“The new Council of Europe (CoE) Convention for the Protection of the Profession of Lawyers must now be signed and ratified by as many states as possible.” This was a central message of the seminar held on 23 June 2025 at the Prague House in Brussels, co-organised by the Bar Council of England and Wales’s Brussels office, alongside the German Bar Association (DAV), the German Federal Bar (BRAK), and the Czech Bar Association (ČAK).
The engaging event brought together Bar leaders, practitioners and policymakers to discuss the alarming global rise in threats and harassment of lawyers and emphasise the urgent need for binding international standards to ensure the independence, safety, and freedom of legal professionals worldwide, thus protecting access to justice and the rule of law. The convention is the first binding instrument of its kind to address that need.
Deputy Director General of the CoE Bjorn Berge opened proceedings by emphasising that the convention was created for lawyers - and to protect them. In doing so, however, it also protects clients, as there can be no access to justice without an independent legal profession and professional confidentiality. Katarina Barley, Vice President of the European Parliament used her keynote address to express resounding support for the convention, calling for the political will to ensure it is ratified and effectively enforced not just in Europe, but globally.
“Conventions are made in times of peace and tested in times of war,” said the President of the ČAK, Robert Němec, reflecting on the convention’s relevance for his country in light of increasing democratic backsliding and attempts to undermine the independence of the justice system across Europe and beyond. As Barbara Mills KC, Chair of the Bar Council, remarked, this instrument is no longer a “nice to have” in today’s world - it is a “must-have”. President of the Dutch Bar Association (NOvA), Sanne van Oers, further underlined these points by providing insight into the very real threats that members of her Bar have been facing, and the practical measures that NOvA has put in place to support them.
Government representatives and experts on the Convention, Eral Knight (UK), Petr Válek (the Czech Republic) and Christoph Henrichs (Germany) - in a discussion moderated by Piers Gardner, member of the BCEW - affirmed the importance of the convention’s binding nature and its potential global status. The UK having signed the convention in May, the others plan to follow suit in the coming months, with ratification to follow shortly thereafter.
Read the convention text and explanatory report
It was formally opened for signature in Luxembourg (and is now dubbed “the Luxembourg Convention”) in mid-May, at which time no less than 17 states signed it. It will enter into force once 8 countries, including 6 that are members of the CoE, have both signed and ratified it. Thereafter, under certain conditions, countries worldwide can sign up.