TOP LEGAL EXECUTIVES
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
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.
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
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