I. INTRODUCTION
The preliminary draft bill of the Law on Professional Services prepared by the Ministry for Economy and Competitiveness affects professionals in the areas of healthcare, legal, education, financial and technical services. This article shall comment principally upon the most significant changes foreseen for the legal sector.
II. CHANGES IN ALL SECTORS
The main changes, which shall affect all sectors equally, are:
- Reduction in the restriction on activities to those that are strictly justified and clarification regarding the criteria for establishing restrictions on activities in general.
- Reduction in the obligations for membership of professional associations to those that are strictly justified.
- Modernisation of the regulation of professional associations with both obligatory and voluntary membership.
- Principal of efficiency nationwide, that is to say, whoever joins a profession having fulfilled the entrance requirements legally established in each Autonomous Community shall be authorised to practice such activity all over Spain.
III. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CHANGES FOR THE LEGAL SECTOR
1. To reduce the number of professional associations. The current number of professional associations (83) shall be drastically reduced, by way of the elimination of the provincial professional associations. As a new general rule professional associations shall exist at Autonomous Community level and “exceptionally” at provincial level.
2. Elimination of the incompatibility between the simultaneous practice of the professions of lawyer and representative before the courts (procurador). With the purpose of simplifying procedures and reducing costs, the elimination of the incompatibility between the simultaneous practice of the professions of lawyer and representative before the courts (procurador) is proposed, given that furthermore such incompatibility does not exist in other European countries. The Ministry’s posture is “the activity of legal representation and defence in legal proceedings not being practiced by the same person is deemed to be unjustified, especially taking into account that some jurisdictions do allow such incompatibility, for example, in the contentious administrative jurisdiction”. Therefore, the preliminary draft bill allows lawyers to practice the profession of representative before the courts (procurador) without needing to join the corresponding professional association (Colegio de Procuradores).
3. The requirement for passing a State examination for joining a professional association.
The preliminary draft bill of the Law on Professional Services shall modify Law 34/2006 of 30th October, on the entrance into the professions of lawyer and representative before the courts (procurador), by eliminating the state entrance examination to the professional association having completed a master’s degree, so that upon the acquisition of a master’s degree, law graduates shall have access to the professions of both lawyer and representative before the courts (procurador).
4. It shall not be obligatory to join a professional association when not acting before judges and courts. According to the preliminary draft bill only lawyers who act in court shall be obliged to join the corresponding professional association and not lawyers in general. Therefore, those lawyers who do not procedurally represent their clients’ interests may resign from the professional association.
IV. CONCLUSION
The preliminary draft bill of the Law on Professional Services anticipates significant changes for the legal sector. Particularly, the removal of the incompatibility between the professions of lawyer and representative before the courts (procurador) and shall affect the day-to-day work of both professions. However, given that we are dealing with a draft subject to changes and in the light of numerous protests from the professionals affected, it is not clear whether all of the planned changes may be carried out in reality.
Vilá Abogados
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17th of January 2013
