Last Thursday, November 2, the Círculo Ecuestre hosted the colloquium called The role of the Bar Associations in the situation of Justice, framed in the Lawyers Forum.
The welcome at the event was given by Enrique Lacalle, President of the Círculo Ecuestre, and the presentation was by José María Cardellach, member of the entity's Executive Committee. Once the colloquium began, Mr. Eugenio Ribón and Mr. Jesús M. Sánchez, Deans of the Illustrious Bar Associations of Madrid and Barcelona, respectively, led some interesting speeches in which they spoke about the role of the Bar Associations as backbone institutions of the right of defense and protection of citizens.
The Dean of the Illustrious Bar Association of Madrid, Mr. Eugenio Ribón, guided his speech by arguing that “the legal profession has the duty to guarantee the principle of the rule of law.” For the dean, "civil society, made up of independent individuals and organizations, is the heart of a healthy democracy."
In his intervention Eugenio Ribón warned that “it is evident that, during the last fifteen or twenty years, democracies have become more unstable. Some have failed and suffered an authoritarian regress. Other countries have seen their party systems unravel. Anti-establishment forces have emerged. “Polarization has established itself in the politics of our time and there seems to be a diffuse discomfort and a loss of expectations about what democracies can achieve.” Given this, he assured that "the ICAM is not going to be a mere spectator of the legal reality we live in."
During his speech, Ribón called to “reclaim the values of the rule of law: legality, legal security, equality before the law, judicial independence, effective judicial control and accountability.”
Finally, the Dean of the Illustrious Bar Association of Madrid recalled the delays that the judicial sector has suffered due to strikes and the pandemic situation, which, according to him, has left “7 billion euros that should be in the hands of society and companies and not in the judicial accounts and that, today, the parties are still waiting.” For this reason, he demanded a Pact for Justice that would allow for the promotion of concrete measures such as “all spaces of justice being modernized and for political parties to place this pillar of the State above their particular interests.”
During his speaking turn, Mr. Jesús M. Sánchez, Dean of the Barcelona Bar Association, wanted to emphasize that “the legal profession has no individualism and that one of its backbone pillars is the defense of the rights of citizens.” In this way, he valued the alliance between the two Bar Associations and the purpose of both to “defend and protect fellow lawyers and citizens with true conviction and commitment, carrying out a social function.”
The dean of the Barcelona Bar Association reviewed some of the services that have been incorporated into the institution in recent years, such as Ciberdret, I+Dret or observatories such as Plena Igualdad, which work for the rights of citizens. Along these lines, he recalled the sessions carried out with the aim of alleviating social dramas such as the 2008 crisis and the subsequent foreclosures that took place at that time. Furthermore, he stressed that "the College of Barcelona is a benchmark in training" and that "70% of the deaneries in Catalonia are women", which is why he considered that "in Catalonia we have broken that glass ceiling."
After reviewing the milestones carried out in the last decade, Jesús M. Sánchez called for “working as a team with political parties to carry out legislative proposals.” He also declared that “Barcelona and Madrid are going to support and explain the proposals that we are working on together.”
Finally, the dean of Barcelona supported the words of his namesake in Madrid and joined in criticizing the social unrest in the face of the current democratic and judicial situation. In addition, he added his concern about the lack of resources facing justice.
To conclude the event held at the Círculo Ecuestre, and at the request of the public at the event, the deans valued the popular Amnesty Law. The dean of the Madrid Bar Association assessed that “in the opinion of our technicians, the way the Amnesty law is being promoted is unconstitutional,” along these lines, he noted that “the ICAM has promoted extraordinary meetings and will meet with representatives of the European Union to discuss the matter.”
For his part, the dean of the Barcelona Bar Association wanted to emphasize that “a Bar Association is plural and transversal” and that “no one has the legal truth”, referring to the controversial law. Given this, he asked to “respect plural sensitivities” and stated that, from the Barcelona Bar Association “we have been very brave, as in the case of pardons, when we held a very interesting round table.”
The debate, framed in the Lawyers' Forum promoted by the Círculo Ecuestre, had a great reception from the attendees, who expressed their concerns about advocacy and justice to the speakers once the parliaments had finished.