Russian delegation tours Tallahassee.

Friendly smiles of greeting across the room, a shared love of raw oysters, and the patient services of fluent interpreters eliminated communication hurdles between Florida Bar staff and representatives of The Federal Chamber of Advocates of the Russian Federation when the two groups met in Tallahassee from June 14-18.

With the Office for Distributed and Distance Learning of Florida State University, The Florida Bar hosted a study tour for eight Russians lawyers, who represent the Federal Chamber, the regulatory body for Russian lawyers, and several regional chambers. The Federal Chamber, established by Russian legislation in 2003, has mandatory membership from 89 regions.

The study group traveled to The Florida Bar via the coordination of the ABA Central European and Eurasion Law Institute, a public service project.

As Bar staff described the Bar's history, membership, lawyer regulation and advertising, and continuing legal education, the Russian lawyers listened attentively and took notes to apply to their bar administration back home.

"You are history in the making," President Kelly Overstreet Johnson told the Russians. "Our dialogue will benefit both of our organizations, but the most important benefit will be to the clients we serve."

Although differences in Florida and Russian bar membership exist, the two groups found some similarities. To be come an "advocate" and member of the Federal Chamber in the Russian Federation, a lawyer must pass a regional bar exam. Automatically the lawyer becomes a member of the regional bar upon passing the exam.

"An advocate has the right to practice law in all territories of Russia," said Gennady Sharov, member of the Council of the Federal Chamber of Advocates and director of Moscow City Advocate Collegiums. An advocate is subject to disciplinary action and may be disbarred; he added.

Each of the 89 Russian regions has its own chamber of advocates which is established to render legal assistance, represent the interests of advocates, and monitor the code of professional ethics, Sharov explained.

He admitted that the current structure of chambers and councils "is full of contradictions, which will hopefully be eliminated during further refinement of the law on advocacy."

Tatiyana Butovchenko, president of the Chamber of Advocates in Samara, Russia, told Florida Bar staff that if a person cannot afford an attorney, the government will appoint representation. The minimum daily fee the attorney receives...