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The next step is to analyze the22key problems facing contemporary attorney profession. There are three keyproblems: reduction of demand for activity of attorney’s services among thepopulation, decrease in the level of payment for attorneys' work on the appointmentof the court, and numerous violations of the defendant's rights by law enforcementofficers. These factors are capable of encouraging Russia's attorney community tomobilize as they pose a direct threat to common practice.
Lower demand for servicescaused by the economic crisis undermines the economic independence of attorneysand can possibly lead to even stronger dependence on court-appointed cases. In turn,things go sideways in the court-appointed segment, too, since inflation in recentyears has significantly reduced the attorneys' payment, which is modest enough asit is.However, the most substantial challenge is posed by the score-based systemof reporting, which pushes law enforcement officers to violate the defendants' rights.Furthermore, unscrupulous law enforcement officers in Russia have amplecapabilities to abuse their position of authority to extract rent from businesses.
Anattorney, no matter how weak their position is, has to oppose these violations.The aforesaid problems can encourage attorneys to conduct collection action.For instance, the only mass protests of attorneys in contemporary Russia have beentriggered by low level of payment for work on the appointment of the court.However, fee for work on the appointment of the court is the issue which can besolved by simply redistributing funding, whereas the violations of defendants' rightsare a hard-to-tackle systemic issue. Our research shows that the greatest demand forthe functioning of a strong professional association is demonstrated by attorneyswho more often than others oppose the law enforcement system, namely: record thebreaches of defendants' rights and file complaints against executives.
Especiallyattorneys with experience in working as heads of attorneys organizations. Thisfinding is in line with the proposed theoretical model where the independence ofindividual attorneys has to do with the independence of the whole activity ofattorney’s organization.
The willingness of leaders of the community and individual23attorneys to make the professional associations more active can be treated as animportant step in the fight for the strengthening of professional independence.General conclusions from researchDespite the existing competition and controversies among different lawenforcement agencies in Russia, all of them are interconnected through the instituteof the score-based system of reporting. While working to achieve a common goal,they make up the accusatory coalition ("legal complex" in the terms of Halliday andKarpik), which is in a position not only to effectively support "accusatory bias", butalso to hinder changes and reforms.
When discharging their professional duties,attorneys often have to conflict with this coalition but virtually have no allies.Currently, perspective initiative includes the movement for attorneys to begiven the so-called "monopoly" for work in court. If this reform is implemented, anylawyer will have to obtain an attorney status to conduct civil, criminal or arbitrationcases in court. This initiative is able to solve the problem of insufficient activity ofattorneys funding (through control of more profitable civil and arbitration cases).Moreover, the “monopoly” will certainly strengthen the positions of the attorneycommunity, too.
Private practice lawyers and human rights activists doing work incourts one way or another will have to become part of one corporation. Accordingly,there is an option for creating the human rights defense coalition as opposed to theaccusatory legal complex.This strengthening of positions will add urgency to the protection of attorneysand their clients against unscrupulous law enforcement practices. As was the case inseveral foreign countries (Pakistan, Tunisia, Taiwan, France, etc.), the barassociation will have to choose which side to support: the state or ordinarycommunity members (who may be joined by the civil society representatives).Preference could be given to the first as well as the second scenario.Other alternatives include further weakening of profession of attorneys.
Theinstitute of the score-based system of reporting directly aims to deprive attorneys ofindependence since it is them who hamper the achievement of targets which mayaffect the career trajectory of a law enforcement officer. Drop in demand among the24population urges attorneys to become more dependent on cases appointed by thecourt. A growing share of criminal cases involving plea bargaining illustrates thatlaw enforcement officers effectively “standardize” the litigation process andattorneys help them increasingly often.But what if attorneys become part of the same coalition as law enforcementofficers and judges? Although possible answers to this question might soundspeculative, to the best of our understanding, this would speed up self-destruction ofthe accusatory legal complex as a result of losing the last opponent. Unless attorneysrecord any violations committed by law enforcement officers, the number of powerabuses will go up.
If attorneys no longer appeal against unfair sentences, this willput an end to the last fear of all investigators, prosecutors, and judges – possiblecancellation of guilty verdict by a higher instance. If high performance indicatorsare achieved without much effort, more and more law enforcement officers willabandon any professional activity and tilt towards rent-seeking behaviors. As aresult, the existing institute will destroy itself. The only remaining solution will besweeping reforms of the entire law enforcement system, resulting in the restorationof independent activity of attorneys and judiciary.This research shows that the independence of the attorney community is not anarrow question concerning the interests of one professional group.
Under certaincircumstances, the tension existing in contemporary law enforcement system inRussia could trigger substantial reforms and social transformations. In contrast,possible short-term effects of the attorney community's defeat and loss ofindependence include further "mothballing" of the existing system, which hasadverse implications for the general public, such as the ability to infringe thefundamental rights and freedoms of citizens and ensure (almost seamlessly) that anycriminal lawsuit ends with the guilty verdict.
In the long term, the loss ofindependence by attorneys can imply sweeping transformations of the whole lawenforcement system.This research highlights the factors which enable attorneys to maintain anacceptable level of independence. Economic factors as such can only be indirectly25influenced by attorneys, whereas social factors prove to be more pronouncedlyrelated to the processes that are underway within the attorney community.
Theprofession of attorney in Russia has not yet exhausted its integration potential. Thisentails more active involvement of attorneys in the bar associations' activities ratherthan integrating private practice lawyers into the community by introducing"monopoly." An attorney's integration into the professional community strengthenssuch attorney's position, makes them less vulnerable to pressures from lawenforcement officers. Community needs to interact more actively with the attorneyswho specialize in work on the appointment of the court and virtually remain isolatedfrom the rest of their profession (one aloners).
It is necessary to work systematicallyto defend professional ethics, clear unscrupulous members out of the profession.Finally, activity of attorneys still has enormous potential to develop pro bonocommunity outreach. This kind of work should be encouraged by the community inevery possible way, this work experience should become an inherent attribute of anyprofessional and be an additional positive signal to clients.The vast potential of attorneys in Russia has to do not only with activeopposition to the infringement of human rights, but also with the expert review ofnew reforms. What makes an attorney's position unique is that they interact with lawenforcement officers on an ongoing basis and is thus in a better position to assessthe quality of their services more objectively than the general public.
Findings fromthe research show that the breaches of defendants' rights are more typical ofindividual regions and individual agencies, which makes it possible to correct "worstpractices" and replicate positive experience. Accordingly, assessing the quality ofthe law enforcement system functioning through surveys among attorneys allow usto gather information which is important to political decision-making.A broader perspective on the situation reveals that the attorney community(including the Russian Federal Chamber of Lawyers) can be viewed as an essentialprecondition for Russia's transition from limited-access order to open-access order(in the terms of North and co-authors). This transition requires three preconditions:26the supremacy of law for elite groups, consolidated control under violence andpermanent-living organizations.The attorney community is able to contribute to ensuring all of the threeconditions.
Today, the Russian Federal Chamber of Lawyers is Russia's largest nonprofit organization, which, despite its young age (established in 2002), has alreadydemonstrated the ability to reshape its management team. This research illustratesthat activity of attorneys can and should act as a restraining mechanism for part ofthe "violence machine" represented by law enforcement agencies. Finally, theindependent legal profession is a precondition for the supremacy of law for elitegroups since a qualified lawyer is the key element for non-violent and law-governedconflict resolution within the political elite. Naturally, for the activity of attorneys tomaintain its positions and start performing the aforesaid roles, a broader coalition ofattorneys, other professional groups, and civil society representatives will berequired. However, the experience of foreign countries shows that coalitions likethese are possible.The list of publications of the author reflecting the key scientificfindings from the dissertation13 papers on the topic of this dissertation have been published in the leading peerreviewed academic periodicals and the periodicals recommended by the HigherAttestation Commission of Russia's Ministry of Education and Science.In English:1.
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