacceptable. The following are considered unacceptable: drafting and filing petitions and applications that are not intended to protect the interests of the client, unjustified performance of procedural actions by lawyers on weekends and holidays /or at night/ followed by a demand for payment at a qualified (increased) rate, etc.

In addition to verification activities and mobilization of lawyers' knowledge, a number of meetings were held with law enforcement officers, during which the Bar Association requested immediate notification to PASO of identified facts of unfair behavior by lawyers when they receive payment for work as assigned by preliminary investigation bodies in order for corporate self-government bodies to promptly take effective response measures.

The Council of the Bar Association of the Samara Region called on lawyers to strictly adhere to current legislation.

PASO Press Center