The Bar – as a part of the judiciary – is an autonomous and independent service, regulated by law (Article 137 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia).
The Bar is an honorable profession rooted in the Antique and it has preserved its good reputation to the present day. Throughout the centuries, the good reputation of lawyers as legal experts has been growing, but the development and the way of living have led to the situation that the Bar has become a must. The Bar as a part of the judiciary has been autonomous and independent, practiced by lawyers as legal experts. The principle of lawyers’ independence exists since 1868. Lawyers are legal experts, performing their free-lance activities autonomously and independently, with due responsibility to their clients.
On the territory of Slovenia, the Bar exists as an organized activity for as many as 151 years. The Lawyers’ Order (Advokaten Ordnung), being the most excellent law ever existing in our country, was adopted in 1868, however preceded by a provisional Lawyers’ Order adopted already in 1849. By now Slovenia has had ten Bar Acts, the latest in force the one adopted in 1993, amended in 1996 and 2001.
The activity of the Slovene Bar is definitely based on the provision of Article 137 of the Constitution of the Republic of Slovenia, as quoted above, on the Bar Act, on the Code of Conduct for Lawyers (1994, amended in 2001), on the Lawyers’ Tariff (2003) as well as on numerous internal acts of the Bar Association. Moreover, it is necessary to mention several international documents and relevant deeds, in particular the EU Directives and the Code of Conduct for Lawyers in the EU – by CCBE, the officially recognized all-European professional organization of lawyers, combining within the scope of the European Community both national organizations and delegations of observers from other European countries.
The Slovene Bar Association consists of 11 regional assemblies whereof the membership is based on territorial and functional principles. Their territories predominantly coincide with the territories of District Courts.
BAR ASSOCIATION OF SLOVENIA