The portal portodiena.lt talked about the work done, the goals and the future plan with Professor I.Vėgėle on the eve of the General Meeting of Advocates.

– What work has been done during the Presidency of the Bar Council?

– There is no way of summarizing all the work that has been done in eight years. others can be summarized. The aim was to strengthen the protection of human rights so that the Bar became experts in the protection of human rights and the rule of law. Second, to strengthen and raise public confidence in the Bar, because in 2014, when I came to chair, that confidence had fallen significantly. Third, a great deal of work has been done to improve the financial conditions of lawyers by providing legal aid. Well, to improve the service of lawyers on the part of lawyers as an organization, to provide good and efficient services to its members.

These four elements split into smaller ones. In terms of finance, the reimbursement of representation expenses has been increased. Perhaps less is achieved in the area of ​​state-guaranteed legal aid. We want to do a nice reform. The amount of state-guaranteed legal aid has risen, but not as much as we want, and that reform has failed. But the very real preconditions for doing so are this year.

Public confidence in the bar and lawyers has grown. This is driven by a growing public willingness to seek legal advice from a lawyer.

Ignas Vėgėlė (photo by P. Paleckis / BNS)

We have provided significant assistance to lawyers in the development of information technology. We provide services to lawyers using information technology. Here, too, the General Meeting of Advocates takes place remotely and the vote will take place remotely. It is very modern and innovative. A large number of service lawyers are provided with the help of information technology.

Amendments to the legislation have been adopted, and the Law on Advocates has been amended at least once to facilitate the activities of advocates.

Community involvement in advocacy has expanded. We have about 100 of our members who assist the council in carrying out its functions through the committee

In other words, try to divide all those jobs into several groups, but there are definitely enough of them.

– What grade would you write in 10 points for those eight years of the presidency?

– Thank you for proposing a self-assessment, but I think the best assessor is the lawyers themselves, as well as the public. When I see public confidence in the lawyer and the bar, I think we really did a lot, we tried to do even more, but we didn’t always guess everything. The task of each manager is to choose priorities. I really think I did a lot. In fact, I feel inside that my family deserves at least a month of attention after eight years of enough workload.

– Is it a month to dedicate yourself to your family?

– Maybe even more. I will try to spend a few summer months and rest, and stay together, socialize. I really missed the west, the communication and what I didn’t miss next time.

Being in it is sometimes harder to accomplish certain tasks than not being in it.

The father must read the tale to the young child at bedtime at all times. Unfortunately, I didn’t always guess that because of fatigue. In the coming months, I really want to make up for it and get back to the habit.

– Do you already have any plans for the future?

– We live in the 1930s. Life and circumstances change so fast that we don’t always manage to plan. My motto has been fulfilled all the time, I set myself, and I have set myself when I started working as a lawyer, the chairman of the Bar Council – to strive for the best possible protection of human rights and freedoms, the highest possible realization and implementation of the rule of law.

I believe I have found a place where I can best realize this. For now, I want to reflect, to be alone with those thoughts. I am social, so I really hope and do not expect to abandon my public activities and strive for Lithuania never to deviate from the legal path of the state.

– There is already such political rhetoric here.

– Sometimes it is more difficult to solve certain tasks than without it. It is more difficult for a politician and the media, there are many interesting demands in politics for coordination with other political actors and players.

I never rule out the possibility of becoming a politician, I was with him at some point in my life, but I wasn’t elected anywhere. Only works in a political party.

But if I could find a way, strive, and achieve that without really being a politician, I would certainly prefer not to have a politician. And to strive for the realization of this idea and goal in the absence of politics. That would be a priority. I could see if that could happen and, if successful, it would turn out for a long time.

Spinter research: historically the highest public trust in the Lithuanian Bar Association and lawyers

For several years in a row, Spinter Research has been conducting a public opinion poll on the rights of trust in the Lithuanian legal system, and the evaluation of human defense and law enforcement institutions. The results of the survey conducted before each time, as confidence in the Lithuanian Bar Association grows, so does the trust in lawyers whose residents consider the defenders of fundamental human rights in Lithuania.

Compared to the previous year, the population’s trust in the Lithuanian Bar Association increased from 6.79 to 7.29 points, averaging the trust values.

“Since we started our research in 2017, there has been no such growth in the brand, although trust in the bar has grown every year,” said Ignas Zokas, CEO of Spinter Research.

Over the last 4 years, trust in the Bar has grown by more than one point – in 2019. he scored 6.25 points. This year’s result is also interesting in that the Lithuanian Bar Association has reduced its distrust or tend to distrust to 8 percent, while even 66 percent. stated that he trusts or tends to trust the Lithuanian Bar Association, which is the institution representing, supervising and regulating the bar community.

Along with trust in the Bar, trust in lawyers is growing steadily, reaching 6.81 out of 10 this year (6.74 in 1021 for Spinter; 6.43 out of 10 in Vilmorus in 2021). Lawyers are the third most common legal profession, with the first and second being shared by police officers (7.4 points out of 10) and notaries (7.27 points out of 10). Survey results also show that the public does not trust bailiffs and judges.

“It is gratifying that lawyers are the most prominent human rights defenders. Net 38 percent. According to the respondents, lawyers are defenders of fundamental human rights and this percentage is only every year (Spinter in 2021 – 36%; Vilmorus in 2021 – 32.1%). Lawyers more than double the second-ranked police officers (15%). Judges remained in third place (10%). The growth of trust The Bar Association and the Lawyer determine the growing demand for lawyers: if in 2018. to the question of whether you have used the services of a lawyer, 20% answered in the affirmative. of respondents, this is 2022. this number has already risen to 27%, ”said Mindaugas Kukaitis, Deputy Chairman of the Bar Council.

A representative survey by Spinter sociologists on April 20-28.