On 15 and 16 June 2018 an international lawyers’ conference on “Improving of the quality of legal services” was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. The event was organised within the framework of the Joint Programme between the European Union and the Council of Europe “Support to the Kazakh Authorities in Improving the Quality and Efficiency of the Kazakh Justice System” and in co-operation with the Republican Collegium of Advocates of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the OSCE Programme Office in Astana, the Association Européenne des Avocats – European Association of Lawyers and the International Bar Association. The conference was broadly attended by lawyers from thirteen European and Asian bars, as well as representatives of the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Justice, the General Prosecutor’s Office, civil society and academia of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
The aim of the conference was to create a platform for discussions and exchange of views and experiences on issues related to the independence of lawyers and bar associations, rules of ethics, disciplinary proceedings, structure of legal aid and continuing legal education. It became the international fora for networking between lawyers from Europe and Asia. During the two days of the conference, representatives of different legal societies and legal systems presented good practices and challenges faced by legal professionals in their countries. The special attention of the moderators and speakers was paid to the current reform of the legal profession in the host country – Kazakhstan, by providing the representatives of the national authorities and the Kazakh Bar with a number of specific recommendations for further alignment of the Draft Law on “Advocate activities and legal services” with European and other international standards. The outcome of the conference became general recommendations elaborated by five working panels on further development of the legal profession.
For more information please contact Ms Adilya Tugel, National consultant of the project at an email: adilya.tugel@coe.int or Ms Elnara Bainazarova, Press and Information officer at the Delegation of the European Union to Kazakhstan at tel: +(7172)97-45-67 or email: elnara.bainazarova@eeas.europa.eu
