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Types of Legal Assistance Provided by Lawyers

When providing legal assistance, the lawyer:

• Provides consultations and explanations on legal issues in both oral and written form;
• Drafts applications, complaints, petitions, and other legal documents;
• Represents the client in civil and arbitration cases;
• Provides defense or representation of the client in criminal cases and cases of administrative offenses before state bodies, inquiry and preliminary investigation bodies, and in court;
• Assists in the client’s legal relations with relevant institutions, organizations, or individuals of foreign countries;
• Provides legal assistance to legal entities of all forms of ownership, as well as to individuals and legal entities of foreign countries in the prescribed manner;
• Represents the client in international judicial and commercial arbitration bodies, in governmental, judicial, law enforcement authorities, and other organizations of foreign countries, provided this does not contradict the legislation of those countries and international treaties of Turkmenistan;
• Represents the client in government agencies, other organizations of all forms of ownership, local government bodies, public associations, and in relations with individuals;

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Agreement on the Provision of Legal Assistance

Legal practice is carried out based on an agreement between the lawyer and the client or their representative. This agreement is of a civil law nature and is concluded in simple written form.

The agreement must include the following:

• Information about the lawyer performing the assignment, and the client or their representative;
• The content of the assignment;
• The terms and amount of payment for legal assistance;
• Additional expenses related to the performance of the assignment by the lawyer;
• The lawyer’s liability related to the performance of the agreement.

The lawyer may not delegate the obligations undertaken to a third party. Payment for legal assistance provided by lawyers is made on the basis of the agreement, except in cases provided for in parts five, seven, and eight of this article.

In the absence of an agreement for the provision of legal assistance by lawyers of a legal consultation, the payment for such assistance is determined by the head of the legal consultation based on the Instruction on Payment for Legal Assistance provided by lawyers of legal consultations, approved by the Ministry of Adalat of Turkmenistan in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and Economy of Turkmenistan.

In cases where a lawyer from a legal consultation is appointed in criminal proceedings by the body of inquiry, investigator, prosecutor, judge, or court, or in other cases where payment is made at the expense of the state, the amount and procedure of payment are determined according to the Instruction on Payment for Legal Assistance provided by lawyers of legal consultations. If payment is made at the expense of the Bar Association, the amount and procedure of such payment are also determined by the same Instruction.

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Provision of Free Legal Assistance to Individuals

Legal assistance is provided free of charge to individuals upon their request in the following cases:

• Providing legal assistance in the form of oral consultations and drafting written documents in cases of alimony claims, compensation for harm caused by the death of a breadwinner, injury, or other health damage related to work;
• Providing oral legal consultations not related to entrepreneurship to Heroes of Turkmenistan, veterans, conscripts, persons with disabilities of groups I and II, pensioners, mothers awarded the honorary title “Ene mähri,” and orphans;
• Drafting applications for pensions or benefits;
• Granting victim status for trafficking in persons;
• In other cases provided by the legislation of Turkmenistan.

The procedure for obtaining free legal assistance by individuals is determined by the legislation of Turkmenistan.

The governing body of the Bar or its head, as well as bodies of inquiry, preliminary investigation, prosecutor, judge, or court, depending on the material situation of the individual, have the right to fully or partially exempt them from payment for legal assistance in other cases not specified in the first part of this article.

If the individual is exempted from payment by the governing body of the Bar or its head, the lawyer’s fee is paid from the funds of the Bar Association.

If the exemption is granted by the body of inquiry, preliminary investigation, prosecutor, judge, or court, the lawyer’s fee is paid from state funds in the prescribed manner.