Why can't justice reach the level of efficiency in the management of organizations as, for example, happens in the Treasury area? The question is being asked by the president of the bar, Victoria Ortega, these days in Salou, where the XIII Congress of the Spanish Bar 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 affected by the endemic traffic jam experienced 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 states, in a "stable and lasting" State pact to once and for all reform this public service "on the verge of collapse".
The president of the bar affirms, with resignation, that they are already used to "the slowness of the Spanish system, which, in honor of the truth, it must be said that it is not unusual in Europe". But in Spain the situation, and more so with all the open protests at the Ministry of Justice, "has reached the limit".
This reality does not help, precisely, to disconnect in a job in which conciliation (this is talked about very little) shines by its absence. "Lawyers do not have the most elementary rights that are recognized to any wage earner", affirms Victoria Ortega. And disconnecting in a world with so much delay "is more difficult every day", he adds. A few months ago the incapacity for the Christmas period was declared, "but this break or disconnection is of little use if, in the middle of the holidays, you are notified that you have three days to write an appeal when the incapacitated days are over".
And another claim that has been heard in recent weeks in the protests of professional lawyers: "We do not have the right to get sick or get a postponement when there is a sudden illness or the death of a family member" .
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 eagerly await its approval, since we cannot depend on the arbitrary decision of judges or lawyers from the Administration to recognize our right to be sick or to disconnect digitally".
One of the presentations yesterday at the congress was about the need for a regulatory recognition that includes the right to conciliation of these liberal professionals. María José Sánchez (Collège de Valladolid) and Beatriz de Pablo Murillo - both members of the Spanish Association of Families - agreed on this point. They are advocating for a uniform protocol to be drawn up in all Spanish bar associations that "recognize the right to disconnect", say the lawyers. The hope of this collective, to achieve this purpose, is in the Procedural Efficiency amendment, which would have room for many of these rules to reconcile.
Sánchez, De Pablo and Ortega agree, on the other hand, that the malfunctioning of justice "takes its toll on the relationship with the client". Many times, points out María José Sánchez, "we notice an explanation to justify an unjustified delay". Therefore, the client does not understand anything that happens.
"It's not easy to explain to someone who has been waiting for a trial for three years that his case has been delayed again," says Victoria Ortega. "The lawyers - he continues - try to offer comprehensive explanations, but there are cases in which, honestly, the times are not acceptable".
The lawyers are asking, to put an end to all this, "a State pact for Justice". The opening act of the congress was attended by Minister Pilar Llop (yesterday there was another protest by the civil servants on strike), who assured that she would "take note" of all the claims to move towards "a modern and efficient justice system". There will be no shortage of work.
