The Advocate's Role at the Appellate Stage
Hearing a case in a second-instance court demands particular precision: the appellate court assesses, first of all, the admissibility of the complaint and the quality of the argumentation, and a procedural mistake at this stage is often irreversible. That is why most parties turn to a qualified representative — an advocate — for the appeal instance. The Georgian Law on Advocacy defines what rights an advocate has, on what basis the activity is carried out, and what guarantees protect the advocate's independence — and all three components determine the quality of representation before the court of appeals.
Below we describe what advocacy covers, what rights an advocate enjoys in court, how authority is formalised, and what duties the advocate owes the client.
What Advocacy Covers
Under Article 2 of the Law on Advocacy, advocacy covers the giving of legal advice by an advocate to the person who approached him or her for assistance — the client. The same norm extends the advocate's mandate to representing the client in a constitutional dispute and in criminal, civil or administrative cases — before courts, in arbitration, and before detention and investigation bodies. In addition, the advocate prepares legal documents addressed to third persons, submits documentation in the client's name, and provides legal assistance not connected with representation before third persons. In the appellate context this means that the advocate's service is not confined to appearing at a hearing: it includes preparing the appellate complaint, submitting documentation and advising at every stage of the process.
The Advocate's Rights
Article 4 of the Law sets out the catalogue of the advocate's rights that underpin court representation:
- to represent and defend the client, the client's rights and freedoms before the constitutional, supreme and common courts, in arbitration and before investigation bodies;
- for the purpose of protecting the client's interests, to request and receive, as established by legislation, the documents, certificates and other factual data needed for the practice of advocacy;
- to meet a detained, arrested or otherwise restricted person face to face, without obstacle, at any time and without control, and to correspond with such a person;
- to enjoy other rights provided for by procedural legislation.
The same article establishes that the advocate's activity may be restricted only by law — neither a court nor any other body may restrict the advocate's actions in the appellate process beyond the limits set by statute.