Siranush Sahakyan, Director of the Armenian office of the International and Comparative Law Center and the Armenian Legal Center for Justice and Human Rights, participated in a discussion organized by the “Protection of Rights Without Borders” NGO, where the results of a study titled “Accessibility of Legal Services and Assessment of Access to Justice in the Context of Increased Tax Burden” were presented.
The aim of the study was to assess how recent tax changes affect access to legal assistance, the ability to obtain judicial protection, the protection of vulnerable groups, and overall access to justice.
The main findings of the research were presented by lawyer and researcher Nina Hakobyan. According to her, following the tax changes, prices in the legal services market have increased, the activity of individual lawyers has declined, and the sector has gradually become concentrated around larger law firms. She also emphasized that the volume of free (pro bono) services has decreased, making legal assistance particularly less accessible for vulnerable groups. Although certain mitigating mechanisms have been introduced, they have not fully addressed the existing challenges.
It was also noted that these changes do not operate in isolation; they coincide with other developments such as increases in state duties, reduced access to courts, and the digitalization of the system. Together, these factors further complicate citizens’ ability to defend their rights. Existing support mechanisms, including the public defender system, are unable to fully compensate for these difficulties, resulting in justice becoming both more expensive and less accessible for many.
During the discussion, it was highlighted that no comprehensive impact assessment of the tax changes had been carried out by the government either before or after their adoption, despite the fact that the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia guarantees the right to legal assistance.
Harutyun Aklunts, First Deputy Chairman of the Chamber of Advocates of Armenia, presented the Chamber’s position, addressing the challenges facing the sector, the negative consequences of the tax changes, and possible solutions.
