This research work focuses on the question of what are the main objectives and priority avenues for reforming the Russian system for provision of state-funded legal aid in criminal cases and whether the best international experience in this field can be adopted in Russia. With this purpose in mind the researcher provides the analysis of various models of state-funded legal aid existing in the world, the problems they have encountered in the process of their evolution and the strategies they have adopted to address these challenges. The amendments to the Russian criminal legal aid system proposed by the author were developed with regard to the best world's practices in the field and with due consideration of the Russian-specific conditions, including the typical problems of the country's criminal justice system.