Inter-American Platform for the Defense of Trial Lawyers

The social function of the lawyer

the view of the lawyer as a professional who intervenes only in court proceedings has long been superseded. We are not even referring to the fact that today’s lawyer is a multi-skilled specialist who, depending on their areas of expertise, and without claiming to be exhaustive, may provide services in relation to contracts, negotiations, legal advice, defense in all types of proceedings…. but rather to the fact that their ultimate purpose is the consolidation of the rule of law; the lawyer is one more fundamental cornerstone, as guarantor of order and peaceful coexistence

Minimum rights and guarantees

There is a set of Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers intended to promote and ensure the proper role of lawyers, which should be taken into account and respected by governments within the framework of their national legislation and practice, and should be brought to the attention of
lawyers as well as other persons, such as judges, prosecutors, members of
the executive and the legislature, and the public in general.

Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, held in Havana (Cuba) from 27 August to 7 September 1990

From these Principles we can draw two guarantees for the practice of the profession which may also be considered applicable in the context of COVID-19.

16. Governments shall ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference;

17. Where the security of lawyers is threatened as a result of discharging their functions, they shall receive from the authorities adequate protection.

Although these principles and guarantees form part of crime prevention, they can perfectly well be applied to the integrity of lawyers in any circumstance, as basic rights.

The Inter-American Platform for the Defense of Trial Lawyers -PIDAL-

As we have said, the lawyer is a fundamental cornerstone of the administration of justice, and the practice of law is one of the pillars on which the rule of law rests.

The right to effective judicial protection and to due process rests to a large extent on lawyers, as all the constitutions of the world’s democracies state in one way or another

The almost daily publication of new legal provisions related to COVID-19, affecting workers, employers and a wide variety of groups, will generate a new legal framework in labor, tax, commercial and procedural matters… that will have to be addressed.

But it is common knowledge that the problems faced by trial lawyers have their own particularities and differ from those of other colleagues in the profession, and even from those of other groups. On the basis of the above, and as a cornerstone of the rule of law, we lawyers have immense responsibilities, but also rights.

In Colombia there are 400,000 lawyers, and it is no longer just that we are in lockdown: since the move to mandatory isolation, incomes have been minimal or non-existent, and several colleagues have already filed tutela actions (constitutional protection claims). It is not only their livelihood but, most importantly, their health that is at stake for trial lawyers.

Another nearby example is the Republic of Paraguay, where lawyers cannot practice their profession and family subsistence and other financial commitments have in many cases been reduced to zero.

If we look to Europe, taking Spain as an example, 80% of lawyers (there, those who appear in court are not called trial lawyers, but we are speaking of the same role), both criminal and civil lawyers, have been the hardest hit

In defense of these lawyers, and to bring together all the problems affecting trial lawyers in Colombia (but also in any other country that wishes to join and share the common problems concerning the profession and the role described above), the Inter-American Platform for the Defense of Trial Lawyers was born –PIDAL.

The Inter-American Platform for the Defense of Trial Lawyers -PIDAL is a creation of the Euro-American Committee of Digital Law – CEA Digital Law, conceived as a rapid response on the occasion of the Virtual March of the Colombian Legal Profession and in support of it, but with a vocation of permanence.

For this reason, during this health crisis PIDAL has also joined the “Great Virtual March of Trial Lawyers”, a worldwide march launched by the Federación de Colegios de Abogados de Colombia (Federation of Bar Associations of Colombia) -FEDEACOL-, which is supported by lawyers’ associations and other institutions from various parts of the world