Forced labor of a lawyer: the inevitability of a conflict in a lengthy criminal trial

Introduction: the paper raises the issue of forced labor in the legal profession, which, in the author’s opinion, has several manifestations in the legal profession of modern Russia, in connection with which the aim is to conduct the study of the Russian and international legislation and the practice of its application according to the stated subject. Methods: the methodological framework for the research is a set of methods of scientific knowledge, among which the main ones are the method of analysis and synthesis and the comparative law method. Results: the author considers in detail the raised problem in the context of the national and international law. The conclusions are drawn and the variant of the solution to the existing legislative gap is offered. Conclusions: the problem of forced labor of a lawyer exists both in our country and abroad. Russia has not developed the specific legal mechanisms to strike a balance between the interests of all stakeholders: the principal, the lawyer, the state, the law corporation. In general, the work of a lawyer without a fee or with a significantly lower fee cannot be considered forced or compulsory work, since the lawyer knew about this possibility in advance and agreed to it. However, such work should deprive the lawyer of the opportunity to perform paid work, should not require the lawyer to spend extra time, effort, and money. Otherwise it would be a violation of Article 4 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Similar developments of the European Court and the US courts should be used in Russia to develop its own rules.