PASO Council meeting

On October 27, a regular meeting of the PASO Council took place.

It began with an oath.

The agenda of the meeting was very busy.

Five lawyers filed applications for suspension, one for renewal, and three for termination.

Based on personal statements, the Council included in the system of subsidized legal aid in accordance with Art. 50 and 51 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation twenty-four lawyers.

The lawyers notified the Council of the establishment of five cabinets and the liquidation of one bureau.

One application for credit for hours of vocational training and professional development was granted.

Based on the statements of the principals, thanks were announced to seven lawyers.

The Council considered thirty-five disciplinary proceedings.

Thirty-two were initiated on the recommendation of the Vice President in relation to lawyers who did not comply with the requirements of the Standard for the professional training and professional development of lawyers and lawyer trainees, adopted by the IX All-Russian Congress of Lawyers on April 18, 2019. According to the Standard, lawyers with less than 3 years of experience must annually increase professional level in the amount of at least 40 academic hours, lawyers with more than 3 years of experience - at least 30 academic hours. If a lawyer has accumulated more hours in a year, they are not "carried over" to the next year.

By the time of the meeting of the PASO Council, five lawyers complied with the Standard, in connection with which disciplinary proceedings were terminated due to the insignificance of the misconduct. The rest of the lawyers were issued warnings of termination of their status and were given until the end of the year to comply with the Standard in full.

With regard to lawyers who do not do this, the Council will decide on the issue of termination of status.

Another disciplinary proceeding was terminated due to the reconciliation of the lawyer and the principal.

Another proceeding was initiated at the request of a judge of the Samara Regional Court in connection with the failure of the lawyer to appear at the scheduled court session. The lawyer admitted her violation and honestly explained: “I overslept.” The PASO Council issued a reprimand to her.

The latest proceedings were initiated on the basis of a complaint by a principal who turned to a lawyer after the court of first instance refused to satisfy the claims. The deadline for filing an appeal has been missed. The lawyer entered into an agreement, the subject of which provided for familiarization with the case materials, preparation and writing of complaints against the judge who considered the cases at first instance, to the High Qualification Board of Judges of the Russian Federation and the Qualification Board of the Samara Region due to the fact that the principal's explanations were inaccurately reflected in the protocol of the court meetings. From the Qualification Collegium, the principal received an answer with an explanation that under such circumstances, one should file an appeal and apply for the restoration of the missed deadline for filing it, then submit comments on the minutes of the court session and consider the case on the merits on appeal.

The PASO Qualification Commission assessed the actions of the lawyer as unprofessional, since she did not use the mechanisms provided for by law that give chances for exercising the rights of the principal, while introducing the principal into expenses in the amount of 30,000 rubles to pay for obviously unpromising actions that under no circumstances could legally entail significant consequences for the trustee.

The last doubts about the lawyer's dishonesty dissipated when the principal, an 18-year-old teenager with his mother, was invited to the meeting. From their answers to questions from members of the Council, it became quite obvious that both are absolutely far from jurisprudence, are not familiar with legal terms and do not understand their meaning, they have no idea about the existence of qualification boards of judges and their powers, the method of defense was chosen by a lawyer with the assurance of successful result - the return of a share in the property. Under such circumstances, the lawyer should doubly carefully explain to the principals the legal consequences of certain actions, their mistakes in the form of missing the deadline for appeal, the need to restore it, etc., if necessary, fix all the subtleties of the subject of the agreement and explain its consequences in writing.

The Council agreed with the conclusions of the Qualification Commission that the lawyer provided unqualified assistance, the actions were recognized as dishonest and dishonest. The lawyer has been reprimanded.

The PASO Council gave clarifications on the proper behavior of lawyers (lawyer formations) and the requirements for information about them in the Internet information and telecommunication network. The requirements for how a lawyer or legal education has the right or not the right to position itself in the public space, including on the Internet, are clearly and unambiguously set out in the CEA. However, lawyers commit violations of the Code, for example, they indicate on the websites information about previous work experience in law enforcement agencies. In this regard, on September 15, 2022, by the decision of the Council of the FPA, the Recommendations for maintaining the website of the lawyer's education and the lawyer's personal website were approved. As a follow-up to this decision, I.A. Strukov, a member of the PASO Council, was instructed to prepare a draft more detailed explanation of the PASO Council for lawyers in the Samara region.

PASO President T.D. Butovchenko informed the Council about amendments to the Law of the Samara Region “On Free Legal Aid in the Samara Region”. The need for these changes is due to the adoption on June 28, 2022 of the Federal Law “On Amending the Federal Law “On Free Legal Aid”, as well as the Order of the Ministry of Justice of Russia of August 19, 2022 No. 167. These regulations specify the rights and obligations of participants in the free legal aid system. legal assistance, expand the powers of the Ministry of Justice in terms of control over them, and also expand the number of participants in this system. Thus, the creation of State legal bureaus becomes mandatory for each subject of the Russian Federation. The Samara Region became one of the first subjects to implement a pilot project to create a State Legal Bureau. Over the past time, constructive cooperation relations have developed between the State Bureau of Investigation and PASO, the development of which will continue, taking into account the changes made to the legislation.

At the moment, funding for participants in the state system of free legal aid by lawyers in the Samara region has been increased.

All lawyers under the InternP@CO system have been notified of the opportunity to become a member of the system. Lists of lawyers who have expressed a desire to work in this segment will be sent to the Ministry of Social, Demographic and Family Policy of the Samara Region on November 15. The desire to participate in the work of the system should be formalized in an application and sent to the Chamber of Advocates of the Samara Region by 11/13/2022.

PASO Press Center