The Advocacy Law of the Republic of Latvia has been found multiple times to contain problems pertaining to the lack of clarity in defining the legal status of sworn advocate firms, the qualifications of sworn advocates, as well as the professional insurance of advocates. In order to resolve these and other problems, the Parliament adopted amendments to the Advocacy Law in the final reading, on 18 February 2021.
Legal status of sworn advocate firms
Previously, the legal status of advocate firms was regulated in very general terms, and there were different interpretations in how an advocate firm is to be defined as a legal entity, or recognised as a subject of law.
The new amendments determine that an advocate firm can be established as a
- general partnership, or a
- limited company,
by registering it in the Commercial Register of the Register of Enterprises of the Republic of Latvia, in the manner prescribed in the Commercial Law. It will only be possible to establish advocate firms as general partnerships or limited companies for the purpose of engaging in professional activities (provision of legal assistance).
The amendments state that in order to register their advocate firm in the Commercial Register, the founders of a sworn advocate firm must first obtain the approval of the Latvian Council of Sworn Advocates. This new regulation will not only determine the legal status of advocate firms, but will also provide transparency in taxation and tax management.
Insurance of professional activities
Previously, Section 114 of the Advocacy Law of the Republic of Latvia stated that the risk of possible damage associated with the professional activities of sworn advocates and assistant sworn advocates may be insured. Sworn advocates were required to inform their client if there was no such insurance.
The amendments (effective since 30 April 2021) affected this section, now making such insurance mandatory. The Latvian Council of Sworn Advocates now signs a professional risk insurance contract for all advocates (group insurance contract).
As pointed out in the summary of the draft law, previously advocate firms largely insured their professional activities, a practice that was not common for self-employed advocates. Furthermore, such insurance is already mandatory for sworn notaries and sworn judicial officers.
- The professional activities of advocates and their equivalents are insured in almost all member states of the European Union.
The law states that if certain actions or omissions committed by an advocate as part of their professional activities result in damage to a party, this damage is to be compensated using the group insurance contract of the Latvian Council of Sworn Advocates. If the amount of damage exceeds the limit of liability specified in the group insurance contract, or if the group insurance contract does not provide for the compensation of the damage in question, such damage, or remaining share of the damage, is covered using the advocate’s insurance proceeds gained from the individual insurance contract.
Suspension of an advocate
Section 17 of the Law has been expanded with Part 3, which states that if as part of criminal proceedings, a sworn advocate is suspected of or charged with deliberately committing a criminal offence not associated with the professional duties of the sworn advocate, then that sworn advocate is suspended from providing legal assistance for the duration of the pre-trial and trial proceedings in the criminal case.
In the summary to the draft law, its authors emphasised the unacceptability of a situation, whereby a person is provided with a state-guaranteed provider of legal assistance whose reputation is dubious.
Section 17 now also has a Part 4, which stipulates that if a sworn advocate becomes subject to an insolvency process for natural individuals, they will be suspended from working as a sworn advocate for the duration of the insolvency proceedings.
In view of the above, Paragraph 1 of Section 16 of the Law, which previously prescribed the permanent dismissal of sworn advocates found to be insolvent by court, has been removed.
Arrears on child support not allowed
In order to motivate parents to fulfil their legal duty in providing their children with child support, and in view of the fact that the reputation of candidate sworn advocates, among other things, is under scrutiny, the amendments state that individuals who are in arrears on child support (as stipulated in the Maintenance Guarantee Fund Law) may not be accepted as sworn advocates. Previously, this limitation was set for:
- judge,
- sworn judicial officer,
- and sworn notary candidates.
Training and skill improvement
The only regulatory document that previously governed the matter of training and skill improvement in advocates were the regulation on the skill improvement and advanced training of sworn advocates approved by the Latvian Council of Sworn Advocates, which took effect on 1 January 2013.
The amendments state that sworn advocates, including suspended and dismissed ones, are required to improve their skills. A sworn advocate must devote at least 16 academic hours to improving their skills every calendar year.
In order to keep records of the training hours, the Latvian Council of Sworn Advocates will create a closed register of advocates that will automatically record the number of training hours completed by advocates, filtering those advocates that fail to accumulate the required number of training hours during the year.
