On January 12, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) and the Azerbaijani Bar Association (ABA) held the joint webinar on “Deontology issues of lawyers – professional secrecy and freedom of speech”.
204 participants joined the webinar directly via the Zoom platform and as this webinar was live-streamed on Facebook, more than 500 participants were also able to watch it there.
In his opening speech, the chairman Anar Baghirov emphasized the joint activities within the framework of cooperation between the ABA and the CCBE, the work done by the ABA in the last 4 years, the ongoing process of obtaining observership status in the CCBE, the importance of the recommendations submitted by CCBE experts on normative document drafts, the topic of the webinar – the impact of professional secrecy and freedom of expression on the reputation of lawyers in society, he also stressed that he would be glad to welcome the board of CCBE in Baku and at the Bar.
In addition, vice-president of CCBE Pierre-Dominique Schupp informed the participants about CCBE and brought to the attention of Azerbaijani participants the main areas of activity of the organization, the promotion of the rule of law, protection of human rights and freedoms and the subject of the webinar, professional secrecy and freedom of expression of lawyers are of special interest in modern times.
Further, the moderators of the project Farhad Najafov, Counselor to the Chairman of the ABA and Chair of PECO Committee Roman Zavrsek, gave the floor in accordance with the agenda of the event to Chairperson of the Disciplinary Commission of the Bar Association - Shahmar Mammadov and the deputy chairperson of the Commission Ilhama Hasanova. Speakers made presentations on disciplinary rules, existing legislation related to professional secrecy and lawyers’ freedom of expression in Azerbaijan.
As an expert of the webinar, Jean-Louis Joris-member of the Deontology Committee of the CCBE informed the participants about the CCBE Charter of core principles of the European legal profession, Code of Conduct for European lawyers and the recently adopted Model Code of Conduct.
Later, former President of the Bar of Brussels, a former member of the board of directors of the Order of Flemish Bars in charge of deontology Alex Tallon, President of the Slovenian Bar Association Janez Starman, Board member of the Georgian Bar Association Irakli Kandashvili and President of the District Disciplinary Court for Attorneys-at-Law in the Toruń Bar Association Piotr Chrzczonowicz shared their national experiences on the subject.
In the last part of the webinar, experts and foreign colleagues answered the questions addressed by the participants. In the end, Anar Baghirov and Pierre-Dominique Schupp, who made a closing speech, thanked the participants and noted that such events would be sustainable.
It should be noted that the webinar, held over the Zoom platform, has been published in all social network accounts of the ABA in terms of access to more viewers. Interested persons can access webinar's videos from these platforms at any time.
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