Regulation of the legal profession in the Russian Federation

Lawyers in Russia fall into two main groups:

The main difference between these two types of lawyers is that only advocates are allowed to represent clients in criminal matters.

There is also an informal division between private practice lawyers and in-house lawyers. Advocates can work in both groups, but they are less common in the in-house lawyer category.

Any person intending to qualify as a lawyer in Russia must complete a Bachelor's Degree (that is, a higher legal education).

Obtaining a Master's Degree in law to obtain advanced knowledge in a specific field of professional practice is not mandatory, 'however, in practice, lawyers with a master's degree have an advantage in the recruitment process.

If a lawyer wants to enter an academic career and and to teach law, they would usually complete a three-year postgraduate course in law.

There are currently no legislative restrictions applicable to lawyers who work in law firms and law departments at companies (in-house), as long as they do not provide legal services in criminal cases (if they are not advocates). However, in practice, a higher degree in law is a common requirement for any legal position.

To obtain advocate status, the following pre-requisites must be met:

A person who meets these requirements must then pass a special examination to obtain advocate status. A practising licence confirming advocate status is valid for an unlimited period of time.

As a general rule, there are no limitations on lawyers advising throughout Russia. However, certain requirements may be set by law, for example, only advocates can represent clients in criminal matters (see Question 7).

There are no general rules applicable to lawyers who are not advocates. Instead, procedural matters are regulated by procedural codes governing different types of litigation (criminal procedure, civil procedure, arbitrazh (commercial) and administrative procedure), which are obligatory for any participant of a relevant procedure.

Advocates' activities are regulated by the Advocates Law and by the Code of Ethics. The code consists of two sections:

The Federal Bar Chamber (FBC) adopted the Rules on advocates' behaviour on the internet. The document provides that the legislation on advocacy and the bar as well as professional ethics principles are applicable to social media conduct. For example, the rules set out requirements for internet publications and comments made by advocates to ensure the legal professional privilege.

The key legislation is the Advocates Law along with federal laws regulating separate legal professions, for example, judges, notaries and so on.

There are no special requirements regarding the right to conduct litigation in court. Persons with procedural capacity can conduct their cases in court personally and (or) through representatives. There are two types of representatives in court:

When exercising the right to conduct litigation in court, the legal professional is entitled to perform all procedural actions on behalf of the person they represent, including:

In civil or administrative process, the power of attorney issued by the person represented must specifically stipulate the right of the representative to (among others):

There are no special requirements regarding the right to conduct litigation in court. However:

Law firms are usually organised as limited liability companies (LLCs), advocacy bodies (collegiums and bureaux) and representative offices or branches of international law firms in major cities (for example, Moscow and Saint Petersburg).

It is also possible to practise law without establishing a law firm. Attorneys can choose to practise law as a sole practitioner, while other practising lawyers may provide legal assistance on the basis of separate agreements with their clients (acting as sole practitioners or on behalf of their law firms).

Multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs) are generally allowed. However, attorneys cannot engage in other forms of paid employment that may require their direct (personal) involvement in the sale of goods, performance of work or provision of services.

In addition, they cannot provide legal services or participate in organisations that provide legal services beyond their duties as an attorney. Such restrictions do not apply to legal business conducted by other practising lawyers.

There are no general requirements imposed on persons providing legal services except certain requirements for attorneys (see Question 2). Legal consulting can be performed by lawyers individually or as part of a law firm.

Attorneys must provide some pro bono services in accordance with the Federal Law "On Free Legal Assistance in the Russian Federation". An attorney's participation in pro bono services is organised by regional bar chambers. In practice, other lawyers who are not attorneys (especially those acting on behalf of leading international and Russian law firms) can provide legal assistance on a pro bono basis on their own initiative, but are not required to do so.

Not applicable .

There are no special restrictions on self-employed lawyers providing legal services on a freelance basis.

Lawyers of a foreign state can provide legal assistance in the territory of the Russian Federation on issues of the law of the foreign state.

Lawyers from foreign states are not allowed to provide legal assistance in the territory of the Russian Federation on issues related to Russian state secrets.

Advocacy by lawyers of foreign states on the territory of the Russian Federation is prohibited without registration in a special register. Foreign lawyers cannot therefore represent clients in court without being registered.

Foreign advocates who practise law as advocates in the Russian Federation must be registered by the Ministry of Justice on a special register, maintained as prescribed by the Ministry of Justice. They cannot practise as advocates within the Russian Federation unless they have this registration. In addition, foreign advocates (even if registered cannot provide legal assistance within Russia on matters involving state secrets.

Foreign lawyers can generally provide any type of legal support, although foreign lawyers, as well as any lawyers who are not advocates, cannot represent clients in criminal matters.

To be included in the register, foreign attorneys must submit to the Ministry of Justice a licence or certificate confirming their status in the foreign country.

There are no additional legal tests for a foreigner to practise law in Russia, apart from general requirements applicable to foreign citizens who want to work in Russia (such as obtaining permission to work, which in most cases involves passing a test on knowledge of the Russian language and history; and compliance with migration control rules).

There are no requirements regarding how foreign lawyers must describe themselves.

The Ministry of Justice is the government authority that supervises the legal profession. The Ministry:

In addition, the FBC, headquartered in Moscow, is an association of all regional chambers. The FBC is authorised to represent attorneys and regional bar chambers in their relationships with federal governmental agencies in relation to decision-making that affects the interests of the 'attorneys' community, including disciplinary matters. Decisions of the FBC are binding for all regional bar chambers and attorneys.

There is only attorneys' register in Russia. The regional offices of the Ministry of Justice keep the registers of attorneys in regions of the Russian Federation. The information from regional registers is publicly available at the online register of all attorneys of the Russian Federation maintained by the Ministry of Justice at www.lawyers.minjust.ru.

A lawyer must be a member of one of the regional bar chambers to be recognised as an attorney. There are 85 bar chambers (further details at www.fparf.ru/chambers .

The FBC is a Russian non-state, non-profit organisation uniting all the bar chambers of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation on the basis of compulsory membership. The FBC's headquarters is located at 43 Sivtsev Vrazhek Lane, Moscow, 119002 (see also www.en.fparf.ru).

Disciplinary cases are reviewed by the qualifications commission and the council of the regional bar chamber in which the attorney who may have committed an offence is registered. A breach of the law or the Code of Ethics by an attorney either intentionally or by gross negligence results in disciplinary sanctions being imposed. This may include a reprimand, warning or disbarment.

An attorney must, in practice, arrange professional indemnity insurance (Advocates Law). However, attorneys are not legally obliged to arrange professional indemnity insurance until a special federal law governing compulsory professional indemnity insurance is adopted, which has not happened yet.

There are no disclosure requirements in relation to professional indemnity insurance.

An attorney cannot act as a consultant, defence counsel or legal representative to parties with conflicting interests in the same case; the interaction of an attorney with another party should only be limited to the measures aimed at reconciliation of the parties.

An attorney must not accept commissions from two or more people to act as their defence counsel in the same criminal case if:

If, as a result of specific circumstances, it becomes necessary to provide legal assistance to persons with different interests, as well as in the event of a potential conflict of interest, lawyers who provide legal assistance jointly on the basis of a partnership agreement are required to obtain the consent of all parties to the conflict relationship to continue the working on the matter and provide adequate legal protection for all parties.

Other (non attorney) lawyers do not usually provide legal assistance on a conflict of interest, for reputational reasons, despite the absence of mandatory requirements on this issue.

An attorney cannot accept commissions from two or more persons with conflicting interests (see Question 18). However, if, due to specific circumstances, a conflict of interest arises, attorneys who are providing legal assistance to such clients clients must obtain consent from all the parties involved in the dispute permitting him or her to continue providing these services.

Even if there is an obvious conflict of interest, the court cannot prevent a lawyer from participating in the case.

The interaction of an attorney with the conflicting client should only be limited to the measures aimed at reconciliation between the clients (see Question 18).

Complaints must be made to the regional bar chamber at which the attorney is registered (see Question 16). The President of the bar association initiates disciplinary proceedings against an attorney if there is a valid reason.

The regional justice authority can also apply for initiation of the disciplinary proceedings to the bar association of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation.

The law does not provide for this, but the legal services agreement is a civil law contract, which can provide for the retention of funds for the payment of fees in certain circumstances: for example, the agreement may include security payment provisions.

There are no mandatory provisions on client engagement communications, apart from the general requirements that apply to civil law agreements. As a result, the terms and conditions governing the provision of services depend on the terms set by the legal services agreement between the lawyer and the client.

Government procurement legislation and major companies' policies on tenders may impose certain additional requirements regarding the choice of legal services provider, as well as specific terms and conditions of service (for example, requirements regarding the law firm's location, qualifications, pricing, payment conditions and so on).

When performing professional duties, attorneys must:

(Code of Ethics.)

Most practising lawyers and law firms provide legal support based on similar principles, to maintain their reputation. In addition, leading international and local law firms have their own internal rules and corporate standards regarding the provision of legal services to clients.

A legal professional can refuse to accept an instruction or cease to act in certain circumstances. An attorney cannot act in accordance with the wishes, requests or instructions of their client if this would lead to a violation of the law or a breach of other rules, for example, the Code of Ethics provisions.

Generally, clients have direct access to all lawyers, however this will depend on relations between the law firm or lawyer and the client. If the client is a client of a law firm, then he or she is more likely to engage with the partner or individual lawyers.

Legal professional privilege covers any details of the legal assistance provided by an attorney to his or her client.

It is common practice for other practising lawyers and law firms to enter into non-disclosure agreements with clients, which may provide for certain confidentiality rules in relation to third parties (except law enforcement authorities).

Exceptions to the client confidentiality rules apply in certain circumstances provided by law, which allow investigations to be undertaken by authorised bodies in relation to practising lawyers and even attorneys. Such investigations can be undertaken upon a court order.

Money laundering legislation also provides for some exceptions to the client confidentiality rules. However, any investigation undertaken at a citizen's residence (including any lawyer's premises) can only be carried out under a court order.

Legal professional privilege covers any details of the legal assistance provided by an attorney to his or her client. In particular, non-disclosure rules apply to:

An attorney cannot be summoned and examined as a witness in court (as well as any administrative procedure) about any circumstances of which they may become aware of in the context of legal assistance sought from or provided by them.

Legal professional privilege only covers the professional activity of lawyers with advocate status. In-house lawyers are only protected by only internal professional privilege within the company.

The terms and amount of the fee payable by a client for legal assistance provided are stipulated by the agreement between the lawyer and client.

Legal assistance may also be provided to the client free of charge under the Federal Law "On Pro Bono Legal Assistance in the Russian Federation".

Legal services provided by attorneys in the course of an ex officio appointment by an investigative authority, prosecutor or court are paid in accordance with tariffs set by the Ministry of Justice.

The most common types of fee arrangements are hourly rates and capped or fixed fees for either a case or certain stages of a case.

There are no formal requirements for fee agreements. Fee setting is governed by the general principle of freedom of contract.

An attorney's fee is set by agreement of the parties and can take into account (:

(Code of Ethics.)

However, when ordering the reimbursement of legal costs, courts, at their own discretion, tend to reduce the amount of such expenses on the grounds that they are excessive or there is an absence of sufficient economic justification.

This depends on the terms and conditions stipulated by the legal services agreement concluded between the lawyer and the client.

A lawyer providing legal services who has any reason to believe that transactions or financial operations are performed or may be performed to legalise (launder) income or finance terrorism must notify the authorised body (the Federal Service on Financial Monitoring).

Share purchases and transfers in relation to non-public limited liability companies, as well as corporate acts regarding company formation, must be verified by a notary. Transactions involving joint rights to real estate are also subject to notarised verification. The notarisation of any other real estate transaction is not required.

The calculation of the notary fee depends on the type of notarial act. The official notary fee is a fixed sum or percentage of the transaction value with a minimum or maximum range determined by the Russian Tax Code.

In addition to the official notary fee, notaries frequently request payment for notary services performed on the basis of a separate agreement between the client and the notary.

Notaries cannot work within law firms. They can only work within state notary bodies and private notary offices.

The Ministry of Justice supervises notaries. There is also the Federal Notary Chamber, which is made up of regional chambers of notaries. Private practice notaries must be members of the regional chamber of notaries in the region in which they operate.