ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

Prof. Dr. Ignas VėgėlėChairman of the Lithuanian Bar Association

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

CONTENT

•History and beyond•Organisation•Advocate’s profession•Statistics•Current reforms •Strategic goals

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ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

HISTORY AND BEYOND

• National Bar Association established on 3 December 1918.

• The advocacy institute itself may be associated with three pillars of legal benchmarks, namely the Lithuanian Statutes dated 1529, 1566, 1588 consisting of three sets of legal documents and laws.

• Today we have unitary system of the Bar (no regional bar

associations).

• Legal acts: Law on the Bar (2004), Law on the State legal aid (2000), Code of Ethics of Advocates (2005).

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

ORGANISATION OF BAR (1) The Lithuanian Bar Association is a public legal entity.

Self-governing bodies:• General Meeting of Advocates• The Bar Council of the Lithuanian Bar Association• The Court of Honour• The Audit Commission

Committees:• Disciplinary Committee• Civil and Civil Procedure Law Committee• Criminal and Criminal Procedure Law Committee• IT Committee• State Legal Aid Committee

Groups: e.g. The group of experts to draft a new Code of Ethics, etc.

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

THE BAR COUNCIL

The Bar Council is a body comprised of 11 elected advocates for 4 years. Members of the Council are elected at the General Meeting for 4 years from the advocates having at least 10 years of advocate’s practice.

The Bar Council meets once per month unless urgency requires.

Mission of the Bar Council - to seek optimal balance between various groups and interests of advocates, to foster traditions of the Bar, its contemporary needs and expectations, to ensure the availability of legal protection and the quality of legal services.

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

ADVOCATE’S PROFESSION Legal services provided by advocates:• legal advising• preparation of legal, procedural documents• representation on legal issues• defence and representation in courts.

An advocate can provide services as an administrator of bankruptcy, restructuring, property or inheritance, a lobbyist, a liquidator, a curator, an executor of a will, a trustee of property, a patent trustee, as well as to act as an arbiter, a mediator, a conciliator or a legal expert in commercial disputes for remuneration. These professionals may be the members of the governing or supervisory body, work at all levels of the election, referendum commissions, municipal councils, they also may be members of commissions to which advocates are delegated by the Parliament, the President or the Government. Advocates collaborate and engage in working panels for drafting legislation, offering research services for drafting legal acts.

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

STATISTICS (1)

Free legal professionals Civil servants-Advocates: 2074 (female– 38,4 %)-Assistant advocates: 845 (female – 53,8 %)-Bailiffs: 126-Notaries: 133

-Judges: 779-Prosecutors: 717-Statutory police officers, investigators: 9500

Membership fees /Eur per year/ Other-Entrance fee (one-time fee): 500 Eur-Fee for practicing advocates: 347,52 Eur*-Fee for practicing advocates‘ assistants: 243,24 Eur*-Fee for non-practicing advocates (from 01-07-2015): 132 Eur

*Exceptions apply

-Advocates practising in Vilnius: 1243 (60 %)

-The average age of advocates is 47.1 years

-1 advocate for 1404 inhabitants

-13 EU lawyers

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

STATISTICS (2)

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

STATISTICS (3)

75.97%

11.22%

4.71%

2.83%

3.68%

1.13%0.28%

0.19%

STRUCTURE OF THE LAW FIRMS (% from the total number of advocates)

1 adv. 2 adv. 3 adv. 4 adv. 5 - 10 adv. 11 - 20 adv. 21 - 30 adv. 31 - 54 adv.

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

THE RULE OF LAW: STATE LEGAL AIDThere was a state’s debt of 1 mEur to advocates providing state legal aid in 2013. That situation threatened the quality of the state legal aid.

Under the initiative of the Lithuanian Bar Association, the debt is eliminated. The Association is working on to increase the remuneration to advocates.

New Commission on the state legal aid under the Lithuanian Bar Association was created.

The new rules on administration of the state legal aid as well as rules on provision of state legal aid are currently under development.

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

THE RULE OF LAW: COMMON EXAM

The law on Common Qualification Exam was drafted, adopted by the Government and will be discussed in the Parliament.

The draft law envisages common unified exam for all legal professions present at courts – judges, prosecutors and advocates (notaries and bailiffs opted out). Pros: better understanding between the professions, easier to swich to the other profession. Contra: the exams differ dramatically

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

THE RULE OF LAW: ACCESS TO THE DETAINEE (1)

The Order of the Director of the Prisons department: the advocate may get access to the detainee only after he/she is approved in that case by the prosecutor (2014).

The Order withdrawn (2015).

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

THE RULE OF LAW: ACCESS TO THE DETAINEE (2)

Directive 2013/48/EU of 22 October 2013 on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and in European arrest warrant proceedings …

The right to a fair trial:Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU;Article 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms;Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

THE RULE OF LAW: ELECTRONIC PRE-TRAIL CASES (E-CASE)

All the pre-trial investigation shall become electronic (E-CASE);

Participation of the Lithuanian Bar Association in the E-CASE project was deemed unnecessary.

The actions of the Lithuanian Bar Association ensured:• The suspension of the project due to the infringement of the

right to a fair trial;• Amendment of the Code on the Penal Procedure ensuring the

mandatory consent of the Bar Council to any legislation related to E-CASE.

Participation in the project regarding modernisation of electronic cases in Courts (e-cases);

E.Bylos projektas – ikiteisminis tyrimas tampa elektroniniu. Nebuvo numatyta teises dalyvauti advokaturai rengiant poistatyminius teises aktus, nes tariamai ikiteisminiame tyrime dalyvauja tik tyrejai, o advokatas gali susipažinti su medžiaga tik tyrejui leidus. Ši nuomonė ydinga , nes renkami duomenys ir advokatai turi turėti galimybę taip pat teikti eleltroninius dokumentus. ĮBPK pataisos priimtos – visi poįstatyminiai aktai dėl e.bylos turi būti suderinti su advokatų taryba Directive 2010/64/EU of 20 October 2010 on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

THE RULE OF LAW: CHALLENGES IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS

More to be done in the criminal proceedings:

• Ensuring the adversarial process through various means (e.g., strengthening the rights of advocate, access to various databases, inclusion of the prie-trial data to the file and etc.);

• Changing public attitude to the advocate;

• Strengthening the self-governance and administration of the Bar.

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

OTHER REFORMS: STRENGTHENING THE SELF GOVERNANCE

As of 2016: Lithuanian Bar Association will be pre-trial authority in the disputes between clients and advocates regarding standard unfair contractual terms of legal services contract (following the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union, case C-537/13)

The Council of the Lithuanian Bar Association shall nominate 3 members and 2 members will be nominated by the Minister of Justice to the Commission for prie-trial authority on the disputes between clients and advocates.

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

OTHER REFORMS: MINIMIZING FINANCIAL BURDEN FOR WINNING PARTY IN CIVIL CASES

Recommendations on the Fees Adjudicated in Civil Cases (Order of the Minister of Justice, 2004). The courts follows the recommendations as if it is mandatory legislation.

Amendments to the Recommendations on the Fees Adjudicated in Civil Cases (Order of the Minister of Justice, 2015):

• Adjudicated fee levels increased significantly (approx. 2-3 times).

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

OTHER REFORMS. STRENGTHENING OF A POSITION OF ADVOCATE IN CIVIL AND ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE

According to the draft law on the Code of Civil Procedure, only advocates may represent clients at courts.*

Similar norms in the draft law on the Procedure of Administrative Cases.*

Both laws were approved by the Government and await the decision of the Parliament.

*Minor exceptions apply (for e.g., other persons having law university degree in exceptional cases).

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

OTHER REFORMS

• Modernisation of Lithuanian Bar Association database and integration with the other databases;

• Development of the internal e-services: self-service, advocate’s profile, data management system;

• Development of e-archive services; • Planning to participate in the project regarding digitalisation of

state legal aid procedures (e-legal aid); • Participation in the project (CCBE level) regarding CCBE lawyers

professional identity card.

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

STRATEGIC GOALS (1)

• Preparation of the new code of ethics;

• Preparation of the new disputes resolution procedures (between advocates and clients);

• Preparation of the new qualification and training procedures;

• Modernisation and integration of IT systems;

• Better administration, communication and management.

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

STRATEGIC GOALS (2)

• Pro-bono development and implementation.

• Centralised insurance for advocates /mandatory versus voluntary/

• Better social guarantees (today – no sickness benefits, low pensions, no professional pension funds).

• The broad intercultural competence and leadership of advocates in the geographical region.

ENSURING THE RULE OF LAW. CURRENT ISSUES IN LITHUANIA

THANK YOU!