The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
54
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TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
54-56
10.37547/tajpslc/Volume07Issue07-10
OPEN ACCESS
SUBMITED
31 May 2025
ACCEPTED
29 June 2025
PUBLISHED
31 July 2025
VOLUME
Vol.07 Issue07 2025
CITATION
Malika Tuychieva. (2025). The essence and necessity of lawyers’
professional development. The American Journal of Political Science Law
and Criminology, 7(07), 54
–
56.
https://doi.org/10.37547/tajpslc/Volume07Issue07-10
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
The essence and necessity
of lawyers’ professional
development
Malika Tuychieva
Tashkent State University of Law 2nd-year PhD researcher, Lecturer at the
Department of Court, Law Enforcement Agencies and Advocacy,
Uzbekistan
Abstract:
It is well known that the continuous
professional development of lawyers
–
particularly the
enhancement of their knowledge, experience, and
competencies in line with modern requirements
–
holds
significant importance on an international scale. Based
on this, it is crucial to first clarify the content, essence,
and objectives of professional development. This article
presents a logically consistent analysis of the reforms
being implemented in the field of advocacy and their
outcomes. In particular, it highlights the tasks set by the
state to improve the system of professional
development for lawyers and the significance of these
efforts. The article discusses the essence of professional
development and its main directions. It also analyzes
the views of several scholars regarding the importance
of professional development in the professional
activities of lawyers. Furthermore, it provides a
comparative analysis of the mandatory nature of
professional development for lawyers in foreign
countries and the requirements established in those
countries.
Keywords:
Advocacy, Lawyer, Continuing legal
education, National legislation, The essence of
professional development, The necessity of professional
development.
Introduction:
In the Republic of Uzbekistan, ensuring
human rights and freedoms is one of the key
responsibilities undertaken by the state. In fulfilling this
duty, the role of lawyers in the life of the state and
society is invaluable. Therefore, it is of great importance
to train highly knowledgeable and experienced lawyers
who can serve as role models for society, and to improve
the
system
of
enhancing
their
professional
qualifications accordingly.
The Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, adopted by
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The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
the Eighth United Nations Congress, governments,
professional associations of lawyers and educational
institutions shall ensure that lawyers have appropriate
education and training and be made aware of the
ideals and ethical duties of the lawyer and of human
rights and fundamental freedoms recognized by
national and international law.
In countries where there exist groups, communities or
regions whose needs for legal services are not met,
particularly where such groups have distinct cultures,
traditions or languages or have been the victims of past
discrimination,
Governments,
professional
associations of lawyers and educational institutions
should take special measures to provide opportunities
for candidates from these groups to enter the legal
profession and should ensure that they receive training
appropriate to the needs of their groups. [1].
The Continuing Professional Development helps
lawyers achieve and maintain high standards of
competency and professionalism. It is an essential part
of every lawyer’s career. It helps to keep up
-to-date
with the latest legislative developments, allows
lawyers to expand their skills, improve their
capabilities and build a successful and satisfying career.
Meaningful and relevant professional development is
important
for
maintaining
excellence
and
contemporary best practice in the provision of legal
services to both businesses and the community. The
focus for lawyers should be on good learning and
development outcomes relevant to their practice
needs, rather than on compliance as an aim in itself.
Continuing
professional
development
is
the
improvement and broadening of relevant knowledge
and skills to enable a professional to successfully carry
out his professional duties and responsibilities
throughout his career. It provides a convenient
framework for the profession to meet the changing
demands of clients and society to continuously update
knowledge and skills, to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of the profession and to enable some
practitioners to redefine their careers by learning new
professional skills and areas of practice.
The head of our country has also paid special attention
to this matter, and in the Decree of the President of the
Republic of Uzbekistan on the Strategy “Uzbekistan
-
2030”, the task was set to fundamentally enhance the
potential of the advocacy institution and to develop a
system for providing qualified legal assistance. For this
purpose, it was mandated to introduce a system of
professional development for lawyers that meets
modern and international standards and is based on
the principle of alternativity [2].
According to the current legislation, a lawyer is
required to continuously improve their knowledge and
must undergo professional development at least once
every three years in accordance with the procedure
established by the Chamber of Advocates [3].
On the Labor Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan,
Professional development is understood as improving
the level of an employee’s professional knowledge,
skills, and abilities, characterizing the employee's
readiness to perform work in his or her current
profession and specialty [4].
Felix F. Stumpf highlights that, in th
e 1930’s, when
continuing legal education had its start, the initial
concern was to bridge the so-called gap between law
school and law practice. It was then, as it still is,
acknowledged that law-school graduates lacked the
kind of craft-skill supplied in the past by apprenticeship
service in a law office. They needed more instruction on
completion of formal legal education. Although the
programs for lawyers did not generally follow the
regular law school curriculum and usually stressed
“how
-to-do-
it” info
rmation, the class room technique
persisted and the in struction was oral.
When World War II ended, the emphasis changed from
post-law-school training for young lawyers to refresher
training for returning war veterans, who had to be
brought up to date on legal developments between
1941 and 1946. Astonishingly, practicing lawyers who
were never in uniform wanted thesame kind of brushing
up [5].
Christopher Roper divides the meaning of the
continuing professional development two things:
First: “all of the lea
rning activities, formal, non-formal
and informal, in which a lawyer engages as part of
his/her work”; second: “a component of a continuing
strategy of a legal professional div to “develop” the
profession, usually through learning activities, thus
enablin
g it to survive, maintain its status and develop”
[6].
According to Paul A.Wolkin, law long having been
regarded as a profession, tradition would require every
lawyer to live up to that standard. It is being said,
however, that we have failed to fulfill that responsibility.
Within the profession many of us lament this failure and
seek ways to remedy it. Outside the profession
pressures are being applied to hasten remedial action.
Mandatory continuning legal education has been the
immediate response. But there are alternatives. They
include:
Selective monitoring of competence;
Voluntary peer review;
Effective voluntary continuing legal education [7].
According to V. Zaborovskiy, the primary duty of a
The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
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The American Journal of Political Science Law and Criminology
lawyer is, first and foremost, to continuously improve
their professional qualifications, including ensuring
citizens’ constitutional right to receive qualified legal
assistance. This obligation defines the essential
conditions for the quality of legal aid provided by the
lawyer and aims to enhance the protection of the
rights and freedoms of those who entrust the lawyer
with their case. If a lawyer lacks the necessary
knowledge and experience to solve the tasks at hand,
they will be unable to provide high-quality legal
assistance [8]. Therefore, a lawyer must understand
legal practice and its specific features. This means that
a lawyer should possess a wide range of both
procedural and non-procedural methods for delivering
professional legal assistance.
The
requirement
for
continuing
professional
development is considered a mandatory condition for
obtaining the status of a lawyer from the perspective
of international standards aimed at ensuring qualified
legal assistance for the population. Therefore, in
addition to the independence of professional
associations, international organizations also regard
strict qualification requirements and the necessity of
continuous professional development as fundamental
prerequisites for any successfully functioning justice
system [9].
In many European countries, the United States, and
Russia, continuing professional development is
mandatory in the legal profession, although the
number of required hours per year varies from country
to country. For example, in Russia, 100 hours over five
years or 20 hours per year are required; in Bulgaria
–
4
hours per year; in Belgium
–
16; in France
–
20; in
Germany
–
10; in Italy
–
30; in Norway
–
16; and in the
United States, the requirement depends on the state
–
from 8 hours (California) to 15 hours (Texas)[10].
In our point of view, professional development plays a
vital role in enabling lawyers, including advocates, to
fulfill their duties before the state and society. As
outlined in the Decree of the President of the Republic
of Uzbekistan on the “Uzbekistan —
2030” Strategy, it
is crucial to introduce a system for improving lawyers'
qualifications that aligns with modern and
international standards and is based on the principle of
flexibility. This means that the growing interest of
lawyers in enhancing their qualifications is closely
linked to reforming this system in accordance with
international standards.
REFERENCES
Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. Adopted 07
September 1990.
by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the
Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders,
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06/25/56/0274-son.
Available
at:
https://lex.uz/ru/docs/-6600413
O‘zbekiston Respublikasining “Advokatura to‘g‘risida”gi
Qonuni. 27.12.1996 yildagi 349-I-son. Qonunchilik
ma’lumotlari
milliy
bazasi.
07.02.2025
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03/25/1025/0116-son.
Available
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Labor Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan. Qonunchilik
ma
’lumotlari
milliy
bazasi.
06/24/2025,
No.
03/25/1070/0536. Available at:
Felix F. Stumpf. Continuing Legal Education: Its Role in
Tomorrow's Practice of the Law. American Bar
Association Journal, Vol. 49, No. 3 (MARCH 1963), pp.
248-250
(3
pages).
Available
at:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/25722298
Christopher Roper. The need for a conceptual
framework for continuing professional development for
lawyers. Journal of Professional Legal Education Journal.
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Paul A.Wolkin. More on a better way to keep lawyers
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Zaborovskyy, V. V. (2023). Vybir ukrainskym advokatom
vydiv pidvyshchennia svoiei kvalifikatsii cherez pryzmu
realizatsii konstytutsiinoho prava na osvitu [Ukrainian
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–
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[in Ukrainian]
Курманалиева
А.А.
Вопрос
повышения
профессиональной квалификации адвокатов в свете
конституционного положения о доступе населения к
квалифицированной
юридической
помощи.
ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ И ПРАВО № 12 • 2018
ECCLE - European Center for Continuing Legal
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Available
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