Universities and law schools are key to promoting legal ethics in the country, says partner at law firm Salans
BERLIN (TrustLaw) – Pro bono work in Russia needs government support if it is to succeed outside of the capital Moscow, a partner at international law firm Salans said, adding that universities and law schools are key to promoting legal ethics in the country.
Pro bono – free legal help for organisations and individuals unable to pay for it – has been slow to develop in Russia.
"It is difficult to imagine that it could have been otherwise given the economic collapse. Most lawyers focused out of necessity on building their own practices," Glenn Kolleeny, a Russia-based partner at Salans, said ahead of this week’s PILnet European Pro Bono Forum in Berlin.
But the culture of pro bono is gradually taking hold in the country.
"In the last three to five years many Russian law firms have grown and become more profitable and are focusing more on pro bono and corporate social responsibility," Kolleeny told TrustLaw.
However, as pro bono starts to gather ground in the vast country, much of this work still tends to centre around Moscow. Beyond the reaches of the capital, pro bono work is far less accessible for many of the country's 143 million people.
"Other large and even medium sized cities have pro bono legal activities, but since the firms there are smaller and weaker financially, it is not as developed," Kolleeny said.
"I think that the only way for pro bono to succeed in the regions is with government support," he added. "Part of this support must be directed at the law schools which will need to institute more clinical programmes."
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) tend to be the main beneficiaries of pro bono in Russia.
"Representing NGOs is also important and is perhaps viewed as more high profile. A good deal of the pro bono work we have done in Russia falls into the category of representing NGOs and non-Russian not-for-profit companies," Kolleeny said.
"The Russian government requires NGOs to register with the Ministry of Justice and seeks to control the activities of NGOs to some extent."
He added that there are certain pro bono projects in Russia directed at individuals, rather than organisations. But to make such projects successful a degree of state support was required, for instance to establish eligibility criteria, he said.
How far pro bono can spread its wings in Russia is also a matter of people's attitudes.
"In general, the extent of materialism in the post-Soviet space will need to be overcome and lawyers will need to recognise their duty to society, to improve the law, the administration of the law and access for all to legal support," Kolleeny said.
(Editing by Katie Nguyen in London)
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