In recent years, the Republic of Uzbekistan has implemented large-scale reforms to enhance the role and significance of the legal profession as one of the effective institutions for ensuring the protection of human rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests. In particular, measures have been taken to ensure the independence of the legal profession and lawyers, organize work based on the principle of adversarial proceedings at all stages of legal proceedings, and create the necessary legislative framework for lawyers to carry out their professional activities.
At the referendum of the Republic of Uzbekistan held on April 30, 2023, it was determined that the new version of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, adopted by a nationwide vote, has the highest legal force, direct effect throughout the country, and forms the basis of a unified legal space. At the same time, the inclusion of a separate chapter on the legal profession in the Constitution indicates its importance within the framework of ongoing reforms in the judicial and legal sphere. Chapter XXIV of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which includes Articles 141-142, defines the main provisions concerning the legal profession. In particular, the provision of qualified legal assistance to individuals and legal entities, the principles of legal practice, guarantees of legal activities, and social protection of lawyers are enshrined at the constitutional level.
In our country, extensive work has been carried out to further liberalize the judicial and legal system, implement the constitutional norm establishing the right of citizens to qualified legal assistance at any stage of investigation and court proceedings, ensure the organizational independence of the legal profession, staff it with highly qualified personnel, strengthen the guarantees of lawyers’ independence, and enhance the authority and prestige of the legal profession.In particular, important changes in this institution are directly related to the adoption of normative legal acts that have defined the main norms related to the legal profession. At present, there are below-mentioned main laws in our country related to the institution of the legal profession. Specifically, the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated December 27, 1996 «On the Legal Profession» and the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated December 25, 1998 «On Guarantees of Legal Practice and Social Protection of Lawyers.»
The adoption of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated May 12, 2018 «On measures to fundamentally improve the effectiveness of the institute of advocacy and expand the independence of lawyers» also played an important role. In particular, an advocate has gained the right to pre-trial settlement of disputes, to take measures to reconcile the parties, as well as to act as an arbitrator, the period of mandatory internship in an advocacy formation for obtaining a license to practice law has been reduced from six months to three months, with the note that employees of the legal service of state bodies and organizations, as well as persons who have worked as a judge, investigator or prosecutor for at least three years, are exempt from mandatory internship, the period of non-performance of professional duties by an advocate without valid reasons, which is grounds for termination of the advocate’s license, has been extended from three to six months, it has been established that the termination of an advocate’s license is carried out only by a court upon application of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan based on the conclusion of the Higher Qualification Commission, the period for retaking the qualification exam to obtain the status of an advocate has been reduced from one year to six months.
It can be confidently stated that these changes and additions to the legislation on national advocacy have created the basis for increasing public trust in the institution of advocacy, further strengthening the status of advocates, expanding the powers of advocates in their professional activities, as well as providing qualified legal assistance to individuals and legal entities. One of the positive aspects is that in our country, positive changes are taking place in trials involving advocates.
At the videoconference meeting on justice and anti-corruption issues chaired by the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, it was noted: «Advocacy is an integral part of justice, and the role of this institution in establishing justice is invaluable». This also testifies to the attention paid to the institute of advocacy.
It should be noted that an important change related to the advocacy bureau, which is an advocacy formation, was introduced into the legislation on advocacy. According to the law adopted on October 11, 2018, lawyers who have established an advocacy bureau can carry out their activities in residential premises owned by them on the right of ownership or on other legal basis, without the need to convert residential premises owned by a lawyer into the category of non-residential premises for use in the activities of an advocacy bureau. This has created great opportunities for new lawyers entering the institute of advocacy. Therefore, today, the advocacy bureau ranks first among the most frequently created advocacy formations.
In order to eliminate excessive red tape, bureaucracyand paperwork in the activities of the legal profession, and to establish electronic document management with courts, law enforcement agencies, and other state bodies, on May 30, 2022, the President of Uzbekistan adopted Resolution «On measures for the widespread introduction of modern information and communication technologies in the activities of the legal profession». As important changes based on this resolution, it is necessary to note the following: the issuance of a license for the right to engage in legal practice is carried out and formalized through the «License» information system while preserving the current procedure for applicants to pass the qualification examination; state registration, re-registration, and liquidation of legal entities are carried out only electronically through the Unified Portal of Interactive State Services of the Republic of Uzbekistan on the «single window» principle; at the beginning of legal practice, the provision of a composite service for taking the qualification exam, obtaining a license for legal practice, and state registration of a law office is specifically noted.
Additionally, the launch of the «Legal Assistance» information system, which provides for the digitalization of legal assistance processes for citizens, integration of the legal profession with the activities of courts and law enforcement agencies, as well as other state bodies, has created a number of opportunities for lawyers. In particular, it establishes the formation of an electronic register of lawyers and personal electronic accounts for lawyers, the suspension of a lawyer’s status upon personal request is carried out in the form of an electronic notification, and the practice of issuing an «Electronic Lawyer’s Warrant» with a special QR code, equivalent to the status of a warrant in the traditional form issued to lawyers for handling a specific case, is being implemented.
One of the main changes in connection with the introduction of the «Legal Assistance» information system is the determination of assigning lawyers to work at the expense of the state through random electronic selection without human intervention. On December 7, 2019, at the solemn ceremony dedicated to the 27th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev emphasized in his address that important changes should occur in the institution of the legal profession.
Goal 19 of the Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated January 28, 2022 «On the Strategy for the Development of New Uzbekistan for 2022-2026» is formulated as follows: to radically enhance the potential of the institution of advocacy in protecting human rights, freedoms, and legitimate interests, as well as to fully satisfy the needs of the population and business entities for qualified legal services. This decree is of great importance as it provides optimal solutions to the systemic problems of advocacy. In particular, it envisions: transitioning the institute of advocacy to a system of full self-governance, strengthening the accountability of the management bodies of the Chamber of Advocates to the advocacy community, attracting young qualified personnel to the system, eliminating excessive bureaucracy and paperwork by introducing modern information technologies in advocacy activities, establishing electronic document management with courts, law enforcement agencies and other state bodies, and implementing a system of providing free legal assistance to citizens in need of social protection, not only in criminal cases but also in civil and administrative cases. All this has served to further improve the institute of advocacy and increase its attractiveness.
On June 16, 2023, the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan LRU-848 «On the provision of state-funded legal assistance» was adopted, in which the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Uzbekistan is designated as the specially authorized state body in the field of providing state-funded legal assistance. At the same time, the law defines the basic principles of providing state-funded legal assistance, the persons providing such assistance, the categories of cases for which state-funded legal assistance is provided, the grounds for refusal to provide and termination of state-funded legal assistance, as well as the grounds and sources of financing for state-funded legal assistance.
According to statistical data on the activities of the Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Uzbekistan as of January 1, 2024, lawyers participated in 85,339 cases by appointment (on all grounds). It should be noted that now the state ensures the participation of an advocate not only in criminal cases but also in civil and administrative cases. This will lead to a sharp increase in these indicators each year. In our country, there is a need to simplify the procedure for admission to the bar, as well as the process for obtaining a license to practice law.
It should be noted that as of October 1, 2023, the permanent population of the Republic of Uzbekistan amounted to more than 36,599,764 people, and according to the Chamber of Advocates of the Republic of Uzbekistan, as of June 1, 2023, 5,665 lawyers were engaged in legal practice in our country. An analysis of these statistical data shows that as of October 1, 2023, in Uzbekistan, there is an average of 1 lawyer per 6,460 residents. Amendments have been introduced to the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan «On Advocacy», which abolish the requirement for a person applying to take the examination for obtaining a license to practice law to have at least two years of work experience in a legal specialty. This has contributed to a sharp increase in the number of applicants wishing to become lawyers, the emergence of healthy competition and an increase in the attractiveness of the advocacy sector, as well as the creation of an effective system for attracting young professionals to this field.
DILSHODBEK NURUMOV,
Department of Court, Law Enforcement Agencies and Advocacy TSUL
Associate Professor, PhD
E-mail: d.nurumov@tsul.uz
