The members of Legal Aid Council, administration of Legal Aid Service, heads and lawyers of Legal Aid Service bureaus held a working meeting regarding quality evaluation system of advocacy service. The meeting was supported by the UN Development Program.
The main topic for discussion was the quality evaluation form and criteria of rendered legal aid, the aim of which is to determine effectiveness, time and quality of the service rendered by the public lawyers and on the basis of the results, to take decision regarding need of professional development of lawyers, their ranking and so on.
The quality evaluation system implies studying and evaluation of public lawyers’ activities who work on criminal cases, using Peer Review model. According to this model, evaluation of public lawyers’ activities will be conducted by their colleague lawyers/attorneys. The evaluation system is complex (consists of 3 stages) and aims at giving opportunity to the evaluating lawyer to demonstrate and improve his/her knowledge and skills.
Legal Aid Council approved the quality evaluation form and criteria of rendered legal aid in July, 2015. It will enter into force in 2016. In order to improve the document, the working group was set up who periodically meets and discusses various issues.