On February 1, 2018, a round table discussion took place at ITAR-TASS Northwest, dedicated to discussion of the Concept for regulating the professional legal services market.

At the round table, the participants discussed the main provisions of the Concept and the issues before the criminal attorneys community. Irina Onikienko, Partner of the firm, Member of the Council of the Russian Federal Chamber of Lawyers, spoke at the event. “Criminal attorneys, as all lawyers, are very conservative and do not like changes in their profession. Moreover, the criminal attorney institute is the only one existing in Russia today since the times before the Revolution, and that is why criminal attorneys are apprehensive about any changes. We should admit that the criminal attorney institute is in urgent need of changes and I am glad that my colleague criminal attorneys share this view,” says Onikienko.

Among the participants of the round table there were Vice President of the Russian Federal Chamber of Lawyers, President of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Lawyers Evgeny Semenyako, Vice President of the Russian Federal Chamber of Lawyers Gennady Sharov, Head of the Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Justice for St. Petersburg Dmitry Smirnov, as well as representatives of lawyer chambers from the Northwest area.