Sheets issued by the KDKA qualification chamber during the oral exam to a person to prepare answers perform only an auxiliary function. They cannot be considered a basis for evaluating the answers of a person taking the exam for acquiring the right to practice law.
The District Administrative Court of Kyiv made a corresponding conclusion in case No. 640/15665/19 , reports "Law and Business" with reference to the press service of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The lawyer, who did not score a sufficient number of points based on the results of the oral exam, appealed the decision of the qualification chamber to refuse to issue him a certificate of completion of the qualification exam, as well as the decision of the VKDKA to the court.
The validity of the evaluation of the answers given by him during the oral exam was questioned. In support, the lawyer provided copies of the sheets he used in preparing his response.
The court assumed that the RAU decision No. 270 dated 17.13.2013 approved the Procedure for admission to the qualifying exam, the procedure for taking the qualifying exam and the methodology for evaluating the results of the qualifying exam for acquiring the right to practice law in Ukraine.
In accordance with clause 14.4 of this Procedure for preparation for taking the oral exam, persons who take the exam and wish to prepare in writing are provided with blank sheets with a mark of the qualification chamber about their appointment for preparation for taking the oral exam.
Having analyzed the norms of the Procedure, the court agreed with the position of the VKDKA that this normative act does not contain provisions regarding the possibility of attaching written sheets to the case materials and regarding any other use of the specified sheets.
Thus, these sheets serve only an auxiliary function in preparing for the oral exam and cannot be considered as a basis for evaluating the answers of the person taking the exam.
At the same time, from the copies of sheets provided by the plaintiff (which were not attached to the case file), it is impossible to identify the time of answering the questions. Therefore, the provided written sheets cannot be considered as proper evidence for evaluating the answers in the exam.
In court, the VKDKA representative also explained that there is no information in the case file that the notes on the sheets are related to the passing of the exam and that the notes on the sheets were made on the day of the exam and were used by the plaintiff during the exam. The legislation does not define the authority of the KDKA and VKDKA to take into account notes on the drafts prepared by individuals during their preparation for the oral exam. And the KDKA did not even have a physical opportunity to attach them to the materials of the qualification case, since the plaintiff took such sheets from the exam, and no requests were received from the plaintiff to attach them to the materials of the qualification case on the day of the exam.
Taking into account these and other circumstances of the case and the norms of the current legislation, the court came to the conclusion that the decisions of the KDKA and the VKDKA on the refusal to issue a certificate on passing a qualifying exam for acquiring the right to practice law are those adopted on the basis of the norms of the current legislation of Ukraine.