For the first time since 2020, our project
recorded an increase in the number of practising attorneys. As of August 2024, 30 attorneys left the bar, while 35 joined (with two more extending their practising status). Still, compared to 2020 when the bar comprised almost 2,200 attorneys, by 2024 the number had dropped to 1,603 — and this figure remained unchanged into early 2025.
Year-by-year change in total number of attorneys:
2021: –151
2022: –195
2023: –88
2024: +3
At least 13 attorneys lost their licences in 2024 following decisions by the Qualification Commission and routine certification procedures. These mechanisms
violate international standards for the legal profession. Meanwhile, the other two tracks for disbarment — disciplinary proceedings and licence oversight by the Ministry of Justice — do not appear to have been employed in the past year. However, as will be shown later, this picture is not entirely straightforward.
In April 2024, the Ministry of Justice
introduced a new minimum quota for the number of attorneys in legal consultations across the country. Whereas in 2014 the required minimum was 1,313 attorneys, the 2024 regulation raised this to
1,454 (an increase of 141).
Yet it is premature to view this as a positive development for access to legal aid or the availability of qualified professionals. A major
bar reform in 2021 restricted the organisational forms of legal practice to legal consultations only. In 2014, the figure of 1,313 attorneys represented the
necessary minimum for consultations, excluding the 700+ lawyers who worked either independently or in law firms. Today, the figure of 1,454 reflects
a minimum threshold for the number of attorneys in Belarus in general.
The increase of 141 thus likely represents those who transitioned from individual practice or law offices into legal consultations, as well as those who
entered the profession via exams over the past decade. For all regions except Minsk city, Minsk region, and Brest region, the minimum number of attorneys per consultation has even been reduced. In 47 consultations, the threshold was
lowered to just one attorney per consultation.
Moreover, since the 2014 reform that revoked economic lawyers’ right to represent clients in court, only practising attorneys (and in-house counsel) can now appear in court. Today, 1,603 professionals in Belarus have the right to represent 8 million citizens and 155,000 legal entities who may need court representation.