Event

The Role of Lawyers in Protecting and Promoting the Rule of Law and Mutual Trust Training for Defence Lawyers

Objective

This seminar will focus on the role of lawyers in understanding, protecting and promoting the rule of law and mutual trust, both as defence counsel in criminal proceedings and as a defence profession grouped in bar associations and lawyers' organisations. 
Participants will have the opportunity to get to know each other and to network with colleagues from across the EU.

Key topics

• The rule of law and the essential role of criminal defence lawyers
• Protecting the independence of the legal profession
• The role of lawyers in protecting the independence of the judiciary
• The role of lawyers and the relationship between judges and prosecutors
• The new Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Lawyers
• The need for legal privilege
• Artificial intelligence (AI) challenges to the rule of law

Who should attend?

Defence lawyers, who are citizens of eligible EU Member States participating in the EU Justice Programme (Denmark does not participate), Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo* and Ukraine.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

Registration Fee

€110 including documentation, coffee breaks, lunch and dinner.

Terms and conditions of participation

Selection

Participation is only open to lawyers in private practice from eligible EU Member States (Denmark does not participate in this EU Justice programme), Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo*. The number of open places available is limited (10 places). Participation will be subject to a selection procedure. Selection will be according to professional eligibility, nationality and then “first come, first served”.

• Interested defence lawyers

→ from Croatia should apply via the Croatian Bar Association
→ from Hungary should apply via the Budapest Bar Association
→ from Latvia should apply via the Latvian Council of Sworn Advocates
→ from Lithuania should apply via the Lithuanian Bar Association
→ from Portugal should apply via the Portugues Bar Association
→ from Spain should apply via ICAB

• Applications should be submitted before 15 February 2024

A response will be sent to every applicant after this deadline. 
We advise you not to book any travel or hotel before you receive our confirmation.

• Travel and Accommodation Expenses

Participants will receive a fixed contribution towards their travel and accommodation expenses and are asked to book their own travel and accommodation. The condition for payment of this contribution is to sign all attendance sheets at the event. The amount of the contribution will be determined by the EU unit cost calculation guidelines, which are based on the distance from the participant’s place of work to the seminar location and will not take account of the participant’s actual travel and accommodation costs.

Travel costs from outside Croatia: participants can calculate the contribution to which they will be entitled on the European Commission website (https://era-comm.eu/go/calculator, table 2). The distance should be calculated from their place of work to the seminar location.

For those travelling within Croatia, the contribution for travel is fixed at €36 (for a distance between 50km and 399 km). Please note that no contribution will be paid for travel under 50km one-way. For more information, please consult p.10 on https://era-comm.eu/go/unit-cost-decision-travel

Accommodation costs: International participants will receive a fixed contribution of €94 per night for up to two nights’ accommodation. National participants travelling more than 50km one-way will receive a fixed contribution of €94 for one night accommodation. For more information, please consult p.14 on https://era-comm.eu/go/unit-cost-decision-travel.

These rules do not apply to representatives of EU Institutions and Agencies who are required to cover their own travel and accommodation.

Successful applicants will be sent the relevant claim form and information on how to obtain payment of the contribution to their expenses. Please note that no payment is possible if the registered participant cancels their participation for any reason.

• Participation

Participation at the whole seminar is required and participants will be asked to sign attendance sheets daily.

A list of participants including each participant’s address will be made available to all participants unless ERA receives written objection from the participant no later than one week prior to the beginning of the event.

The participant will be asked to give permission for their address and other relevant information to be stored in ERA’s database in order to provide information about future ERA events, publications and/or other developments in the participant’s area of interest.

A certificate of attendance will be sent electronically after the seminar.