DEVELOPMENT OF THE INSTITUTE OF QUALIFIED LEGAL ASSISTANCE IN RUSSIA AND THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

The relevance of this work is due to the modern processes of regulation of the legal services market, typical both for Russia and for sovereign States in the post-Soviet space, in order to ensure the constitutional right to qualified legal assistance. The purpose of the work is predetermined by the analysis of ideas about qualified legal assistance in a retrospective and modern sense. The research was based on normative legal acts, including monuments of law, and scientific works (academic publications, monographs) devoted to the development of legal aid. The study was carried out using a set of comparative legal methods: the diachronic method allowed us to compare the basics of legal aid that existed in different historical periods; the synchronous method made it possible to compare the legal reality of Russia with other countries. The problem-chronological method allowed to study the essential features of the evolution of ideas about legal aid that are directly dependent on the socio-cultural transformations of the political and legal system of the and interpretation of norms, implementation of which determines the modern processes of professionalization of legal aid. The study of pre-revolutionary legislation of Russia allowed us to conclude that the traditional understanding of the provision of professional legal assistance by lawyers is formed in the process of socio-cultural modernization of the legal system during the implementation of the Judicial reform of 1864. the Paradigm of legal nihilism in the first years of Soviet power resulted in lacking any qualification requirements for persons who can provide legal assistance, which predetermined the stable practice of lawyers who did not have professional education. The liberalization of legislation during the thaw period contributed to the return to traditional understanding of legal aid. The regulation of legal aid in modern States is carried out in line with the implementation of international standards in national legislation.