The Ministry of Justice wants to forbid to work in Russia to lawyers from the "unfriendly" countries. This, first of all, will hit their client

The Ministry of Justice proposed to refuse to register lawyers from the "unfriendly" countries and cancel the status of existing defenders. Until May 20, amendments are at the stage of public discussion. In case of approval, more than 120 people may have problems with work. Together with the lawyers, they dealt with the draft order of the Ministry of Justice.

Amendments

The project proposes to amend clauses 43 of the administrative regulations of the Ministry of Justice for maintaining a register of lawyers working in Russia. This paragraph indicates the only reason why the lawyer may refuse to register-due to the provision of false documents or information.

For the same reason, now you can annul the defender registration. It can also be excluded from the register in case of expulsion from Russia, condemnation in a criminal case or in the loss of the status of a lawyer in a foreign state. The Ministry of Justice wants to expand these grounds.

If amendments are adopted, defenders who have a lawyer status in “unfriendly” countries will not be able to work in Russia. In total, such states are 48, including the United States, Ukraine, the countries of the European Union, Canada and Japan.

Register of lawyers of foreign states

Now 247 people are in the registry, 236 of them are acting lawyers. Vedomosti calculated that if amendments are adopted, the right to work in Russia may lose at least 124 lawyers from “unfriendly countries”. Most of them are representatives of Ukraine (56), Germany (15), Great Britain (25), France (16) and the USA (9). The same figures are confirmed by lawyer Evgeny Smirnov.

“To date, almost 250 people are in the register of foreign lawyers and 124 of them are lawyers of“ unfriendly countries ”, whose status in Russia will be canceled after the adoption of these amendments. It so happened that with these countries, Russians have developed a strong relationship - business, families, real estate and much more that constantly requires legal assistance, especially after the introduction of mutual sanctions. Therefore, in the case of adoption of these amendments, the citizens of our country and business will suffer, ”Smirnov said.

In his opinion,

Amendments will also affect the leadership of our country, as it often hires foreign lawyers to solve international disputes.

Smirnov notes that any person has the right to choose a lawyer and qualified legal assistance. According to him, it is precisely this possibility that is the key to the development of the rule of law.

Shit

Lawyer Ivan Pavlov also notes that first of all, new amendments in the event of adoption are affected by Russian citizens who need foreign lawyers.

“We love to shoot in the leg. Everything that is aimed at preventing the activities of lawyers is actually aimed at their clients. This will be another ban on the import of European cheese. That is, they will suffer from this, first of all, Russians, ”Pavlov believes.

Now foreign lawyers provide legal assistance on issues related to the application of the legislation of their country. According to Pavlov, this is especially in demand in processes in family affairs, where citizens of different states are in pairs. In the case of any judicial dispute, it is important to know how the laws are applied in those countries whose citizens are participants in the process. Pavlov notes that the court is also interested in the work of foreign lawyers, since without them it will be more difficult to consider this kind of case.

“We like to invent where to apply sanctions. They calculated that allegedly on foreign lawyers it was aimed. We saw the word “foreign” and let's work in this direction, ”said Ivan Pavlov.

The Ministry of Justice had to somehow differ

The lawyer Ilya Novikov does not consider the proposed amendments to the disaster and does not think that their adoption can greatly affect the work of lawyers. He notes that there are only a few hundred defenders in the register. Those who regularly work in the courts still do not affect the security of Russia.
If the Ministry of Justice brings this decision to some ideological base, it is supposedly necessary that in Russian justice there are no “unfriendly countries”, then this is all a “smoke curtain”, the lawyer believes.

“They (the Ministry of Justice) had to somehow distinguish. Here is a war, formally on their responsibility, the same lists of “foreign agents”, but this is not enough and we must somehow show that they are in the front edge.

This is a manifestation of not a state approach, but attempts to notorize and show that the Ministry of Justice is also involved in the dramatic struggle of Russia, surrounded on all sides by a ring of enemies, ”Novikov said.

He also said that he had read the comments of the Federal Chamber of Lawyers that amendments could leave Russians without protection abroad. Novikov does not think that other countries will take response. According to him, the “Russian Ministry is concerned about the show of show”, and, for example, in the UK, local advocacy is unlikely to try to “equalize”.

“I'm not sure that this is worried about the Russian Ministry of Justice. From any other Ministry of Justice, Russian citizens have as many problems as from Russian, ”the lawyer noted.