Peculiarities of confirmation of the powers of a lawyer in a trial in various types of legal proceedings

The article analyzes the features of confirming the powers of a lawyer in a trial in various types of legal proceedings: in economic, civil, administrative proceedings, criminal proceedings, consideration of cases of administrative offenses, as well as as an authorized representative in constitutional proceedings. The author states that the Law of Ukraine «On the Bar and Advocacy» provides that: 1) advocacy is carried out on the basis of a contract for the provision of legal assistance; 2) an exhaustive list of documents certifying the authority of a lawyer to provide legal assistance is established (legal assistance agreement; power of attorney; warrant; order of a body (institution) authorized by law to provide free legal assistance. At the same time, the article draws attention to the fact that there are special provisions of the current legislation that establish requirements for confirming the authority of lawyers depending on the types of legal proceedings. The author draws attention to the complication of the issue of establishing a list of documents for certifying the authority of a lawyer to provide legal assistance by the amendments made in 2023 to the relevant provisions of the procedural codes. It is noted that due to the existing legislative gap, problems arise regarding the issue of confirming the authority of a lawyer in civil proceedings. By analyzing the existing case law, it was established that the absence of an indication of a legal assistance agreement in Part Four of Article 62 of the CPC of Ukraine does not exclude the right of a lawyer to confirm such authority directly by a legal assistance agreement, which is the main document certifying the attorney’s authority to provide legal assistance. It is established that, in accordance with the Resolution of the Cassation Economic Court of the Supreme Court of 17.11.2025 in case No. 910/9198/25, the absence in part four of Article 60 of the Economic Procedural Code of Ukraine of an indication of a legal assistance agreement does not exclude the right of an attorney to confirm such authority directly by a legal assistance agreement, which, in accordance with part one and the content of part three of Article 26 of the Law of Ukraine «On Advocacy and Advocacy», in a systemic connection is simultaneously the document certifying the attorney’s authority to provide legal assistance. It is emphasized that the inconsistency of legal norms regulating the confirmation of an attorney’s authority in various types of legal proceedings leads to significant problems and, in some cases, the resolution of the relevant dispute in court. It is proposed to unify the list of documents confirming the authority of a lawyer in various types of legal proceedings and, accordingly, to establish by law that the documents confirming the authority of a lawyer in any type of legal proceedings are a warrant and a contract for the provision of legal assistance.