On 5 and 7 October 2021 two round tables were held jointly by the Council of Europe Project "Support for judicial institutions and processes to strengthen access to justice in Ukraine" and the Coordination Center for Legal Aid Provision on the topic: “Compliance of the quality standards for the provision of free secondary legal aid with the Council of Europe standards and recommendations”.
The quality standards for the provision of free secondary legal aid (FSLA) in civil, administrative cases and the representation in criminal proceedings were approved in December 2017 for the purpose to ensure the provision of FSLA at the appropriate level. They guarantee, first of all, the quality of the provided legal services to the FSLA clients.
The objective of the round tables was the following:
- to discuss, in a professional circle, problematic issues related with the quality of the provision of services to clients by the subjects of the FSLA system, and
- to develop the proposals for improving the quality standards for the provision of free secondary legal aid in civil, administrative proceedings and representation in criminal proceedings in compliance with the the Council Europe standard and recommendations in this area.
Iryna Kushnir, the Manager of the Council of Europe Project "Support for judicial institutions and processes to strengthen access to justice in Ukraine"; Serhii Drelinskyi, the Head of the department on ensuring the quality of legal aid of the Coordination Centre for Legal Aid Provision; Viktoriia Mitko, advocate, national expert of the Council of Europe took part in the round tables.
The representatives from different regions of the Ukraine - managers of the divisions on ensuring the quality of legal aid of the regional centres FSLA, participated in these events and submitted the suggestions on improvement of the quality standards with the compliance the Council of Europe standards and recommendations in this area.
