“We must look back on the past in order to learn a lesson, to find the right direction that we must expand in order to gain spirit and encouragement for the work and responsibilities of the present and the future.” (Béla Szászy)
The Hungarian Lawyers Association (in short: HLE) is a long-standing professional organization of Hungarian lawyers for the cultivation of jurisprudence and for the development of the national professional community of lawyers, with its network of regional organisations providing nationwide coverage.
The Hungarian Lawyers Association, as a prestigious association for uniting legal professions, was founded in 1879, its first president was Károly Csemegi, and then from 1896 Béla Vavrik. In this era, the association had more than 1300 members.
Today, HLE has 4000 members nationwide. One of our main goals is that the community of Hungarian lawyers – with special focus on law students and young law practitioners – get better acquainted with the professional activities of HLE, and thereby to make membership in the association attractive for them.
The goal of the HLE, as set in the Statutes of the Association, is to promote the general social interests of the legal profession, to develop the professional community and activities of Hungarian law professionals, to cultivate jurisprudence, and to encourage professional and scientific collaboration between lawyers practising in different fields of the legal profession.
In order to realise its goal, the Presidium of the HLE convokes every two years the Conference of Hungarian Lawyers, where Hungarian lawyers have the opportunity for professional and scientific discussion. The Association organises lectures, discussion sessions, and organises annually the Itinerant Conference of Lawyers. Through its publications the Association contributes to the dissemination of legal knowledge, it publishes the Hungarian Law journal, the Pocket Yearbook for lawyers, the summary volumes of the lectures given on the itinerant conferences and lawyer conferences, and the Dissertations of the Lawyers Association. The HLE initiates legislation and gives an opinion on draft legislation. In addition to launching calls for applications, it makes suggestions regarding legal education, it is involved in the further training of lawyers, and it organises courses in Hungary and abroad.
It is one of the priorities of the Hungarian Lawyers Association to continue to foster its already existing international relations, as well as to build new ones. To this end, in Autumn 2021 the Hungarian Lawyers Association, in cooperation with the Constitutional Court, is going to organise – hoping that the unfortunate pandemic situation will allow by then – with a tradition-creating intention, the first Hungarian legal book exhibition. Publishers from all over the Carpathian Basin publishing Hungarian language law books will appear on this festive event, presenting their latest publications. The exhibition provides an opportunity for separate workshop discussions with the authors, the authors may dedicate their books, and the visitors may purchase these publications at a special price.