LAWYER AND CLIENT RELATIONS: UKRAINIAN AND FOREIGN PRACTICES

The scientific article is devoted to the analysis of issues related to the peculiarities of the relationship between a lawyer and a client in Ukraine and foreign countries. In the article, the author analyzes the provisions of the Law of Ukraine «On the Bar and Advocate Activity» and the Rules of Lawyer Ethics concerning such aspects of the relationship between an attorney and a client as confidentiality, preservation of attorney secrecy, payment of an attorney's fee and determination of the legal nature of an attorney's «success fee». The works of domestic and foreign scientists, the subject of which the author identified the questions, have been investigated. The author defines trust as the basis of the relationship between the client and the lawyer, defines its value and normative dimension; the issues of possible abuse of confidence on the part of a lawyer were considered. It has been established that the principle of confidentiality is not absolute and when it is applied, there are exceptions provided for by the Rules of Lawyer Ethics. The author draws attention to the fact that neither the legislator, nor the all-Ukrainian bodies of advocate self-government determine the criteria for the reasonableness of the amount of the fee. The available decisions of the councils of lawyers of individual regions on the approximate amount of the fee are of a recommendatory nature. The obligation of a lawyer was established to provide in the agreement on the provision of legal assistance provisions regarding the procedure for payment conditions, return of fees; the possibility of agreeing on the payment of the «success fee» with the client was determined. The author has analyzed the practice of consideration of disciplinary complaints by the Higher Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Bar on certain issues of preserving attorney secrets and attorney fees. The experience of the United States of America, Great Britain and France in the aspect of normative regulation and law enforcement of the issues identified in scientific work is investigated. The author identified both the general characteristics of the relationship between a lawyer and a client in Ukraine and foreign countries, as well as excellent ones. The general characteristics of the relationship between a lawyer and a client can be traced in matters of the concept of lawyer secrecy and the guarantee of its nondisclosure. Distinctive characteristics — in matters of the type of responsibility for the disclosure of attorney secrets and the availability of mandatory criteria for the reasonableness of the amount of the attorney's fee.