Contemporary Issues in Protecting the Professional Rights of Lawyers

The Russian Bar acts as a reliable guarantor of citizens’ constitutional right to receive qualified legal assistance. The legislation on advocacy, the Bar and the international commitments of the Russian Federation provide lawyers with a sufficiently high level of safeguards in carrying out their professional activities. It also provides lawyers with a certain amount of rights and obligations as a result of their legal professional status. Legislation also provides lawyers with a set of rights and duties arising from their procedural roles. At the same time, law enforcement practice shows that, unfortunately, lawyers' professional rights are violated on a regular basis. Consequently, there is a need to improve and defend the legal institution of lawyers’ professional rights. Do lawyers need protection of their professional rights? How have violations of lawyers’ professional rights evolved? Who most often infringes on the professional rights of lawyers? How can lawyers defend their professional rights? Are lawyers’ professional rights subject to judicial protection? How should a lawyer defend himself/herself if a trustee in insolvency demands his/her fees in court? Is it ethical for a lawyer to go to court to recover his or her fees? Can a court exclude a lawyer from taking part in a client’s case? Is it permissible for private practitioners to provide services while positioning themselves as representatives of a solicitors’ corporation? How can a corporation prosecute “legal poachers”?