Budapest Bar: Building on Centuries of Advocacy

The Budapest Bar Association describes itself as the oldest and most significant public body in Hungarian legal history, both considering its social significance and its membership numbers. While the primary task of the organization is to register and administer lawyers active in Budapest, its significance goes well beyond that. The Budapest Business Journal discussed the association’s history and duties with vice president, Dr. Péter S. Szabó.

By Christian Keszthelyi

As the constitutional role of advocacy is crucial in any democratic society, lawyers fill an important role: Providing professional advice to private individuals or legal entities in litigation or contractual matters. Such advice includes public law matters, such as criminal cases or administrative issues, where clients may oppose the state.

“Therefore it is highly important that the lawyer and also their organization should be independent,” Szabó tells the BBJ in an exclusive interview.

He notes that, in today’s complex world, it is almost impossible to complete a business transaction, or even a simple matter between individuals, without seeking the professional advice of a lawyer.

“It is important to deliver the message to the wider public that it is always best to consult a lawyer before you initiate any kind of action with legal implications. Lawyers all over the world fulfil this task and their local organizations are supporting them in doing so,” the vice president says.

The development and historical path of Hungarian law is inextricably linked to Hungarian society. Up until the 16th century, hardly any written sources of Hungarian law were available. Despite the lack of such records, it is certain that a separate organization providing justice to stakeholders had already emerged in the preceding centuries, sparked by the natural need for the subjects of legal proceedings to be assisted by advocates, specialists in the law.

According to written evidence from the 17th and 18th centuries, lawyers mainly represented the fortunes of aristocratic families. In 1723, Károly (Charles III) issued the first law on lawyers, which was replaced by his daughter and heir, Maria Theresa in 1769, regulating the activities of some 800 lawyers operating in the country at that time.

FIRST ORGANIZATION A century later, the Budapest Bar Association was the first formal organization of lawyers in Hungary in 1875, a muchneeded body as various rules for legal professionals who support the wider public in legal matters had existed in the

The Budapest Bar Association has approximately 12,200 members. Off those, about 8,000 are lawyers, 2,000 are legal advisors, there are 1,700 trainee lawyers, 380 junior advisors, 70 legal assistants/paralegals and almost 90 foreign (EU and non-EU) lawyers.

The number of active members is around 10,500. The membership fee for a lawyer (including EU lawyers) is HUF 33,000 quarterly, or HUF 132,000 for a whole year. Everybody else pays less than that.

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“Needless to say, the requirement of independence was not always fulfilled. But the bodies and members of the bars went as far as they could to fulfil their initial mission, even under the difficult circumstances.”

country since the Middle Ages. Shortly after the Budapest Bar Association’s foundation, similar organizations were established in other counties in Hungary.

Throughout the difficult history of the 20th century, the bars in Hungary were able to work continuously without an interruption, more or less as independent organizations.

“Needless to say, the requirement of independence was not always fulfilled. But the bodies and members of the bars went as far as they could to fulfil their initial mission, even under the difficult circumstances,” Szabó says.

As public bodies, the two most important functions of Hungarian bars are their own administration, based on selfgovernance, and the protection of lawyers’ interests, as a conduit to the protection of clients’ interests.

“To complete these tasks, the bars are responsible for setting rules for their members, within the framework of the state regulations, to provide the license for practice (as only a bar member can be a lawyer), to exercise deontological rules over the members, to handle the administration of the membership and to participate in the legislative process as legal experts,” the vice president explains.

“The bars also provide certain services to members and obligatory training. Needless to say, there are other details beyond the most important matters,” he adds.

ADVOCACY INPUT Hungary has 20 bars in total: one in each county and one in the capital. All local bars are also the members of the Hungarian Bar Association, which possesses exclusive competence to issue rules for the profession to maintain a homogeneous practice. It also represents advocacy before the government and at an international level.

The Hungarian Bar Association consists of representatives from the local bars, elected for this position and also the presidents of the local bars. A certain proprtion of the membership fees collected by the local bars from their individual members goes to the national association. (For more on the Hungarian Bar, see page 18.)

Every four years, elections are held in the bars. In addition to the VP, the present leadership of the Budapest Bar Association, includes its president Dr. Gábor M. Tóth and secretary-general Dr. Balázs Gyalog. The current leadership was elected in November 2018, with the president and VP serving their first term.

“In our view, advocacy plays a very important rule in every society, including Hungary. The profession itself is one of the most traditional civil professions. Lawyers are usually complex people: they are familiar with politics, state administration, but also with almost all areas of life, as they represent individuals and companies from all fields of society,” Szabó notes.

Given the way lawyers help the general public untangle text-heavy terms and conditions or try to break down legalese into simple everyday language, it is easy to consider legal professionals as being near omniscient.

Nevertheless, it is “important to know that we also have our own problems. There are various social problems or challenges set by the always-changing legislation. Therefore, it is important to support those members who are also living through difficulties, sometimes,” the vice president adds.

Dr. Péter S. Szabó