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judiciary, and just recently completed hosting, in January-February 2012, the first mandatory 30-day
training session for newly admitted members of the Bar.
Ethics and professional conduct
The Law on Advocates and Advocate Activities does include a section related to ethics 133 , but there does
not exist in Azerbaijan a general professional responsibility code governing the activities and ethics of
lawyers. Even then, the current law is extremely short and implores the advocate to refrain from such
things as interrupting the judge or other persons during court hearings, to avoid using advocate
confidentiality in the interests of self or others, and to avoid any actions incompatible with defense. It
mentions an advocate Conduct Code, but this Code is considered confidential and is not publicly
disseminated 134 . Certain provisions of this Law as well as the Criminal Procedure Code 135 also outline the
rights and responsibilities of advocates, especially as relates to matters of attorney-client confidentiality,
but there is no separate comprehensive Ethics Code. Furthermore, this Law clearly applies only to
advocates and not to lawyers practicing in other spheres.
Effective pro bono legal assistance
Under the Constitution of Azerbaijan, every citizen is entitled to the assistance of a lawyer and if the
accused cannot afford an attorney then one should be appointed by the State 136 . However, problems
with ineffective State-appointed defense counsel persist 137 . In part, this may be due to lack of training,
systemic problems in when the attorney is appointed (often right before the court hearing), and the
related lack of time to adequately prepare the case. It is further exacerbated by the fact that stateappointed
counsel are only paid 2 manat (or approximately US$1.60) per hour to represent a defendant
in such a case 138 .
Prosecutors
There are similarities and important differences between prosecutors and advocates in Azerbaijan. In
order to become a prosecutor, one must complete a bachelor’s degree in law and be less than 30 years
old. Unlike the requirements to become an advocate, one does not have to have any legal work
experience. Similar to the advocate examination process, an applicant to the prosecutor’s office must
complete three phases: written examination, oral examination and mandatory month-long training
course 139 . As compared to State-appointed advocates in criminal cases, prosecutors receive
compensation of approximately four hundred manat during their first year, and then pay increases
depending on experience, title and rank. There are also a larger number of prosecutors in Azerbaijan.
According to one recent study, there are approximately 13.4 prosecutors per 100,000 inhabitants, or a
total of 1160 140 . In contrast, there are only approximately 9 advocates per 100,000 inhabitants 141 .
Pressures on advocates
Some advocates in Azerbaijan continue to face pressures, both subtle and overt. Analysis of the extent of
the problem is made more difficult by unspoken but presumed political considerations and media reports
thereon. Often the reason for the pressure appears to be tied to the advocate’s representation of clients
133 Article 18 states: “In implementation of professional activities the advocate shall in the order established under this Law implement its
duties without fault, not to use advocate confidentiality in personal interests or interests of other persons, to avoid any actions
incompatible with defense, calls for performance of illegal actions, rough, insulting actions and words, affecting the personal dignity, to
avoid the interruption of the judge during court hearing, not to interrupt persons having speech during the hearing, to avoid the breakage
of the order of hearing and comply with other maxims of advocate ethics, established under the Instruction of advocate Conduct Code,
adopted by the general meeting of the bar.”
134 In fact, the Law on Advocacy and Advocates Activities mentions the importance of keeping confidential the activities of the Collegium as
well. See, for instance, Article 16, which includes under advocate responsibilities “maintain the Bar confidentiality.”
135 See, for instance, Article 92 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Azerbaijan.
136 Constitution of Republic of Azerbaijan, Article 61. See also Azerbaijan Criminal Procedure Code Article 19 and related Article 91.
137 OSCE 2009 Trial Monitoring Report for Azerbaijan at pages 40-41, and OSCE 2010 Trial Monitoring Report for Azerbaijan at page 33.
138 2001 Cabinet of Ministers Decree (Azeri language version on file with author).
139 The mandatory month-long training course was implemented for advocates for the first time in January-February 2012.
140 2010 Council of Europe report entitled’European Judicial Systems: Efficiency and Quality of Justice’ at page 181 (using 2008 data).
141 Id. at pp. 237-38.
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