The non-linear development of Ukrainian society time and again brings into focus the basic values of a democratic State underlain by an individual, his/her rights and freedoms, as well as institutions of law capable of ensuring and protecting the same.

Traditionally, the idea of legal protection in the State is represented by the Bar, the institution which is being developed driven by factors of different order and nature. Thus, the demand for the legal profession, the complex nature of public legal relations and the contradictory, spontaneous approach to their legal regulation have actualized the issue of specialization within the Bar, which is a fairly new subject of research for the Ukrainian scientific discourse and is perceived by Ukrainian scholars as a purely positive phenomenon capable of ensuring high quality of attorney-at-law services. At the same time, the negative consequences which specialization entails have not been given due consideration.

The purpose of the article is to make a systematic analysis of the prospects for the development of specialization within the Bar in Ukraine, with due regard for the national specifics of its manifestations, as well as for the strong and weak points which it engenders within the legal profession.

Given that currently there are multiple approaches to the interpretation of the term “specialization”, the article focuses on the following key aspects of specialization within the Bar: 1) specialization implies segmentation, albeit conditional, of the areas of attorneyatlaw activities; 2) specialization means that an attorney-at-law has and concentrates certain deep (expert) knowledge and skills in a relevant area of attorney-at-law activities which is different from the other ones; 3) the area of attorney-at-law activities selected as specialization is a permanent priority for an attorney-at-law; 4) specialization positions, personifies and differentiates an attorney-at-law from his/her colleagues.

The peculiarity of specialization within the Bar is that it is inherent in attorney-atlaw self-administration (corporate level) preconditioning the specifics of its organization and implementation of functions, as well as in attorney-at-law activities predetermining the specific features present in the functioning of its various organizational forms (professional level). In both of these areas, specialization has an impact with two vectors: a) organizational and b) functional.

It is noted that scholars mainly consider branch-related differentiation of law as the basis for specialization. At the same time, the area of legal practice is also determined by the type of client (legal entity or individual) upon which an attorney-at-law or a law firm focuses.

The article emphasizes that the demand for specialization, for “profile” attorneysatlaw is largely determined and adjusted by the specifics of the market and economic development of a particular State. In this context, the article gives characterization to the concept of “lawyer boutique”, the emergence of which is an example of how specialization determines trends in the development of organization and functioning of separate forms of attorney-at-law activities.

It is emphasized that in Ukraine specialization of attorney-at-law activities is informal, being developed beyond the scope of legal regulation, and therefore is uncontrolled. Furthermore, the article highlights negative consequences entailed by the impact of attorney-at-law activities specialization which should be seen in the professional mystification and routinization of practice.

As a summary, a conclusion is made about the need for statutory regulation of specialization of attorney-at-law activities, since this will facilitate high-quality legal services by attorneys-at-law.

Bibliography

Authored books

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2. Ivanytskyi С, Teoretychni osnovy orhanizatsii advokatury v Ukraini: pryntsypy ta systema [Theoretical Foundations of the Advocacy Organization in Ukraine: Principles and System] (Interservis 2017) (in Ukrainian).

Encyclopedias

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Dictionaries

4. Slovnyk ukrainskoi movy [Dictionary of the Ukrainian Language], t 9 (1978) (in Ukrainian).

Journal articles

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6. Fromson D, ‘Let’s Be Realistic about Specialization’ (1977) 63 American Bar Association Journal 74-7 (in English).

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Websites

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