Lawyers protest today in Lisbon against the revision of the Order’s Statute

The lawyers held this Monday at the Campus da Justiça in Lisbon, outside the courts, for one hour in protest, in the presence of the class president, challenging changes to the statutes of their professional Order.

This protest, involving President Fernanda de Almeida Pinheiro, open to all lawyers, is meant to delay the commencement of legal proceedings on the Justice Campus, with other concentrations planned for dates and regions yet to be announced.

It also provides for the presence of the chairman in the act of distribution of processes, entering her protest in the minutes, among other forms of struggle of the Order of Lawyers (OA) against the revision of the Charter of the estate, including those that aim to delay the start of verification procedures for which lawyers were called.

In this protest, the lawyers “ask for respect for the autonomy of the OA as an association of citizens who are lawyers and do not agree that the state should act.”

Last week, lawyers also spoke out against amending the Statute of the Bar in an open letter addressed to the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the President of the European Commission, in which they point to a “civilizational rollback” in access to the law.

“To allow legal advice, contract drafting and loan negotiation to be freely exercised by individuals or entities without technical competence for that purpose and not subject to well-defined ethical and deontological rules means that the rights of citizens remain completely unprotected and at the mercy of mercantilist tactics aimed not at protection of the interests of the citizen, but on the very profit of those who provide services, ”criticizes O.A. in an open letter.