Guarantees of Protection of Attorneys’ Rights in Conducting a Search in Residential and Office Premises: Legal Regulation and Practical Application Problems

The article is dedicated to the problem of effectiveness of the guarantees ensuring professional rights of advocates during investigative actions in their residential and office premises. The authors analyze standards developed by the European Court of Human Rights for the protection of the advocates’ right to private and family life and assess the conformity of domestic legal regulations with these standards. Reviewing the provisions of Article 450.1 of the Russian Code of Criminal Procedure, the authors come to the conclusion that the difficulties in practical application of the mentioned guarantees in the Russian law are caused by the imperfection of legislation under consideration, including by unclear conditions for the application of relevant provisions, insufficient detailing of the powers of representatives of lawyers’ associations taking part in the investigative actions, etc. Furthermore, it appears that the shortcomings of regulation governing the sphere in question condone violations not only by the investigative authorities but also by the advocates themselves. Hence, the authors maintain that the legal provisions under consideration require further amendments, including those proposed in this article.