Legal Profession Act (Zakon o advokaturi) in brief: lawyers' duties

What the Legal Profession Act (Zakon o advokaturi) covers and whom it applies to

Zakon o advokaturi, the Legal Profession Act, governs the legal profession, the conditions for practising, the forms of practice, the rights, duties and responsibility of lawyers and trainee lawyers, and the organisation and work of the bar associations (Art. 1). The profession (advokatura) is an independent and autonomous service providing legal assistance to natural and legal persons (Art. 2). Legal assistance covers advice and opinions, drafting claims, contracts, wills and other documents, representation and defence, mediation and other work through which rights are exercised (Art. 3).

The official citation is: Zakon o advokaturi (Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 31/2011 and 24/2012 - Constitutional Court decision). The Act applies to Serbian lawyers, to foreign lawyers entered in registers A and B (Art. 14, 25 and 26), to joint law offices and law partnerships, to trainees and to the bar associations. For a citizen it matters because it defines what to expect from a lawyer: confidentiality, billing under the tariff, refusal of a case in a conflict of interest, and the possibility of a complaint to the bar. For a law graduate it sets the path to registration.

The Act is read together with the Statute of the Bar Association of Serbia, the Code of Professional Ethics for Lawyers (Kodeks profesionalne etike advokata, Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 27/2012 and 159/2020 - Constitutional Court decision) and the Tariff on Fees and Reimbursement of Costs for Lawyers' Work, all of which are published in the Official Gazette (Art. 71).

How the Act is structured

The Act has 95 articles in 11 chapters:

• I Basic provisions (Art. 1-4)
• II Conditions for practising (Art. 5-14): registration, oath, identity card, foreign lawyers
• III Rights and duties of lawyers (Art. 15-38): secrecy, conflicts of interest, fees, advertising ban, office, withdrawal, inviolability of the office, insurance
• IV Temporary cessation and prohibition of practice (Art. 39-43)
• V Forms of practice (Art. 44-52): sole practice, joint office, partnership
• VI Trainee lawyers (Art. 53-62)
• VII Bar associations (Art. 63-74): public powers, bodies, funding
• VIII Disciplinary responsibility and termination of the right to practise (Art. 75-83)
• IX Protection of rights (Art. 84-85): appeal and administrative dispute
• X Lawyers' Academy and lawyers' examination (Art. 86-87)
• XI Transitional and final provisions (Art. 88-95)

Who may practise as a lawyer

The right to practise is acquired by a decision on entry in the register of lawyers and by taking the lawyer's oath (Art. 5). The application is filed with the bar association for the area where the office will be located. The conditions (Art. 6) are: a law degree obtained in Serbia or a recognised foreign degree; the passed bar examination (pravosudni ispit) and lawyers' examination (advokatski ispit); Serbian citizenship; health and legal capacity; no employment relationship; no conviction for an offence that makes the candidate unworthy of trust; no other registered business or position as director, representative, procurator and the like; personal fitness; suitable office premises; and at least three years since any earlier refused application. Fitness and the effect of convictions are assessed by the bar at its discretion. A candidate who served at least 12 years as a judge or public prosecutor does not sit the lawyers' examination.

The lawyers' examination is taken by a person who has passed the bar examination, before a commission of the Bar Association of Serbia, and tests knowledge of the rules governing the profession (Art. 87). The bar must allow the oath to be taken within 30 days of the registration decision, and on the day of the oath it issues the registration order and the lawyer's identity card (Art. 9 and 10). Registration is annulled if it later emerges that the conditions were not met (Art. 12). A lawyer may have only one office (Art. 27) and may practise throughout Serbia (Art. 16).

A lawyer practises alone, in a joint law office, which has no legal personality, or as a member of a law partnership whose sole activity is legal practice (Art. 44-52).

The lawyer's duties to the client

Competence and diligence (Art. 15). A lawyer must provide legal assistance competently and conscientiously, keep professional secrets, protect the reputation of the profession and keep up continuing education (Art. 17).

Freedom to accept and duty to refuse (Art. 18 and 19). A lawyer decides freely whether to take a case, except when appointed by a court or the bar. He must refuse if he represented the opposing party in the same matter, if he acted in that matter as a judge or official, or if the client's interests conflict with his own or those of other clients.

Professional secrecy (Art. 20). Everything the client confides and everything the lawyer learns in the matter, before, during and after the representation, is kept as a professional secret without limit in time. The same applies to office staff.

Fees under the tariff (Art. 23). A lawyer is entitled to a fee and expenses under the tariff of the Bar Association of Serbia, which depends on the type of proceedings, the act performed, the value of the dispute or the penalty at stake. The lawyer must issue the client an itemised bill; that bill is an authentic document in enforcement proceedings, so the lawyer can enforce it directly. Charging above the tariff is a serious disciplinary offence (Art. 75). Indicative amounts for typical proceedings are on the pages Koliko košta radni spor and Koliko košta razvod braka, and the fee for a specific act can be calculated with the attorney fee calculator.

Advertising ban (Art. 24). Advertising by lawyers, joint offices and partnerships is prohibited. What counts as permitted presentation is left to the bar's statute and the code; Rule 17 of the Code of Professional Ethics lists the cases treated as advertising, from publishing offers in the media to giving legal advice in public outlets and asking to be listed in directories as an outstanding lawyer.

Withdrawal and client files (Art. 30 and 31). A lawyer may withdraw from a case but must at once inform the authority conducting the proceedings and continue to act for another 30 days, unless the client releases him. The lawyer keeps the client's files for the statutory archiving periods and hands them over on the client's request.

Compulsory insurance (Art. 37). A lawyer must hold a professional liability insurance contract; the Bar Association of Serbia sets the minimum sum insured and a bar may take out collective cover. Without insurance the lawyer's identity card is not renewed, and failure to insure is a ground for removal from the register (Art. 83).

Protection of the lawyer (Art. 33-36). A lawyer cannot be held criminally or administratively liable for a legal opinion given in proceedings. The office cannot be closed or sealed in proceedings against the lawyer; a search may be ordered only by a court for a specific file, in the presence of a lawyer appointed by the bar. A lawyer may request from state bodies the information and files needed to provide legal assistance.

Disciplinary responsibility and complaints to the bar

Lawyers and trainees are disciplinarily responsible for minor and serious breaches of duty and of the reputation of the profession (Art. 75). Serious breaches include, in particular, manifestly negligent work, acting where the lawyer had to refuse, engaging in incompatible activities, breach of secrecy, charging above the tariff and refusing to issue the client an itemised bill.

Proceedings are opened and conducted by the disciplinary prosecutor and the disciplinary court of the competent bar (Art. 76). A complaint may be filed by any interested person, that is, the client or the opposing party, and by a state body; it is filed with the disciplinary prosecutor of the bar in whose register the lawyer is entered. The sanctions are a reprimand, a fine and removal from the register for six months up to permanently (Art. 77). The fine for a minor breach is between ten and thirty times the lowest tariff fee, and for a serious breach between thirty and sixty times. Opening proceedings becomes time-barred six months after the breach is discovered and in any case two years after it occurred; conducting them becomes time-barred one year after they are opened, and in any case after two years (Art. 78). The final decision of the disciplinary court is an enforceable document for the fine and costs (Art. 81).

First-instance decisions of a bar may be appealed to the Bar Association of Serbia within 15 days, and a final decision may be challenged in an administrative dispute (Art. 84 and 85). Disciplinary proceedings do not decide the client's claim for damages; that is pursued in civil litigation, usually against the insurance under Art. 37.

A lawyer's right to practise ends, among other cases, on his own request, on removal as a disciplinary sanction, on conviction for a disqualifying offence, on taking up employment outside the profession, or if he does not practise continuously for more than six months (Art. 83). The bar then appoints a lawyer to take over the files, so clients are not left without their documents.

Trainee lawyers

A trainee (advokatski pripravnik) is a law graduate entered in the register of trainees who prepares for practice by working under a lawyer (Art. 4). The traineeship may begin after registration and the trainee's oath (Art. 53). The conditions mirror those for lawyers, without the bar examination, plus an employment contract with a lawyer who has at least three years of practice (Art. 54). The trainee works on the lawyer's instructions, may stand in for that lawyer before authorities, but may not practise independently (Art. 60). The trainee is entitled to a salary and employment rights (Art. 59); a volunteer trainee is not (Art. 62). The status ends if the trainee does not pass the bar examination within two years of becoming eligible; after passing it, the traineeship may last at most one more year (Art. 61).

Is there a new Legal Profession Act in 2025 or 2026

No. The 2011 Act applies, with the 2012 Constitutional Court decision. By September 2026 no new Legal Profession Act had been published in the Official Gazette, and the Bar Association of Serbia does not publish an adopted new text on its website. The changes people notice in practice come from the tariff, which is amended by decisions of the bar, and from the procedural codes. If a draft of a new act appears, it will be published on the Ministry of Justice website for public consultation; until adoption and publication in the Official Gazette, the 2011 text applies.

Where to read the official text

The official consolidated text is available in the Legal Information System of the Republic of Serbia: Zakon o advokaturi at pravno-informacioni-sistem.rs. The statute, the code and the tariff are published by the Bar Association of Serbia at aks.org.rs, where the register of lawyers is also available for checking a registration.

Sources

• Legal Profession Act (Zakon o advokaturi, Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 31/2011 and 24/2012 - Constitutional Court decision)
• Code of Professional Ethics for Lawyers (Kodeks profesionalne etike advokata, Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 27/2012 and 159/2020 - Constitutional Court decision), Rule 17 (paragraf.rs)
• Tariff on Fees and Reimbursement of Costs for Lawyers' Work (Sl. glasnik RS Nos. 43/2023 and 56/2025)
• Register of the Bar Association of Serbia (Imenik Advokatske komore Srbije)