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Possibilities of improving the activities of attorney’s
assistant in the Republic of Uzbekistan
Alibek MATMUROTOV
Tashkent State University of Law
ARTICLE INFO
ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received December 2023
Received in revised form
15 December 2023
Accepted 20 January 2024
Available online
25 February 2024
This article, based on the experience of foreign countries,
discussed the main provisions relating to an assistant lawyer,
the requirements for him to become an assistant lawyer,
persons who cannot be assistant lawyers, and documents
regarding the regulation of the activities of an assistant lawyer
adopted by the Chamber of Lawyers Republic of Uzbekistan.
The authors paid special attention to the inclusion of an
assistant lawyer in the list of persons who cannot subsequently
be questioned as witnesses under attorney-client privilege, and
to the fact that the employment contract concluded with an
assistant lawyer must be fixed-term.
2181-
1415/©
2024 in Science LLC.
https://doi.org/10.47689/2181-1415-vol5-iss1-pp342-348
This is an open access article under the Attribution 4.0 International
(CC BY 4.0) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.ru)
Keywords:
Chamber of Advocates,
legal status, attorney’s
assistant,
requirements for becoming
an attorney’s assistant,
being a citizen of the
Republic of Uzbekistan,
witness.
O‘zbekiston
Respublikasida
advokat
yordamchisi
faoliyatini takomillashtirishning imkoniyatlari
ANNOTATSIYA
Kalit so‘zlar:
Advokatlar palatasi,
huquqiy maqom,
advokat yordamchisi,
advokat yordamchisi bo‘lish
uchun talablar,
O‘zbekiston Respublikasi
fuqarosi bo‘lish,
guvoh
Mazkur maqolada advokat yordamchisiga oid bo‘lgan asosiy
qoidalar qonunda aks ettirish kerakligi, advokat yordamchisi
bo‘lish uchun qo‘yilgan talablar, advokat yordamchisi bo‘lishi
mumkin bo‘lmagan shaxslar, advokat yordamchisi faoliyatini
tartibga solishga oid hujjatlar O‘zbekiston Respublikasi
Advokatlar palatasi tomonidan qabul qilinishi zarurligi xorijiy
davlatlar tajribasi asosida muhokama qilindi. Mualliflar
tomonidan advokat yordamchisini advokatlik siri bo‘yicha
kelgusida guvoh sifatida so‘roq qilish mumkin bo‘lmagan
shaxslar ro‘yxatiga kiritishga hamda a
dvokat yordamchisi bilan
tuziladigan mehnat shartnomasi muddatli bo‘lishi lozimligiga
alohida e’tibor qaratildi
.
1
Doctor of Philosophy in Legal Sciences PhD, Acting Associate Professor, Department of Judicial, Law Enforcement
Agencies and Advocacy, Tashkent State University of Law. E-mail: alibekmatmurotov@gmail.com.uz
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343
Возможности
совершенствования
деятельности
помощников адвокатов в Республике Узбекистан
АННОТАЦИЯ
Ключевые слова:
Палата адвокатов,
правовой статус,
помощник адвоката,
требования к помощнику
адвоката,
быть гражданином
Республики Узбекистан,
свидетель
.
В данной статье на основе опыта зарубежных стран
обсуждались
основные
положения,
касающиеся
помощника адвоката, требования, предъявляемые к нему
для того, чтобы стать помощником адвоката, лица,
которые не могут быть помощниками адвоката, и
документы, касающиеся регулирования деятельности
помощника адвоката, принимаемые Палатой адвокатов
Республики Узбекистан. Авторами уделено особое
внимание включению помощника адвоката в список лиц,
которые в дальнейшем не могут быть допрошены в
качестве свидетелей по адвокатской тайне, и тому, что
трудовой договор, заключаемый с помощником адвоката,
должен быть срочным
.
INTRODUCTION
In the Republic of Uzbekistan, the importance of legal institution, which plays a key
role in the further development of the judicial system, in providing qualified legal
assistance to citizens at any stage of court and investigative work, and is one of the
important legal institutions of civil society, is increasing day by day.
Today, several activities are being carried out to attract young qualified personnel
to the bar institute. In particular, following the 19th purpose of the Decree of the
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. DP-
60 of January 28, 2022 [1], an attorney’s
assistant during free time for graduate students of higher legal education institutions
studying in the bachelor’s department The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of
Uzbekistan and the Chamber of Advocates have been entrusted with the development of
the draft of the normative legal document on granting the right to work as a advocate.
The role of an attorney’s assistant is important in the legal structure, and these
persons not only contribute to the legal profession but are also the future generation of
advocates [2]. From this point of view, it is necessary to improve the legislation on the
attorney’s assistant, as well as strengthen its theoretical foundations.
LITERATURE ANALYSIS AND METHODS
Methods such as logical, comparative-legal, scientific research, analysis of
statistical data, interpretation of legal documents, and study of the practice of applying
the law were used in the work. At the same time, the positive experience of the countries
of Russia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and Georgia
regarding the attorney’s assistant was studied.
DISCUSSION AND RESULTS
First of all, we believe that it is necessary to study and analyze the normative legal
documents regulating the activities of attorney’s assistants. In our country, the basic
rules for the attorney’s assistant are defined in Article 8 of Law No. 349
-I [3] of the
Republic of Uzbekistan "On Advocacy" of December 27, 1996. In addition, there is a
regulation [4] on the procedure for organizing the activity of an attorney’s assistant,
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approved by the order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 80 of
March 27, 2009 determines the procedure for organizing the assistant's activities.
Only Article 8 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Advocacy" of December
27, 1996, is the norm regarding the attorney’s assistant. The main rules aimed at
regulating the activities of the attorney’s assistant are defined in the legal document [5].
In our opinion, the basic norms for legal assistants should be defined at the level of the
law. First of all, this leads to an increase in their status, and on the other hand, it gives
them an advantage in some conflict names related to the assistant attorney.
According to the current regulations, a candidate to become a attorney’s assistant
must meet the following requirements:
- being a citizen of the Republic of Uzbekistan;
- having a higher or secondary legal education.
At the same time, the national bar legislation lists the following two types of
persons who cannot be attorney’s
assistants:
- persons who are incompetent or have limited legal capacity according to the
established procedure;
- persons whose convictions have not been canceled or removed.
The recruitment of a candidate who meets the above requirements is carried out
by the order of the head of the legal structure (law office, law firm, board of advocates) or
the head of the relevant regional department of the Chamber of Advocates of the
Republic of Uzbekistan [6]. It should be noted that an attorney-at-law is also appointed as
the assistant attorney by this order.
The working conditions of the attorney’s assistant are determined by the
employment contract (contract) drawn up following the procedure established by the
legislation. The following issues should be stated in the employment contract (contract):
1) rights and obligations of the advocacy structure (territorial office), official
advocate, and attorney’s assistant;
2) procedure for payment of labor attorney’s assistant;
3) work regime of the attorney’s assistant;
4) term of validity of the employment contract (contract) of the attorney’s
assistant;
5) conditions for termination of the employment contract of an attorney’s
assistant;
6) advocacy structure (territorial office), other issues of official-advocate and
assistant relations.
The advocate structure (territorial department) issues a certificate of the
prescribed model to the assistant. This certificate is returned to the legal structure
(territorial office) when the employment contract (contract) concluded with it is
terminated [7].
It is important to note that the assistant attorney is directly subordinate to the
attorney-at-law. His experience as a paralegal is listed as being in addition to the legal
professional experience required to qualify as an attorney.
According to the legislation of the National Bar, the rules of professional ethics of
advocates and the requirements of maintaining legal secrecy apply to the assistant.
In addition, it is established that the employment contract concluded with an
attorney’s assistant can be canceled in the event of 8 cases.
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The study and analysis of the current legal assistant law show that it is necessary
to define the basic provisions of the attorney’s assistant, the requirements for becoming
an attorney’s assistant, the persons who cannot be an attorney’s assistant, their
employment procedure, clarifying the tasks of attorney’s assistant, whether the period of
working as an attorney’s assistant is considered seniority in a legal specialty or vice
versa, the issues of keeping an advocate's secret and not questioning him as a witness in
this case in the future based on the experience of foreign countries critical review is
required.
We will try to reveal the above-mentioned issues in the framework of research
based on the experience of foreign countries.
On May 31, 2002, the Federal Law of the Russian Federation "On Advocacy and
Advocacy Activities in the Russian Federation" [8] was adopted, the fourth chapter of
which describes the norm regarding the assistant attorney. Article 27 of this Law is
devoted to the attorney’s assistant, in which the advocate has the right to have assistants,
the requirement for a candidate to become an attorney’s assistant is only a higher,
incomplete higher, or secondary legal education defined.
At the same time, the legislation of the Russian Federation on the legal profession
stipulates that a candidate cannot be employed as an attorney’s assistant in the following
cases:
–
It was declared insolvent or partially insolvent following the procedure
established by the laws of the Russian Federation;
–
The conviction for a felony has not been completed or expunged.
In addition, the legislation of the Russian Federation on the legal profession
stipulates that the attorney’s assistant is obliged to keep the advocate’s secret, and the
work of the attorney’s assistant is carried out based on a fixed
-term employment
contract.
Article 81 of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan "On Advocacy and Advocates" of
December 28, 1999 [9] states that a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan with a higher
legal education can be an attorney’s assistant, an attorney’s assistant is a lawyer it is
stipulated that he must protect his secret, as well as observe the rules of conduct of
advocates.
Law was called the advocate and his activities [10] is adopted on January 13, 2005
and Article 23 of it defines the basic rules for the attorney’s assistant. In particular, the
advocate has the right to have attorney’s assistant and assistants, persons who are
incompetent or have limited legal capacity or who have been convicted of a crime
committed intentionally by a court decision and whose conviction has not been
completed or not removed cannot become an attorney’s assistant, the attorney’s assistant
discloses the secret of advocacy it should not be done, except for the cases specified by
the law, the identity of the attorney’s assistant is confirmed by the certificate of the
attorney’s assistant, and its form and procedure of issuance are approved by the council
of the bar association.
"On Advocacy and Advocacy in the Republic of Belarus" of the Law of the Republic
of Belarus, was adopted on December 30, 2011 [11] entitled "Advocate", describes the
norm on attorney’s assistant. Article 19 of this law is devoted to the attorney’s assistant,
which states that legal entities and advocates can hire an attorney’s assistant based on an
employment contract, the length of time the advocate has worked as an attorney’s
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assistant, if he has a legal education, work in a specialty it is established that the
attorney’s assistant is obliged to maintain the secrecy of the advocate's practice, and at
the same time, persons who have not been convicted of a crime committed intentionally
as an attorney’s assistant, or whose conviction has not been removed, or who is legally
incapacitated or have limited legal capacity in the prescribed manner, will not be hired.
Law of the Kyrgyz Republic "On Advocacy and Bar Association of the Kyrgyz
Republic" adopted on July 27, 2016 [12] "Rights and obligations of an advocate. Article 28
of the third chapter entitled "Guarantees of Advocacy" defines the requirements for
becoming an attorney’s assistant. In particular, it is noted that the candidate must be a
citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic and have a higher legal education to become an attorney’s
assistant.
It should be noted that the list of persons who cannot become an attorney’s
assistant in the Kyrgyz Republic is more extensive than in other countries. For example:
- a person who does not have the citizenship of the Kyrgyz Republic, who has been
declared incompetent or has limited legal capacity following the laws of the Kyrgyz
Republic, cannot be an attorney’s assistant;
–
the status of conviction is completed or conviction persons not removed;
- those dismissed from law enforcement and other state bodies in connection with
the commission of a disciplinary offense - within one year from the date of dismissal;
- was previously deprived of a license to practice law.
In addition, in the legislation of the Kyrgyz Republic, it is specifically noted that the
attorney’s assistant must maintain the confidentiality of the information of the persons
applying for legal assistance.
The Law of the Republic of Tajikistan "On Advocacy and Advocacy" adopted on
March 18, 2015 [13] is entitled "Organization of Advocacy", Article 33 of which states
that an advocate assistant has the right to be an attorney’s assistant, persons who have a
higher or incomplete higher legal education can be an attorney’s assistant, an attorney’s
assistant is obliged to keep state and advocate's secrets.
The Law of Ukraine "On Advocacy and Advocacy" adopted on July 5, 2012 [14]
states that "Having the right to engage in advocacy. There is a second section called
"Organizational Forms of Advocacy", Article 16 which specifies the requirement for an
assistant attorney. In particular, an advocate may hire an assistant from among persons
with a higher legal education.
An important aspect of the law of Ukraine on advocacy is that the regulation on
assistant advocates is approved by the Bar Council of Ukraine.
The fourth chapter of the Law of Georgia "On Legal Practice" [15], adopted on June
20, 2001, is entitled "Advocate Trainee. Attorney’s assistant". Article 17 of this law states
that an advocate may hire an assistant to receive technical or other assistance in the
course of legal work, based on a permit signed by the advocate in the presence of the
relevant advocate or on his behalf, the attorney’s assistant may be employed in his court,
arbitration court, investigative bodies, and other state bodies. and organizations, while
working in public associations, have the right to familiarize themselves with case
materials, and the attorney’s assistant cannot be questioned as a witness on matters
known to him during his professional activity.
In addition, Article 7 of the Law of Georgia "On Advocacy" deals with professional
secrecy, which also applies to paralegals.
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CONCLUSION
Based on the above and the positive experience of foreign countries, the following
conclusions can be drawn:
❖
it is
necessary to describe the main provisions of the activity of the attorney’s
assistant in the form of a separate chapter in the Law "On Advocacy and Advocacy
Activities", which is planned to be adopted. This positive experience is available in the
legislation of Georgia.
Today, the regulatory legal document regulating the activities of the attorney’s
assistant is implemented based on the regulation approved by the order of the Minister
of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan. To ensure the independence of the Advocacy
Institute, it is appropriate to adopt the document regulating the activities of the assistant
attorney by the Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Uzbekistan. This experience can
be seen in the legislation of the Russian Federation, of Ukraine.
It is necessary to cancel the requirement to be a citizen of the Republic of
Uzbekistan to become an attorney’s assistant. This creates the necessary conditions for
foreign citizens and stateless persons studying in Uzbekistan to work as attorney
assistants. This experience can be found in the legislation of the Russian Federation,
Ukraine, and Georgia.
❖
the current legislation, there is a requirement to have a higher legal education or
a secondary legal education. Therefore, currently, undergraduate students are not
allowed to work as paralegals. In our opinion, to increase the attractiveness of the
advocate institute and attract young people, it is necessary to give the right to work as an
attorney’s assistant to the students studying in the bachelor's department of higher legal
educational institutions. This positive experience exists in the legislation of the Russian
Federation and Tajikistan.
❖
it is appropriate to include in the current legal documents the norm that persons
who have not completed or not removed the conviction for an intentional crime cannot
work as an attorney’s assistant. This experience is available in the legislation of the
Russian Federation, Armenia, and Belarus.
❖
it is appropriate to include the attorney’s assistant among the persons who will
not be questioned as a witness in the future investigation or preliminary investigation on
issues related to the advocate's secrets. Because this situation is not regulated in the
national legislation. This experience can be observed in the legislation of Georgia.
Today, individuals find it difficult to find sufficiently complete information about
paralegals from official sources. To find an acceptable solution to this problem, it would
be appropriate to introduce a registry of attorney’s assistants
.
REFERENCES:
1.
Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated January 28, 2022
"On the Development Strategy of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026" No. DP-60;
2.
Kadiraliyev S. IMPROVING THE ACTIVITY OF QUALIFICATION COMMISSIONS
UNDER THE REGIONAL ADMINISTRATIONS OF THE CHAMBER OF ADVOCATES OF THE
REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN //ResearchJet Journal of Analysis and Inventions.
–
2022.
–
T. 3.
–
No. 12.
–
S. 59-65.
3.
Law No. 349-I of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Advocacy" adopted on
December 27, 1996;
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4.
Regulation on the procedure for organizing the activities of the Attorney’s
assistant, approved by the order of the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan
No. 80 of March 27, 2009;
5.
Nurumov D. The Essence and Features Of The Plea Bargain As A Simplified
Procedure For Criminal Proceedings //Solid State Technology. - 2020. - T. 63. - No. 5.
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S.
6215-6221.
6.
Matkarimov QQ, Khudaiberganova FY PROCESSUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
MEDIATION IN CIVIL JUDICIAL ACTIVITY AND LAWYER'S PARTICIPATION AS A
MEDIATOR IN IT //Oriental renaissance: Innovative, educational, natural and social
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2022.
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T. 2.
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No. 4.
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S. 503-512.
7.
Matmurotov A. Issues of improving the internship procedure of a person
applying for the status of a lawyer // Obshchestvo i innovatsii.
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118-131.
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http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_36945/9f6de090aeaa055
61d4c237b804c22ebb8396261/
9.
http://www.eurasian-advocacy.ru/azerbajdzhanskaya-respublika/607-zakon-
azerbajdzhanskoj-respubliki-ot-10-iyunya-2011-goda-145-ivqd
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https://www.arlis.am/documentview.aspx?docid=78982
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https://kodeksy-by.com/zakon_rb_ob_advokature/19.htm
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http://cbd.minjust.gov.kg/act/view/ru-ru/205356/30?cl=ru-ru
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http://ncz.tj/content/zakon-respubliki-tadjikistan-ob-advokature-i-
advokatskoy-deyatelnosti
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http://www.eurasian-advocacy.ru/ukraina/617-zakon-ukrainy-ob-
advokature-i-advokatskoj-deyatelnosti
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http://www.eurasian-advocacy.ru/gruziya/608-zakon-gruzii-ob-advokatskoj-
deyatelnosti
