The lawyers, first affected by the judicial collapse, ask to be able to disconnect

Why can’t justice reach the level of efficiency in the management of organisms as, for example, occurs in the Treasury area? The question is formulated by the president of the legal profession, Victoria Ortega, these days in Salou, where the XIII congress of the Spanish legal profession is being held. Three days of debates with the participation of 1,500 lawyers from all over Spain.

These professionals are, without a doubt, the first to be affected by the endemic traffic jam that exists in judicial offices. They are the ones who have to face the citizen when a hearing is suspended or there is an unjustified delay in a resolution. The first interested parties, therefore, as Ortega says, in a “stable and lasting” State pact to reform once and for all this public service “on the brink of collapse.” The president of the legal profession affirms, with resignation, that they are already accustomed to “the slowness of the Spanish system, which in all honesty it must be said is not unusual in Europe.” Although in Spain the situation, and more with all the open protests in the Ministry of Justice, “is on the edge.”

This reality does not help, precisely, to disconnect in a job where conciliation (of this is said very little) is conspicuous by its absence. “Lawyers do not enjoy the most basic rights that are recognized to any salaried employee,” says Victoria Ortega. And disconnecting in a world that is so late “is getting harder every day,” she adds. A few months ago the inability of the Christmas period was declared, “but that rest or disconnection is of little value if in the middle of the holidays they notify you that you have three days to write an appeal when those non-business days are over.”

And another claim heard in recent weeks in the protests of public defenders: “We have no right to get sick or to get a postponement when a sudden illness or death of a family member occurs.”

Ortega recalls that they have made “numerous requests” in this regard and some are in the text of the Law on Procedural Efficiency, now in Congress. “We await its approval like water in May because we cannot be pending the arbitrary decision of judges or lawyers of the administration so that “our right to get sick or to digital disconnection is recognized.”

One of the presentations given yesterday in this process dealt with the need for regulatory recognition that includes the right to reconcile of these liberal professionals. María José Sánchez (Colegio de Valladolid) and Beatriz de Pablo Murillo – both are members of the Spanish Association of Families – agreed on that point. They advocate the development of a uniform protocol in all the bar associations in Spain that “recognizes our right to disconnect”, affirm the lawyers. The hope of this group, to achieve this purpose, is placed in the amendment of the Law of Procedural Efficiency, where many of these rules would have a place to reconcile.

Sánchez, De Pablo and Ortega agree, on the other hand, that the malfunctioning of justice “takes its toll on our relationship with the client.” There are many times, says María José Sánchez, “in which we do not have an explanation to justify an unjustified delay.” So the client does not understand anything about what is happening.

“It is not easy to explain to someone who has been waiting for a trial for three years that their case has suffered a new delay,” says Victoria Ortega. “The lawyers – she continues – try to offer comprehensive explanations, but there are some cases in which, honestly, the times are not acceptable”.

The lawyers ask, to put an end to all this, “a State pact for justice.” Minister Pilar Llop was present at the opening ceremony of the congress (yesterday there was a new protest by civil servants on strike), who assured that she would “take note” of all these claims in order to move towards “modern and efficient justice.” Work will not be missing.