A Strong Legal Profession Begins with Independence, Knowledge and Professional Responsibility

1. Ms Lipartia, what idea lies behind GLIP’s work, and what does an independent legal profession mean to you?

Georgian Lawyers for Independent Profession — GLIP — was established in 2009 on the idea that a strong, independent legal profession with high professional standards is one of the essential foundations of the rule of law and fair justice.

For us, a lawyer’s independence is not merely a professional principle. It is an essential condition for protecting human rights and effectively securing the right to a fair trial. Lawyers must be able to make their professional decisions freely, without improper influence or pressure of any kind.

Independence, however, cannot exist without responsibility. An independent legal profession entails a high level of professional competence, ethical standards, professional integrity and a responsible approach to clients’ rights.

That is why GLIP’s principal areas of work are closely connected: professional independence, continuing education, professional ethics, the exchange of experience and international cooperation. Our aim is to create a professional space where lawyers can develop their knowledge and skills while also taking an active part in the process of professional development.

2. Professional education is one of GLIP’s principal areas of work. What opportunities does the organisation offer lawyers, and how important is practice-based learning?

The modern legal profession is constantly changing. Legislation, judicial practice, human-rights standards and the international legal environment are all evolving. Professional education is therefore no longer limited to the beginning of a lawyer’s career; it is a continuous process.

Over the years, GLIP has implemented a range of educational projects, training programmes, seminars, workshops and conferences. Our work covers areas including criminal law, labour law, human rights, judicial practice, professional ethics and European law.

Practice-based learning is particularly important to us. Theoretical knowledge alone is often insufficient for a lawyer to respond effectively to a specific professional challenge. For this reason, we place special emphasis on examining judicial decisions, real cases, practical examples and professional dilemmas during the learning process.

Sharing the participants’ own experience is equally important. Some of the most valuable professional knowledge is created when lawyers with different experience discuss specific issues and share their own practice with one another.

For us, education is not a one-way process. It is a professional dialogue that ultimately supports both the development of the individual lawyer and the strengthening of the profession as a whole.

3. International cooperation and joint projects hold a special place in GLIP’s work. Why is this area important, and what does this experience offer Georgian lawyers?

International cooperation is one of the most important areas of GLIP’s work. For us, it does not simply mean visits abroad. Our aim is for Georgian lawyers to have direct professional connections with international organisations, universities, legal institutions and practising lawyers from different countries.

Our cooperation with the National University of Singapore (NUS) and its Centre for International Law has been significant in this area. In 2021, NUS and GLIP jointly organised a webinar on international investment arbitration. Cooperation of this kind gives Georgian lawyers an opportunity to participate directly in international legal discussions and learn about global practice.

Our cooperation with the European Law Institute (ELI) is particularly important. GLIP has been an institutional member of ELI since 2022. Within this cooperation, our members have taken part in a variety of professional events, and a visit was also made to ELI’s Secretariat in Vienna. It matters to us that the Georgian legal profession participates in ongoing discussions about the development of European law.

Our cooperation with IRZ — the German Foundation for International Legal Cooperation — is also important. This partnership has included professional and educational activities, including study visits. Our members’ visit to Hamburg introduced them to various aspects of administrative, civil and criminal-law practice. Activities concerning the European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the European Court were also significant.

Visits connected with the European Court of Human Rights and Council of Europe institutions in Strasbourg are an important part of our international work. GLIP members have had the opportunity to learn first-hand about the work of the European Court, meet representatives of the Court and attend an oral hearing before the Grand Chamber. Such experience is especially important for practising lawyers because studying the Court’s case law is directly connected to their daily work protecting human rights.

Projects in the field of EU law are also noteworthy, including “Georgian Lawyers at the European Court of Justice”, through which Georgian lawyers gained knowledge of EU competition law, consumer protection and labour law.

Another aspect of our international work is professional and educational cooperation connected with EUIPO, which is important for deepening professional knowledge in intellectual-property law.

All of this is complemented by our members’ participation in international conferences and professional events. It is important to us that Georgian lawyers should not only be audience members at international forums. They should have opportunities to speak, take part in discussions and present Georgian legal experience.

In this regard, the participation of GLIP members Nino Tatoshvili, Ioseb Gabaraevi and Nana Dalakishvili in various international conferences and professional events deserves particular mention. Such engagement raises the international visibility of the Georgian legal profession and demonstrates that we not only receive international experience but also share our own experience with the international professional community.

The professional and academic activity of our members and honorary members is especially important in the same context. Since June 2026, GLIP honorary member Dr Ketevan Mchedlishvili-Hedrich has served as Editor-in-Chief of the German-Georgian Journal of Criminal Law (DGStZ). For us, this is important professional recognition and another example of how representatives of the Georgian legal profession participate in the international academic and legal community.

Our outlook in this area is very simple: international cooperation should work in both directions. We want to learn from the best international practice, but we also want Georgian legal experience, professional challenges and our colleagues’ knowledge to become part of international professional dialogue.

4. What is GLIP’s vision regarding professional ethics, young lawyers and professional solidarity?

Professional ethics is one of the fundamental areas of GLIP’s work. A lawyer’s professional standing is not defined by legal knowledge alone. It is founded on integrity, responsibility, professional independence and the protection of the client’s interests.

It is important to us that ethics should not be seen merely as a collection of professional rules. Its practical meaning must be understood: how a lawyer should act in a difficult professional situation, protect confidentiality, avoid conflicts of interest and preserve professional independence.

We want to devote particular attention to young lawyers. They are the future of the Georgian legal profession. It is important that professional values, the idea of independence and ethical standards become part of their professional culture from the earliest stages of their careers.

At the same time, professional solidarity does not mean eliminating differences of opinion. On the contrary, a strong professional community is a space where different positions can be expressed freely, professional problems can be discussed and people can cooperate on matters of common concern.

For GLIP, it is important to create a professional environment in which lawyers can share experience, discuss the challenges facing the profession and work together to develop professional standards.

5. What is GLIP’s principal objective today, and how do you see the organisation’s future?

Our principal objective today remains grounded in the same fundamental idea: to contribute to the development in Georgia of a legal profession that is independent, qualified, ethical and trusted by both the profession and society.

The professional environment is constantly changing, however, and the organisation must respond to those changes. In the future, we want to expand our professional-education programmes, practice-based learning, international cooperation and the involvement of young lawyers even further.

Strengthening our international partnerships — with ELI, IRZ, international universities, European institutions and other professional organisations — is especially important. We want international experience to be not a one-off opportunity for Georgian lawyers but a permanent part of their professional development.

We also want GLIP to become even more of a space where knowledge, practical experience, professional dialogue and international experience come together.

I believe this is precisely where our organisation’s principal value lies: we do not merely create educational events or individual projects. We seek to build a professional environment that supports the development of an independent legal profession and even more active participation by the Georgian legal profession in the international community.

Our vision is of a strong legal profession that is independent in practice, continually develops through knowledge and experience, upholds high professional and ethical standards, and is trusted by both the profession and society.