A lawyer's refusal to provide legal aid and the need to observe a certain set of measures to avoid a conflict of interests

In this article, a theoretical-applied study of the essence of conflicts of interest is carried out primarily through the prism of clarifying the legal nature of the measures that a lawyer must follow in order to avoid them. This article is devoted to the disclosure of various positions of scientists regarding the possibility of accepting a mandate from a client (continuing the provision of legal assistance) under the condition of a potential conflict of interests. The study focused on the fact that criminal proceedings provide for the possibility of submitting an application for the recusal of the defense counsel (application for self-recusal of the defense counsel), while in other types of proceedings, the decision to participate or, conversely, not to participate in the case in conditions of conflict of interests depends directly on the will of the lawyer. Representative and the court cannot declare the dismissal of such a representative. Within the framework of this study, a significant set of measures that should be taken by a lawyer (law association) to prevent the occurrence and reduce the possible negative consequences of the existence of a conflict of interests in the conditions of the practice of law was analyzed. It is concluded that such measures can include: establishing additional restrictions on the provision of legal assistance by law firms (information barriers, consolidation of internal corporate codes of ethical behavior of lawyers); establishing certain obligations, prohibitions and restrictions in the relationship between the client and the lawyer in order to establish the absolute independence of the lawyer in the performance of his professional activities, etc. In this article, both general scientific methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as methods specific to legal science, have been widely used. The research itself was carried out with the application in particular, formal-dogmatic method, which provided an opportunity to analyze a set of measures that a lawyer should follow in order to avoid a possible conflict of interests.