Meeting of the PASO Council

On October 28, a meeting of the Council of the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara Region took place. It began with the swearing-in of four applicants who successfully passed the qualifying exam.

The Council approved the applications of three lawyers to change their PASO membership to a bar association in another region. Four lawyers filed applications for suspension, one for renewal and three for termination of the status.

The status of five lawyers was terminated due to the death. The lives of our colleagues were cut short by a coronavirus infection. The PASO Council honored the memory with a mournful silence:

- Glukhovoy Nadezhda Anatolyevna,

- Gorchkhanov Ramzan Shamsutdinovich,

- Ivanov Vitaly Ivanovich,

- Mamyshev Zeinel Kadyrovich,

- Rogulya Lyudmila Ivanovna.

The PASO Council calls on advocates to be vaccinated and to protect their health.

Two lawyers are credited with professional development hours.

The lawyers notified the Council of the establishment of six lawyers' offices and one bureau. Three lawyers' offices were liquidated.

Fourteen lawyers have applied to be included in the subsidized legal aid system as defense counsel in criminal proceedings.

With the deterioration of the economic situation in the country against the backdrop of the pandemic, more and more lawyers are starting to work in the SJJ system. Many of them have practiced for years only under agreements and are not ready to scrupulously comply with the Standard for the implementation of defense by a lawyer in criminal proceedings, are not used to writing down their relationships with principals and do not have the skills to defend against possible unfounded claims of this type of principals. At the same time, it is from those who receive legal assistance as prescribed that the largest number of complaints against the actions of a lawyer comes. One of the reasons for this is the expansion of the practice of collecting legal costs from a convicted person for paying a lawyer. Realizing that they will have to pay for a “free” lawyer, the principals are trying to discredit his work, believing thereby to reduce the amount recovered.

To solve this problem, the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara Region organized a series of free training seminars on the peculiarities of the implementation of defense in criminal proceedings by appointment of the bodies of inquiry, preliminary investigation and the court in accordance with Art. 50, 51 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation. In October, three such seminars were held in Samara, Togliatti and Syzran. Two more are planned for November. They will be chaired by PASO President Tatyana Dmitrievna Butovchenko.

At the meeting, the PASO Council approved a questionnaire, which includes all the main provisions that the lawyer must agree with the client against signature. The introduction of such an extended receipt will help eliminate most of the traditional claims to dismiss complaints against appointed attorneys.

DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS

The council considered seventy-six disciplinary proceedings.

Fifty-five of them were initiated in connection with non-compliance with the Professional Training and Professional Development Standard. At the same time, in August, lawyers were informed by the Chamber that they did not have the number of hours established by the Standard and the possibilities of obtaining them: participation in the PASO bonus program, free webinars conducted by the RF FPA, etc. Four lawyers eliminated arrears for the implementation of the Standard for the Council meeting. Disciplinary proceedings against them were terminated due to their insignificance. For the rest of the lawyers, the PASO Council announced a warning about the termination of their status and gave them a two-month period to fulfill their professional duties on the need to improve their professional level.

Disciplinary proceedings were considered in relation to eight lawyers, the basis for the initiation of which was the long-term non-payment of mandatory contributions for the maintenance of the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara Region. By the time of the meeting of the Council, all the debts were paid off, and the lawyers were issued with remarks and warnings.

Thirteen disciplinary proceedings were related to the misconduct of lawyers in the course of their professional activities, one of which was initiated on the proposal of the Vice President.

... A lawyer takes part in a fraud case. Early in the morning, 100 rubles were received from a lawyer on a personal bank card tied to the phone number of the investigator in charge of the criminal case. The investigator immediately returned this amount to the sender and reported the incident to the head of the investigative department. At the meeting, the lawyer explained to the investigator that in this way he wanted to demonstrate that anyone who wishes can transfer money to the card to a citizen, even if he was not asked to do so. So, in his opinion, this is what happened to his client, who was accused of illegally receiving money on a bank card in the amount of almost 400,000 rubles. At the meeting of the Qualification Commission, the lawyer argued that he had transferred the money by accident, but at the meeting of the Council admitted that he did it deliberately in order to demonstrate his own version of the refutation of the charge brought against him. The Council considered that the demonstrative transfer of any amount of money to the person conducting the preliminary investigation was an unacceptable way of exercising a defense and issued a reprimand to the lawyer.

Three more proceedings were initiated on complaints from judges in connection with the non-attendance of lawyers at the sessions. In one case, the lawyer did not appear at the hearings twice in a row without notifying the court. In another, he accepted three requests for one day and did not have time in any of the processes. In the third situation, the lawyer also failed to appear in court.

In two proceedings, the lawyers received remarks, in the third, the proceedings were terminated due to their insignificance. At the same time, the PASO Council sent a warning to the lawyer about the inadmissibility of such behavior in accordance with paragraph 6 of Art. 9 KPEA.

Appeals of judges in connection with the systemic (more than two times) non-appearance of lawyers at court sessions are received by the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara Region more and more often. The PASO Council fully shares the lawyers' concern about the worsening economic situation in the country and understands their desire to take on as many cases as possible. At the same time, the desire of a lawyer to earn money cannot and should not jeopardize the consideration of cases by the courts. Clause 5 of Art. 9 KPEA explicitly prohibits a lawyer from taking assignments in an amount known to be greater than he is able to carry out. Situations when a lawyer accepts several assignments for one day, hoping to do everything, and as a result disrupts the court hearings, is unacceptable.

The Council noted that when accepting orders, a lawyer must be guided by paragraph 3 of Art. 10 KPEA, which prohibits accepting an order if its execution will interfere with the execution of another, previously accepted order. By virtue of paragraph 3 of Article 14 of the KPEA, when using the right to vacation (rest), the lawyer must take measures to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of the client.

The advance notice of the investigator or the court about the impossibility to appear should be regarded as a means that allows the body of inquiry, investigation or the court to take timely measures to comply with the procedural deadlines, excluding unreasonable delay in the consideration of the case. A lawyer must remember that, ultimately, the duty to comply with the terms of legal proceedings is vested in the law enforcement officer, which requires the lawyer to observe correctness and procedural discipline.

In another disciplinary proceeding, the Council considered the Opinion of the Qualification Commission on the complaint of one lawyer against another in connection with the fact that the order was accepted to conduct a civil case against the defendant, who is a lawyer, without notifying the PASO Council about it. Formally, the violation took place, however, this did not actually damage the lawyer. The Council considered it possible to discontinue production due to its insignificance.

Four more proceedings were initiated on the basis of the clients' complaints.

One of the principals complained about the quality of the lawyer's work in the case, and also pointed out that an agreement with him had not been concluded, the fee was transferred to her husband's bank card. Another lawyer stated in the text of the agreement: “the fee is paid by depositing money to the lawyer” and on this basis refused to issue a receipt to the client’s relatives. However, he took part in only one investigative action. The lawyers were issued warnings about the termination of the status. In the third situation, the lawyer also did not post the fee. But it differed from those previously described in that, after receiving the money, the lawyer informed the client that he had filed a lawsuit and was working on the case, although in reality nothing had been done. Later, he stopped communicating, continuing to keep the originals of the client's documents. At the same time, earlier the Council had already considered similar misconduct of this lawyer four times. For the fifth time, the PASO Council had no choice but to terminate its status. A similar complaint was filed by the medical center - the lawyer received a fee for representing the interests of the center in an arbitration court, but after a year he did not even file a claim. A warning was issued to him.

PASO President T. D. Butovchenko informed the Council about the implementation of the Regulations on the procedure for maintaining the register of lawyers' associations and their branches of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation, approved by the Council of the Federal Lawyers' Association of the Russian Federation on July 8, 2021. It determines the procedure for maintaining the register and information about lawyers' formations that it must contain. For lawyers' offices, this includes the individual current account of the office - and not the current account of the lawyer himself as an individual. By the beginning of the meeting of the Council, 146 lawyers who had established a lawyer's office had not provided information about their bank details. In this regard, the Council decided to grant lawyers' offices a deadline of 15 November to fulfill this obligation. Disciplinary proceedings will be initiated against lawyers who do not submit to the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara Region the information specified in the Decision of the PASO Council No. 21-07-09 / SP dated July 29, 2021.

The PASO Council considered the appeal of the lawyer Yegorchatova E.V. on the issue of confirming the powers of a lawyer during interrogation at the tax authority. A practice has developed in which the tax authorities do not accept a lawyer's certificate as an identity document, and a warrant as a document confirming the powers of a lawyer. In order to get into the building of the Federal Tax Service, a lawyer must provide a passport, and to participate in the interrogation of a taxpayer or witness - a notarized power of attorney. In this case, a power of attorney issued by a legal entity is not accepted during the interrogation of a witness. The Council prepared an answer according to which, in the context of the existing legal uncertainty in this matter, the lawyer is recommended to take all possible measures to ensure that the client does not leave the client without professional legal assistance and to comply with the requirements of the tax authority, and subsequently - to appeal against his illegal actions in accordance with Art. 19 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.

Vice-President of PASO Natalia Yuryevna Sukhova drew the attention of the Council members to the need to register lawyers on the Rosfinmonitoring website. The absence of such registration entails administrative responsibility under Art. 15.27 of the Administrative Code.

The PASO Council made a decision to hold the I regional competition "The best website for a lawyer, lawyer education of the Chamber of Lawyers of the Samara Region". The Council approved the Regulation on the competition. Applications from lawyers and bar associations are accepted until January 12, 2022.

The meeting of the Council was held in person. This became possible due to the fact that all members of the Council are vaccinated and have QR codes. Lawyers who do not have QR codes are strongly advised to consider obtaining them. It is highly likely that in the near future their presence will be a prerequisite for attending most events and institutions. In such a situation, the lack of code can become an obstacle in the performance of professional duties by lawyers.

PASO Press Center