Lawyers on duty gathered yesterday in front of the headquarters of the Consell de l’Advocacia Catalana (Cicac) to demand improvements in their working conditions within the framework of the strike that began on November 21 throughout Spain. It is the first strike carried out by lawyers who exercise free justice since its creation, 130 years ago.
During the protest, the lawyers demanded that the judges suspend all procedures in which public defenders join the strike. So far, the judges’ criteria have been disparate and not all have considered it appropriate to suspend the proceedings. According to data from the Venia union, the first organization of workers in the legal sector, fifty proceedings have been suspended in Catalonia, while a hundred cases have been paralyzed throughout Spain.
Public defenders are in charge of assisting detainees and all those who need legal representation and cannot or do not want to pay for it. For this reason, they demand improvements in their conditions, both in remuneration for their assistance to detainees and in travel. “We want them to pay us for all our actions in a dignified manner,” denounces Vanessa González Forna, president of the Venia union in Catalonia, who cites some examples. Currently, for assisting a detainee the lawyer charges 77.98 euros; For representing an accused throughout the investigation, which can sometimes last for years, the price is 243 euros. This includes attending all the statements of the other defendants, witnesses and requesting expert evidence. Attending the client’s own tests is charged separately, 70 euros. Another example, that of a trial before a jury, in which most of the time serious crimes such as homicides or murders are tried, the public defender charges for all sessions, even if they last several weeks, a total of 629.14 euros. These are the prices agreed between the Consell de l’Advocacia, which represents all the bar associations in Catalonia, and the Generalitat.
The Department of Justice highlights that last year salaries increased by 50% compared to the last decade and reaches out to lawyers to continue negotiating an improvement.
