Law firm proposal request - Cilc Haga Sucursala din Republica Moldova

Background

In 2021, the government of the Republic of Moldova started the justice sector reform, aiming to ensure integrity and accountability of justice sector stakeholders and to increase society’s trust in the justice sector. As part of the justice sector reform, the government decided to conduct an extraordinary vetting exercise of judges and prosecutors, to improve the integrity in the justice sector.

This vetting process is a unique endeavour for the Moldovan society. It is a thorough and tough process that can happen only once in a good way. It asks a lot of society: there might be temporarily limited capacity in the justice sector, and it can have substantial consequences for personal careers. Yet it is also a historic process, that works towards the betterment of the Moldovan justice sector and will therefore have positive impact on Moldovan society in the end.

Subject to the adoption of necessary legislation in Moldova, this vetting process takes place in three steps with three commissions:

Commission 1: the pre-vetting. This Commission started its work in 2022 and focuses on pre-vetting the candidates to the Superior Council of the Magistracy and the Superior Council of Prosecution. The pre-vetting procedures are ongoing.

Commission 2: the vetting of judges. This Commission started its work in Summer 2023 and focuses on the vetting of judges.

Commission 3: the vetting of prosecutors. This Commission started its work in Fall 2023 and focuses on vetting the prosecution service.

Each Commission consists of three international members and three national members, and is supported by a Secretariat, comprising analysts/investigators and support staff (administrative, PR, ICT, translators/interpreters).

The Center for International Legal Cooperation (CILC) is assigned by the European Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to facilitate the Commission on the vetting of judges (also known as ‘Commission 2’) and its Secretariat.

This call aims to hire the services of a high qualified attorneys or law firm that would provide assistance in the following :

• Assist the Vetting Commission in planning, organizing, and participating in civil, administrative or any other litigations or other proceedings.
• Represent, draft, review, submit and plead the statements of the Vetting Commission in various litigations or proceedings.
• Gather, analyze and review relevant legal documents and information on vetting process, including but not limited to ECHR judgments, Constitutional Court and Supreme Court of Justice decisions, Venice Commission opinions, as well as similar international practice, with a view to assist the Vetting Commission in its activity governed by Law 26/2022, Law 65/2023 and Law 252/2023 (”Vetting laws”).
• Assist the Vetting Commission in understanding systemically the Moldovan procedural legislation and provide legal advice to the Vetting Commission and secretariat members on various legal matters arising in the vetting process as well as other related matters. 
• Pro-actively propose and suggest improvements and optimizations related to the activity of the Vetting Commission and secretariat.

All the applicants are welcomed to  include a short explanatory note with the credentials for being involved in this project.

                             II.Procedure for application and selection 

Expressions of interest can be submitted via email only, via secretariat@cilc.nl. Applications submitted to other mail addresses will be excluded from consideration. Required documents include: 

• Current offer, including hourly fees– in English. 
• Contact data of professional references including name, title, email address and phone number. 
• A signed declaration on honor (see attached). 
• The deadline for submitting proposals is 7th of January 2024.

Please include in the subject of the email Legal Services Proposal.

For each type of services described above, CILC will choose from the pool of expressions of interests attorneys or the law firm that fits the proposal best, against the criteria of: 

• Level of professional knowledge and experience 
• Level of professional skills/capacities 

Only short-listed law firms will be contacted. Short-listed law firms will be invited for an (online) interview.

Ahead of each assignment, the Commission will ask the external legal counsel to estimate the fees and related costs possibly incurred. This has the aim to allow control of expenses.

                            III.Exclusion criteria 

By signing the Declaration on Honour  (https://www.cilc.nl/cms/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Declaration-on-honour_EN_final.docx) for the individual attorney, including the attorneys in the law firm, you declare not being in any of the below situations: 

• Have been sentenced by final judgment on one or more of the following charges: participation in a criminal organization, corruption, fraud, money laundering, terrorist financing, terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, child labour or trafficking in human beings; 
• Have received a judgment with res judicata force, finding an offence that affects their professional integrity or serious professional misconduct; 
• Do not comply with their obligations as regards payment of social security contributions, taxes and dues, according to the statutory provisions of their country of incorporation, establishment or residence; 
• Have been involved in mismanagement of public funds; 
• Are or appear to be in a situation of conflict of interest; 
• Are or are owner(s) or executive officer(s) in legal persons included in the lists of persons or entities subject to restrictive measures applied by the European Union (available at www.sanctionsmap.eu).