President of the European Association of Lawyers (AEA-EAL) Maria Ślązak participated in the fourth meeting of the Committee of Experts on the Protection of Lawyers (CJ-AV) that was held in person from 1 to 3 March 2023 in Strasbourg.
The CJ-AV consists of 15 representatives of member States, and representatives of several international bodies such as the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. The Committee itself is tasked with the elaboration of a legal instrument aimed at strengthening the protection of the profession of lawyer and the right to practice the profession without prejudice or restraint, under the authority of the Committee of Ministers and of the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ).
Observer members of the Committee are, among others, representatives of international lawyers’ organizations, including the European Association of Lawyers (AEA-EAL). Since 2017, our Association has actively participated in discussions and works on future legal instruments protecting lawyers’ rights.
Participants of the meeting concentrated on the continuation of drafting the proposal of legal instrument aiming at strengthening the protection of the profession of lawyer and the right to practice without prejudice or restraint. Part of the meeting was devoted to the consideration of enforcement mechanisms. The work will be still continued at the two following meetings this year and three other meetings next year, including the exchange of the correspondence between the parties in the period between the sessions in person.
More information as well as a meeting report about the event can be found here: http://bit.ly/3mwEjvu