“I call on all lawyers, regardless of their political and religious beliefs, to become advocates”

"It is gratifying that today there is a great interest in advocacy in the country. Numerous lawyers working both in Baku and in the regions apply for membership in the Bar Association and aspire to become lawyers."

Chairman of the Bar Association Anar Bagirov told e-huquq.az on it.

He noted that the number of lawyers in Azerbaijan has increased significantly compared to previous years.

"If we look at the past years, as a result of 5 written test examinations for admission to the Bar Association in 2005-2017, 575 candidates were successfully admitted to the Bar Association. The total number of lawyers for 2017 was 931. Since 2018, the documents related to admission to the Bar Association have been accepted on a regular basis, and the documents of 4087 candidates who applied for participation in the specialty exams have been accepted and admitted to the written test exam. As a result of 9 written test exams held between 2018-2022, 1201 people successfully completed the specialty exams and were enrolled in compulsory training. Currently, there are 2,132 advocates in the country", - A.Baghirov noted.

The chairman stressed that the entrance exam, which consists of a written test and an oral interview, was conducted in a completely transparent and objective manner under the supervision of representatives of local and international organizations: "Everyone, regardless of their political beliefs, position, religion, and affiliation with public associations, are provided with the opportunity to take the exam. It should be noted that the written test exams can be watched online on the website of the Bar Association and on its Facebook page. In the same way, video recording is used during the oral interview at the request of the candidates."

He said that given the growing interest of lawyers, entrance examinations for lawyers will be held more often in the future and the necessary conditions will be created for all candidates.

"I call on all lawyers, regardless of their political beliefs, position, religion or affiliation with public associations, to become advocates. Finally, I urge candidates who do not pass the bar entrance exams not to be discouraged and apply to the Document Admission Commission of the Bar Association to participate in the next exams", - A.Baghirov added.