Members of the Justice and Administration Committee, Minister of Justice, members of the Task Group for the drafting of the Law on Advocacy and members of the Executive Board of the Bar Association of Serbia, as well as representatives of the regional bar associations met today in the Small Hall of the National Assembly House. The meeting was called by the Justice and Administration Committee at the initiative of the Bar Association of Serbia so as to debate some issues relating to the Bill on Advocacy and how the proposed legislation would affect the status of the bar.

At the beginning of the meeting, Chairman of the Justice and Administration Committee Bosko Ristic stressed that the Committee would deal with all suggestions that would improve the status of lawyers i.e. which would be best for the bar as well as all citizens who would use its services.

Minister of Justice Snezana Malovic said that the adoption of a new law on advocacy is a prerequisite for Serbia’s accession to the World Trade Organisation and continued European integration, adding that the Ministry of Justice is open for talks on all the provisions of the proposed Bill as well as the amendments that would be submitted.

President of the Serbian Bar Association Dragoljub Djordjevic deemed that the proposed provisions do not in any way endanger the autonomy and independence of the bar and reminded the participants that the European Bar Association gave the draft positive marks in that sense.

Slobodan Soskic, President of the Belgrade Bar Association whose members protested against some of the proposed provisions, repeated their objections which primarily relate to the state’s interference into the election, organisation and functioning of the bar association and stressed that the bar must remain independent and autonomous.

The participants commended the initiative behind the meeting, offering numerous suggestions and proposals how to improve the proposed provisions. They opined that submitting amendments to the Bill would result in the best solutions and Serbia would get a modern European law on the bar.