Ensuring qualified legal assistance for citizens

The article reveals the essence of the constitutional guarantee of the right to obtain qualified legal assistance by everyone and its implementation in the branch of procedural law. It is shown that in the constitutional and criminal legal proceedings, clear qualification requirements are imposed on those persons who can act as representatives (defenders). In the administrative and arbitration process, a "filter" is also installed to allow representatives. And only the Civil Procedure Code of the Russian Federation does not impose any professional admission criteria on the representatives. At the same time, the Constitution of the Russian Federation does not make it dependent on the existence of the right to receive qualified legal assistance from any circumstances and conditions, including the type of proceedings. The entry into force of the Federal Law of November 21, 2011 No. 324-FZ "On Free Legal Aid in the Russian Federation", which stipulates the existence of state and non-state legal aid systems, the qualification requirement for the subjects of its provision - the availability of higher legal education, expanded lists of people in need of it and the category of cases. It is stated that this normative legal act has somewhat removed the social tension from the problem of ensuring the receipt by qualified categories of citizens of qualified legal aid free of charge, but did not solve it. The main cornerstone of the realization of the constitutionally guaranteed right to receive qualified legal assistance is the legal qualification requirements for representatives in civil cases. In the absence of these requirements, any attempt to solve the problem will not achieve the final result - the realization of the constitutionally guaranteed right of everyone. The introduction of corresponding changes in the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation is proposed.