The elections of the new chairman will be held on January 19 and 21, 2026. Natalia Balaban, Anatol Barbacar, Alexandru Turcan, Mihail Durnescu and Ludmila Spinu were nominated as candidates.
Natalia Balaban is a lawyer with more than 15 years of experience and former president of the Council of the Advocates Training Center. She proposes to modernize the legal profession through digitalization, continuous professional development of lawyers, promotion of the image of the profession and implementation of legislative and fiscal reforms. She believes that more attention should be paid to training lawyers in European law and supporting fair fees.
Anatolie Barbacar, lawyer since 2002, member of the Union of Advocates of the Republic of Moldova, member of the Commission for Ethics and Discipline of the Union of Advocates, plans to amend the Code of Advocate’s Deontology, to continue the dialogue with donors, to raise the prestige of the profession and to harmonize the legal environment. He also considers it necessary to develop a dialog with state institutions.
Alexandru Țurcan, with 26 years of continuous experience as a lawyer, head of the united law firm Țurcan Cazac, plans to promote European standards of advocacy, introduce artificial intelligence tools in the work of lawyers, prevent and combat aggression against lawyers, and reconstruct the historic building of the Bar Association.
Mihail Durnescu, a lawyer, human rights expert and mediator with more than 20 years of experience, promotes the principles of integrity, meritocracy, equality among lawyers and transparency. He believes that the Bar Association should actively participate in the European integration process, comply with European professional standards, cooperate with EU lawyers’ organizations and resume dialogue with international partners.
Ludmila Spinu, Associate Professor of Criminal Law, member of the Council of the Faculty of Law of the Moldovan State University of Law, with more than 20 years of experience, focuses on promoting professional standards, cohesion among lawyers and respect for the rights of all lawyers, including those who provide public legal aid. She plans to engage young lawyers, respect the autonomy of the profession, and promote women leaders in the legal profession.
According to the law, the Chairman of the Union of Advocates is elected for 2 years and can serve no more than two consecutive terms.
In addition to the candidates for the chairmanship, 17 lawyers nominated their candidacies for the position of a member of the Commission for Licensing of Advocacy.
It should be noted that the elections are taking place against the background of tension of a large part of the bar and the authorities because of scandalous amendments to the Law on Advocacy. They criticized the abolition of fees for disciplinary complaints, the inclusion in the commissions of representatives appointed by the Ministry of Justice, and restrictions on the mandates of commission members. President Maia Sandu sent the law back for revision.
“We have witnessed attempts to limit our professional independence, hasty reforms, pressures that test the solidarity of the professional corps, labeling and identifying the lawyer with his clients or their cases,” Dorin Popescu, the current president of the Union of Lawyers, said earlier.
In addition, lawyers have expressed dissatisfaction with the sharp increase in the fixed contribution for compulsory health insurance for 2026.
