THE LAW ON THE LEGAL PROFESSION

„NN“ br. 09/94, 117/08, 50/09, 75/09, 18/11

This Law regulates the organization and the activity of the legal profession as an autonomous and independent service that provides legal assistance to persons in order to obtain and protect their rights and legal interests.

Attorneys (lawyers) offer all kinds of legal assistance and they shall in particular:

• give legal advice,
• draft documents (contracts, wills, statements, etc.),
• draw up claims, complaints, motions, requests, extraordinary legal remedies and other pleadings,
• represent their clients.

Lawyers are obliged to provide legal assistance conscientiously, in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia, laws, statutes and other general acts of the Croatian bar association and Attorneys’ Code of Ethics, and have the right and duty to do everything which can benefit to the client to whom they provide legal assistance.

In the representation of a client, an attorney may be substituted by another attorney and also, under the conditions stipulated by the Law, by a law trainee working in the same law office or in the law office of the substituting attorney.

An attorney shall offer legal assistance to any client who seeks it, and is allowed to deny it only for the reasons specified by the Law, the by-laws of the Association and the Attorneys’ Code of Ethics.

An attorney shall deny legal assistance if:

• he or she or any other attorney working or having worked in the same law office and on the same case or the cases connected with it has represented the opposite party or both parties, has given them legal advice or received instruction from them,
• he or she has worked in the same matter or a matter legally connected with it as a law trainee for the attorney who has represented the opposite party,
• he or she has worked in the same matter or a matter connected with it as a judge, a public attorney or an official in an administrative or other action,
• he or she has worked in other situations prescribed by the Law, the by-laws of the Association and the Attorneys’ Code of Ethics.

The party has the right to revoke the lawyer’s power of attorney at any time, without stating the reason for revocation. In that case, the lawyer is not obliged to continue representing the party. If the lawyer cancels the power of attorney, in that case he is obliged to continue providing legal assistance for the next 30 days.

Upon the cancellation of representation, the attorney shall return to the client, upon his or her request, all the client’s files and documents.
The attorney shall keep all the documents for at least ten years after the finality of the legal proceedings in which he or she has represented a client.

The attorney must, in accordance with the Law, preserve as the attorney’s secret anything that his or her client has entrusted to him or her or that in the course of representation of the client the attorney has discovered. The attorney’s secret should also be preserved by other persons that work or have worked in the law office.
An attorney is entitled to a fee for his or her legal services and to compensation of the costs incurred in connection with the work done, according to the set tariff established by Croatian bar association. The fee for a defense ex officio is established by the Ministry of Justice.

Attorneys must be members of the Association which is an autonomous and independent organization with the capacity of a legal person. The Association represents the legal profession of the Republic of Croatia as a whole.

The Assembly of the Association shall adopt the Attorneys’ Code of Ethics. The Attorneys’ Code of Ethics, starting from the basic values of the society, establishes the set of principles and rules that attorneys and law clerks are obliged to follow when practicing law.

The right to become a law trainee shall be acquired by being enrolled in the list of law trainees. During his or her practice, a law trainee shall carry out any legal job entrusted to him or her by an attorney and shall follow the received instructions.

More about the above on the link:

Više o navedenom na linku:

http://www.hok-cba.hr/hr/zakon-o-odvjetnistvu-urednicki-procisceni-tekst-2013-godina

THE ATTORNEYS’ CODE OF ETHICS

“NN” br.  64/07, 72/08 i 64/18

The Code of Ethics of the Bar was adopted by the Assembly of the Croatian Bar Association on 18 February 1995, with Amendments adopted by the Assembly of the Croatian Bar Association on 12 June 1999, published in the Official Gazette no. 64 of 20 June 2007.

Amendments to the Attorneys’ Code of Ethics were adopted by the Assembly of the Croatian Bar Association on 14 June 2008 (published in the Official Gazette No. 72 of 23 June 2008).

Amendments to the Attorneys’ Code of Ethics were adopted by the Assembly of the Croatian Bar Association on 7 July 2018 (published in the Official Gazette No. 64 of 18 July 2018)

The Attorneys’ Code of Ethics establishes the principles and rules of conduct that attorneys shall at all times follow in fulfilling their professional responsibilities and in order to preserve the dignity of, and respect for, the legal profession.

An attorney shall protect the interests of clients, using only the means that are in accordance with the law, with the dignity of the legal profession and good customs and that are not contrary to the attorney’s conscience.

An attorney shall preserve the confidentiality of any information acquired from a client or otherwise while rendering legal assistance, particularly during representation or defense. The rules governing the obligation of protecting the attorney’s secret shall be applied accordingly to other attorneys and employees working in the same law office and an attorney shall expressly state in the work contract (contract of employment) with employees that the violation of the attorney’s secret is a ground for the termination of employment (severe violation of responsibilities).

An attorney is obliged to dedicate all his or her professional skill and conscientiousness to represent a client and render his or her legal assistance without delay or hesitation. Therefore, when undertaking a representation, an attorney must use proper care not to, because of excess work, jeopardize timeliness, thoroughness and conscientiousness when exercising his or her professional duty. An attorney who is approached by too many clients should direct them to other attorneys. An attorney may refuse a client’s request for legal assistance only for important reasons, such as overload, meagre prospects for success, immorality of the client’s reasons to seek legal assistance…

If it is in the interest of the client, the attorney shall exert every effort to help the parties to a dispute to reach an agreement without initiating judicial or any other proceedings. In the course of judicial or any other proceedings, the attorney shall try to encourage the parties to resolve the dispute by way of settlement if this is in the interest of his or her client.

The attorney’s attitude in the courts and in submissions and speeches shall be as realistic and concise as possible, to a degree that will not damage the protection of the client’s interests. The length of written submissions and speeches shall depend on the circumstances of a particular case, on its complexity, on the legal matter frequently or seldomly occurring in practice and on the extent to which legal and factual issues involved have been solved in legal practice

An attorney shall strive to keep his or her office and the working style worthy of the reputation of the legal profession as an autonomous and independent service. An attorney shall maintain an orderly and timely record of all cases, develop a storage system and accurate files of all dates and hearings, so that both the attorney and the client are always able to check the files for any data on a particular case. An attorney shall always, in accordance with the by-laws of the Bar Association and without delay, be able to provide institutions with necessary information about his or her work.

Više o navedenom na linku:

http://www.hok-cba.hr/hr/kodeks-odvjetničke-etike