The Ukrainian Translation of the European Charter of Core Principles of the Legal Profession Now Available Online

Dear colleagues and participants of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program, we have the pleasure of presenting the adapted translation of the Charter of Core Principles of the European Legal Profession (hereinafter – the “Charter”) and the official comments thereto.

The Charter was adopted by the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (hereinafter – “CCBE”) on 25 November 2006 and is part of the Code of Conduct for European Lawyers. It contains a list of 10 principles common to all European legal profession. Adherence to these principles as stated in the Preamble of the Charter is the foundation of the right to legal defense, which is the cornerstone of other fundamental rights in a democratic society.

Unfortunately, for more than 10 years the text of the Charter and the official commentary thereto lacked a quality Ukrainian translation. Therefore, the experts of the “Tomorrow’s Lawyer” Program are pleased to present a translation that is fundamentally important for the legal community in Ukraine. The editors of the adapted text were the Program experts Olga Zhukovska and Dmitry Kukhnyuk.

“The principles enshrined in the Charter are more than just written cornerstones of the legal profession in Europe. They are so simple and understandable on one hand and deeply thoughtful and meaningful on the other hand, therefore constituting the unique ten commandments for the modern European lawyer”- said Dmitry Kukhnyuk.

In turn, Olga Zhukovska noted: “The fact that more than thirty Bar associations representing over a million lawyers found it necessary and possible to agree on the principles of the Charter despite the diversity of national self-regulatory features of advocacy – is significant in several projections. Obviously, the legal ethics needs to be strengthened against undermining its basic foundation for the survival of a unique profession in the world where democracy is constantly undergoing the new emerging challenges. It is also clear that no matter how different were the portraits of the Bar of different countries, the main features of their profile should remain unchanged to preserve genetic memory and identity of the lawyer as a carrier of the special mission in society. These principles constitute the bone structure, to which the muscles of human rights, vessels of duties and nerves of responsibilities are attached.  Charter – is the basis of ADVOCATUS SAPIENS anatomy.

It should be noted that the principles of the Charter were mainly reflected in the Rules of Ethics of Ukrainian legal profession, but the changes suffered by these rules in 2012 compared to 1999 version unfortunately, in some ways alienated Ukrainian advocacy from the European standard. In particular, for some reason the principle of honesty and integrity has been deleted. Let’s hope that we will be recognized in the European world in general. However, in my opinion, we should return the Ukrainian legal profession face that would adequately reflect in the European mirror”.