Managing Partner of GOLAW Valentyn Gvozdiy became one of the drafters of the Council of Europe Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyer

The adoption of the Convention was a response to the growing number of threats to lawyers, including harassment, intimidation, physical attacks and interference with their professional activities. Lawyers play a key role in ensuring access to justice, upholding human rights and protecting the interests of citizens, and their independence is essential for the effective functioning of the legal system.

The Convention aims to ensure that lawyers can perform their professional duties without undue pressure or threats. The document contains provisions on:

• professional rights of lawyers and guarantees of their activities;
• freedom of expression;
• independence of professional associations;
• mechanisms for protecting lawyers and investigating attacks on them;
• confidentiality of the practice of law and protection against unlawful interference.

The Convention provides that national legal systems should guarantee the independence of bar associations and their self-governance. In addition, professional bar associations have the right to promote access to the profession, support its development and cooperate with international organizations.

Importantly, the Convention is open for signature not only by members of the Council of Europe but also by non-member states. The document will enter into force three months after ratification by at least eight countries, six of which must be members of the Council of Europe.

Ukraine played a special role in the development of the Convention. The Committee of Experts on the Protection of Lawyers (CJ-AV), which has been working on the document since 2022, included Valentyn Gvozdiy, Managing Partner of GOLAW, Vice President of the Ukrainian National Bar Association and the Bar Council of Ukraine. He also represented Ukraine at the international level in the process of drafting the Convention and was elected Vice President of the Committee. 

“This document is extremely important for the legal community, as all the existing standards related to the practice of law are currently not binding. Therefore, ensuring compliance with these standards is difficult even in countries with strong legal protection of lawyers,” said Mr. Gvozdiy.

He also emphasized that Ukraine needs to be among the first countries to ratify the Convention in order to confirm its status as a democratic state governed by the rule of law. “As Vice President of the Committee, I managed to show that Ukraine has high standards of justice, the rule of law and human rights protection,” emphasized Valentyn Gvozdiy.

The Convention will be opened for signature on May 13, 2025, during a meeting of Council of Europe foreign ministers in Luxembourg.