PROBLEM OF REMUNERATION OF LAWYERS NOT SETTLED
Support A1+!The new and old laws on advocacy have not settled the problem of the remuneration of lawyers. The problem is not solved by other legal acts.
In Armenia, the people who need a lawyers appeal not to a highly skilled but to a familiar lawyer. As for the remuneration of the lawyer, here the principle of approximate calculation functions. Some lawyers offer the client a bargain and share the profit to be received.
The new law on advocacy provides for punishment for the lawyers, who take money from the client and play a double game with the opposite side. Such activity is called disciplinary violations. Article 40 provides for rebuke, strict rebuke or penalty for a lawyer, who was found guilty in disciplinary violation.
One of the leading specialists in the juridical field, chairman of the Economic Court Hovhannes Manukyan did not deny that there are unprincipled lawyers. Moreover he expressed concern over the low level of the Armenian lawyers and incomprehensive order of remuneration. Pointing out to the international experience he said that the price should be conditioned by the level complexity.
The remuneration of a lawyer’s service is regulated by vague clauses. Article 6 says, “A lawyers has the right to receive fee for his services. The amount and order of the payment are determined by the written agreement concluded between the lawyers and the client according to the Civic Code of the Republic of Armenia.”
To note, the legislation also provides for cases when juridical assistance is rendered for free. The new law on advocacy entrusts the public defender with the mission. According to Paragraph 4 of Article 6 of the new law, free juridical assistance can be also provided on the lawyer’s initiative. This item offers the Armenian lawyers a maximal possibility to avoid tax payments. Real “competition” of generosity and philanthropy emerges among the lawyers.
Our interlocutor does not see any threat of losing competition in case of uniting two chambers. “With any number of the chambers if there is not an established juridical system there can’t be healthy and fair competition”, Hovhannes Manukyan resumed.
Sevak Grigoryan
