COMMENTARY BY STANISLAV PETROV ON PROBANKROTSTVO
The Federal Ministry of Justice od Russia has faced massive criticism of its bill on the legal monopoly in attorney's representation during a public discussion on the regulation.gov.ru portal, Kommersant reported.
The main purpose of the initiative is to grant exclusively attorneys the right to represent citizens and organizations in court in most possible situations.
If the draft law is adopted, it will come into force on January 1, 2028.
According to Stanislav Petrov, partner and attorney at Infralex, the introduction of attorney's monopoly seems to be a logical stage in the development and regulation of the legal services market in Russia. A similar practice of restricting access to representation already exists in most leading global jurisdictions.
The advantage of the reform is that it allows to deprive unscrupulous lawyers to practice,reduce the overall number of cases of fraud and the provision of unqualified services.
At the same time, the fears are not unfounded: the innovations will provoke an increase in the cost of legal services, caused by a reduction in the number of legal representatives and an increase in the tax burden.
"To mitigate these negative consequences, it would be advisable to provide lawyers with access to special tax regimes that are used by individual entrepreneurs. This measure could partially compensate for the increase in prices for legal assistance. However, in the current conditions of budget savings, the implementation of such a proposal seems unlikely," Stanislav concluded.