Today, on 18 October, the 11th Annual Republican Scientific Conference “Advocacy: Current State and Prospects for its Development in the Republic of Armenia” was held at the Armenian Lawyers’ Association.
The participants of the conference presented their works in two stages: written and oral. The authors of the 4 reports that scored the maximum points in the written round were invited to participate in the oral round. Accordingly, 4 reports were presented during the oral phase. Judges: After the presentation of the reports, Ms Syuzanna Soghomyan, Attorney, Programs Coordinator at the Armenian Lawyers’ Association, Coordinator of the Conference, member of the ALA; Mr. Arnold Vardanyan, PhD; and Ms Mariam Zadoyan, Attorney, member of the ALA asked questions to the participants.
Ms Ruzanna Margaryan, was recognized the winner of the Conference. Her topic referred to the of Attorney’s Confidentiality institute. She noted that the objective of the work was to study the of Attorney’s Confidentiality institute, its origin and development, as well as the problems related to the preservation of lawyer’s secrecy in the Republic of Armenia.
According to her, in order to achieve the goal of the research, she distinguished the following issues:
- to determine the essence of Attorney’s Confidentiality institute,
- to consider the history of emergence and development of the Attorney’s Confidentiality Institute, the scientific approaches to understanding the essence of Attorney’s Confidentiality in different periods of its existence,
- to analyze the legislation of the Republic of Armenia, which regulates the Attorney’s Confidentiality Institute,
- to identify the main forms of violation of attorney’s confidentiality and to characterize each of them,
- to consider legal and technical measures aimed at preventing violations of attorney’s confidentiality.
Ms Lilit Nersisyan, who was recognized the second, spoke about the problems in the field of advocacy. According to her, it is important to reconsider who can obtain the lawyer’s license. The overloaded work of public defenders was also mentioned as a problem. According to her, the research she conducted within the framework of the report indicates that public defenders work in an overloaded mode, and the salaries are rather low and not enough to perform such work. Lilit Nersisyan mentioned the current gaps in the education system of lawyers, as well as the fact that often young professionals are unable to enter the labor market due to the long-term experience requirement by employers.
The third position was taken by Ms Anna Mahlamyan was recognized the third. Her report referred to the attorney’s participation in the criminal trial. According to her, justice should not be based on the amount of evidence that will counterbalance justice. Mahlamyan mentioned that, first of all, the investigation of each case should be based on the just interests of the person.
Mariam Meliksetyan received the incentive prize. She mentioned that recently there have been worrying situations when lawyers are insulted and threatened on social networks due to the fact of protection of the interests of a person with a negative public credit or perception. Mariam Meliksetyan mentioned what changes are needed to solve the existing problems.
The participants expressed their gratitude for the organization of the conference, saying that during the preparation of the reports, they acquired a number of skills, raised issues, and presented their views.
The 11th Annual Republican Scientific Conference “Advocacy: Current State and Prospects for its Development in the Republic of Armenia” was organized by the “Armenian Lawyers’ Association” NGO and “LEGAL ALLIANCE” Law Firm.
