International Relations: local law societies to twin with eastern European counterparts

The Law Society has set up a co-operation project with Russia's Federal Chamber of Lawyers aimed at strengthening the eastern European country's professional bodies.


The initiative - which has been funded by the European Commission - will see the Society work as part of a task force alongside the Federal Chamber and two of the 89 regional chambers it represents, Nizhniy Novgorod and Krasnoyarsk.


Planned activities for the first year include the production of a tool-kit on legal practice for distribution to all regional chambers, a conference in Moscow examining best practice in the legal profession, and the establishment of a twinning programme between regional chambers in Russia and local law societies in England and Wales.


The project will also see management at the Federal Chamber and the two regional chambers pay a visit to the Law Society in the UK to see how it operates.


The Federal Chamber - which was only established in 2002 - will assume greater responsibility for managing the project in the second year, when two more regions will be included.


Mickael Laurans, policy executive for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in the Law Society's international department, said: 'We are trying to improve relations with the new professional bodies there and this is a good way to do that.'


He added that progress was being made on the issue of Russian advocates becoming partners in UK firms, which has been 'a grey area'.



Russia and the CIS remain important for UK firms. Last month, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary took over the regional practice of EY Law, the legal network associated with accountancy firm Ernst & Young (see [2005] Gazette, 30 June, 10).