Legal Aid for Public Provided by Universities

On Nov. 12, 2015, the Interregional Roundtable “Practice of Providing Free Legal Aid in Russian Regions: Experience of Southern Federal District” has taken place at Astrakhan State University.

The event has been arranged by the Astrakhan Branch of the Association of Russian Lawyers and by Astrakhan State University. Its goal is to analyze activities performed by legal advice agencies in Southern Russia, to share experience between such institutions, and to enhance the system of free legal aid for the public.

In their welcoming speeches, Ms. Svetlana Zaykova (Deputy Chairperson of the Astrakhan Branch of the Association of Russian Lawyers), Dr. Nikolay Khurchak (ASU’s Vice Rector for International Relations), and Prof. Elena Savelyeva (Dean of ASU’s Law Department) have emphasized the importance of this event for qualified lawyers, for our students, and for their professors at both research and practice-oriented levels.

Ms. Alexandra Kurmaeva, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Astrakhan Region, has shared her experience of providing free legal aid for the public as per the Federal Law “About Free Legal Aid in Russian Federation”. As for issues that arise while this federal law is being executed, they have been considered by Ms. Vera Matveeva, who works as a legal advisor in the office of the Regional Commissioner for Children’s Rights.

Special attention has been paid to experience gained by legal advice agencies in Southern Russia; issues related to dynamics of public requests for aid, analyses of public enquiries and complaints, ways to promote legal values, and execution of projects to provide free legal aid have been under consideration at the Roundtable.

Prof. Savelyeva remarks that thanks to this event, it has become possible to collect and analyze versatile information about operation of legal advice agencies throughout Southern Russia, which has caused quite an interesting and a productive discussion. “At our Law Department, we have a legal advice agency that’s based on our Center of Law Consultancy”, she said. “We gained versatile experience in providing free legal aid. We pay special attention to kids, especially to kids with special health needs, as well as to those who have no caring parents”.

As a result of the Roundtable, recommendations to enhance activities of university legal advice agencies have been developed. This document is to be submitted to the Association of Russian Lawyers.

Russian original information source: K.R. Ekshembeeva (the University Web Resources Information Support Laboratory of ASU)

Russian original photo source: T.I. Antropova (the TV Media Center of ASU)