Central Asian lawyers learn about Faculty

 

LAWYERS from Central Asian countries have been hearing about the Faculty and legal training in Scotland.

Iain Mitchell, QC, attended a conference in Kazakhstan which looked at improving the quality of legal services, and gave a talk to delegates.

As well as members of the Kazakh Bar and Kazakh Ministry of Justice, representatives of the bars of Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan attended the event.

Mr Mitchell spoke, in the context of proposed new regulations on legal training in Kazakhstan, on legal education in the UK, with special emphasis on the Faculty’s Continuing Professional Development and Quality Assurance schemes.

“Although it is now well over 20 years since the fall of communism, many countries still lag behind with meeting the challenges of providing modern and truly independent legal services,” he said.

“There is a huge support within the bars for reform and a considerable sense of the need for independence. It is in a well-trained, robust and self-confident independent legal profession that lies the best hope for the future of the rule of law in these countries.”

Nearer home, Mr Mitchell will this week address a meeting in the European Parliament in Brussels about electronic evidence in criminal matters. The meeting has been organised by the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE). Mr Mitchell is Chair of the CCBE working party on surveillance.