General Meeting of Advocates

The General Meeting of Advocates is the supreme self-governance body of the Lithuanian Bar Association. Each advocate has a duty and responsibility to take part in the General Meeting of Advocates.

Usually, the General Meeting of Advocates is organised once a year. It is an event with deep traditions, during which issues most important for the Lithuanian Bar Association are decided and approved. In the meeting, decisions are taken by open voting, by the majority of votes, except when self-governance institutions are elected, which is done by secret voting.

The first General Meeting of Advocates, previously called the organisational meeting of sworn advocates of Lithuania, was convened on 5 December 1920. It was attended by 15 sworn advocates. The number of participants in a contemporary meeting is significantly different, each practising advocate, who belongs to the Lithuanian Bar Association, has a duty to take part in the meeting. Their number as on 1 January 2021 reached 2,248.