The Domazet Law Dynasty

Advocate Borivoje Gojković is the founder and first establisher of one of the oldest and most prestigious law firms, not only in Niš but also in Serbia. Today, it is known as the Domazet Law Firm, which is referred to as the “dynasty” of lawyers due to multi-generational practice of law.

Advocate Borivoje Gojković was born on July 24, 1896, in Niš, to father Stevan and mother Sofija, who was a teacher from Svrljig. He completed primary school and most of his high school education in Niš. However, his studies were interrupted by the First World War. He joined the Serbian army as a high school student and crossed Albania as a member of the Serbian forces. After being wounded on the Macedonian Front, he was transferred for treatment to Bizerte, Tunisia, where he remained until the end of the war. Immediately after the war, he was transferred to France. After recovering in Bône, near Nice, France, he completed his high school education and passed the final exam. As a scholarship holder of the Serbian government, he studied law at the University of Grenoble, where he graduated. After obtaining his degree, he returned to Serbia and worked as a judicial intern-clerk until 1928.

After completing his law degree and serving his internship, he passed the bar exam in Belgrade on December 30, 1927. By decree of the Minister of Justice, he was appointed as a legal representative at the First Instance Court in Niš on February 25, 1928. Upon the enactment of the Lawyers Act in 1929, at his request, he was registered in the registry of lawyers of the Belgrade Bar Association, with the headquarters of his law office in the center of Niš, at Sinđelićev Trg, in the former Jevremova Street, where this law office is still located today.

The law office of Borivoje Gojković was one of the most developed law offices in Niš. In a letter to the person taking over his law office, it was stated that “Gojković has a lot of cases, perhaps the most among the lawyers in Niš.” Through his professional, honorable, and responsible work in his law office, lawyer Gojković built a high professional reputation in the judiciary of Niš, as well as among the citizens of Niš.

He worked on cases from various areas of law, but primarily in the fields of civil and criminal law. He was highly educated, spoke French, and had a good understanding of French culture.
After the country was liberated from the occupation, in accordance with the applicable regulations, he requested the restoration of his registration in the registry of the Serbian Bar Association. Following the verification conducted by a delegate of the Serbian Bar Association, he was registered in the registry of the Bar Association under the lawyer Borivoje Gojković, through their decision No. 591 dated June 25, 1945.
However, the following year, the delegate issued a new decision No. K.591/45 on March 14, 1946, revoking their previous decision from June 25, 1945, as they received information that lawyer Gojković did not have the right to vote.

However, on May 2, 1946, lawyer Gojković addressed the Chamber with a request to invalidate the Delegate’s Resolution of March 14, 1946. Along with this request, he submitted evidence that his voting rights were recognized by the Electoral Register Commission of the People’s Liberation Committee (GNO) in Niš. In deciding on this request, the delegate of the Chamber invalidated his own resolution of March 14, 1946, and decided to uphold the resolution of June 25, 1945. Meanwhile, the Chamber received Report No. 174/46 dated February 8, 1946, from the National Liberation Committee (NOO) in Niš, stating that lawyer Gojković had been associated with Kosta Pećanac’s Chetniks during the occupation and had maintained relations with the occupying police.

Based on this report, the Commission for Lawyers and Trainee Lawyers decided that lawyer Gojković no longer retained the right to practice law according to the Law on Lawyers and removed him from the registry with Decision No. 504 dated April 22, 1947.
Despite all of lawyer Gojković’s efforts to challenge these insinuations, the Supreme Court of Serbia rejected his appeal against the Commission’s decision. Lawyer Gojković was only reinstated in the registry with Decision No. 485/51 dated July 6, 1951, and during the intervening period, he served in the state administration. This lengthy struggle of lawyer Gojković to prove his personal and professional integrity and his right to practice law reflects the era that both Serbian society and the legal profession went through.

He was removed from the registry with Decision No. 1026 dated November 10, 1961, due to his retirement. His law office was taken over by Siniša Domazet, the husband of his daughter Milica, who was already working as a lawyer in that law office.
Namely, during his studies in Grenoble, France, lawyer Borivoje Gojković met a French woman, his future wife Marija Luzi Vijal, with whom he had a daughter named Milica.

Source: “History of the Serbian Bar,
Biographies of Famous Lawyers”, Volume IV, Belgrade, 2012.