The requirements of the Ministry of Justice regarding the form of the attorney's inquiry were declared illegal by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has settled the lawyer's complaint regarding disclosure of the names of the authorized representatives and the justification of the need for the request, and the foregoing binding decree of the Ministry of Justice was declared unlawful

The provisions of the Decree of the Ministry of Justice, which obliges the attorneys to disclose information about the person, whose interests they represent, in inquiries were deemed illegal. Moreover, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation declared unlawful the need of justification for receiving the requested information.

The requirements of the Ministry of Justice regarding the attorney’s inquiry were accepted last year (in December, 2016). After that, the lawyers decided to appeal the controversial provisions of the regulatory act in the Supreme Court of Russia, because these requirements contradict the provisions of the Law "On advocacy activity", since they oblige to disclose professional secret, that, in turn, can lead to the deprivation of the lawyer status.