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SPANISH LAWYERS CODE OF ETHICS Code of Ethics approved at the Plenary Session of November 27, 2002, adapted to the new General Statute of the Spanish Advocacy, approved by Royal Decree 658/2001 , June 22 .
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
• PREAMBLE • Article 1- Ethical obligations • Article 2- Independence • Article 3- Freedom of Defense • Article 4 -Trust and integrity • Article 5 -Professional secrecy • Article 6- Incompatibilities • Article 7 -Advertising • Article 8 -Disloyal Competition • Article 9- Substitution of the Lawyer • Article 10- Relationship with the Lawyers´ professional association • Article 11- Relationship with Courts • Article 12- Relationships among Lawyers • Article 13- Relationships with customers • Article 14 -Relationships with the opposing party • Article 15 Fees
• Article 16- Lawyer´s contingent fee • Article 17- Provision of funds • Article 18 -Contestation of fees • Article 19- Payments for client attraction Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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• Article 20- Treatment of alien funds • Article 21- Coverage of the civil liability • DEROGATING PROVISIONS DEROGATING PROVISION
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• FINAL PROVISIONS FINAL PROVISION
PREAMBLE The social function of Advocacy requires to establish ethical rules for its practice. Throughout the centuries, many interests have been entrusted to the Advocacy, all of them significant ones, mainly related to the rule of Law and human Justice. And in this task that has transcended the specific action of defense , Advocacy has been creating values saved by ethical rules needed, not only to the right of defense , but also for the protection of the highest interests of the State, proclaimed today as social and democratic state of Law .
As every rule, the ethical one is inserted into the universe of Law, governed by the principle of hierarchy of rules, and requires as well, clarity , adjustment and accuracy , so that any change de facto or de iure in the regulated situation , obliges to adapt the rule to the new legal or social reality .
For centuries, the few changes in the functions of the Lawyer and in the society caused few changes in ethical rules which were confirmed effective for the high function reserved to the Lawyer, almost always caused by drastic social upheavals, but which at the end gave back to the Lawyer his role and the ethical rules under which he performs it .
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It is since the second half of the twentieth century, since the moment when the States firmly consecrate the human dignity as supreme value that leads the entire legal system, when the role of the Lawyer reaches its ultimate significance, providing the individual and society to which he belongs, the technique and knowledge needed for the legal counsel and the defense of his rights. They are useless if you do not provide the appropriate means to defend the rights that correspond to each person.
In a society constituted and activated with its base on Law, which proclaims Equality and Justice as its fundamental values, the Lawyer expert in laws, in legal technique and procedural strategies, becomes an essential element for the execution of Justice, guaranteeing the information or advice , the contradiction , the equality of the parties both in the process and out of it , incarnating the right of defense , which is a indispensable requisite of the effective judicial protection. So, today the Lawyer needs, more than ever, rules of behavior which allow to satisfy the inalienable rights of the customer, but also respecting the defense and consolidation of the superior values on which the society and the human condition settles.
Recently, there have been many legislative reforms and also many political and social changes that have affected the practice of the Advocacy in Spain. The General Council of the Advocacy, paying attention to these changes, has been incorporating to the rules of ethics, those which met each legal or social change. The importance of some of these changes justified even formulation of regulations and autonomous provisions not incorporated to our Code of Ethics, even though their nature and function were strictly ethical, as the Advertising Regulation adopted by the Assembly of Deans in December 19, 1997. Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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The determined vocation of providing Advocacy with the most effective tools to deal with the XXI century now requires the compilation and updating of the ethical rules that must govern our professional activity in a single updated text. And this without giving up the principles that have been characterizing the performance of the Advocate for centuries , which survival reliably proves its core function, but also incorporating the latest experiences coming from novel situations completely out of the world of Advocacy until recently.
The Conseil Consultatif des Barreaux Européens (CCBE), the highest representative body of the Advocacy before the institutions of the European Union, in the plenary session held in Lyon in November 28, 1998 ,passed the European Code of Ethics , which purpose is to establish performance rules for the Lawyer in his professional cross-border practice and other basic ones as minimum guarantees required to enable the right of defense in an effective way. Now, the General Council of the Spanish Advocacy, fully assuming the European Code of Ethics, establishes the minimum performance rules of any Lawyer in the territory of the Spanish State to guarantee the good execution of his essential role to the whole Spanish society. As it is not conceived a double, triple or multiple ethics within the European Union , neither it would make sense that in Spain the performance of the Lawyer were substantially different in each of the Autonomous Communities.
The General Council of the Spanish Advocacy undertakes the formulation of this legislation aware that the public interest requires to define uniform rules applicable to every Lawyer of the Spanish State, but with absolute respect to the powers of the Regional Councils and
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the Lawyers´ professional Associations who must order the practice in the territorial areas in which they are. Therefore these rules have a vocation of basic ones, corresponding, in its case, their development and adjustment, and ultimately to determine the right balance of the interests involved, in their respective territories, to the Regional Councils and to the Lawyers´ professional Associations.
In these rules, practices and traditional institutions such as the lawyer´s contingent fee and the permission as well as other new ones (possession of customers funds), including some traditionally proscribed (advertising) are regulated. It renovates the former ones and it accepts the rest in the light of the comparative law and recent but enriching experiences. It survives as fundamental principles in the exercise of the practice of Lawyer: independence, dignity, integrity, service, professional secrecy and freedom of defense. The independence of the lawyer is as necessary as the impartiality of the Judge, within a State of Law. Lawyer informs his customer about his legal position, about the different values that come into play in any of his actions or omissions , providing him a technical defense of his rights and freedoms before other social actors , whose rights and personal dignity must also be taken into account, and such a complex and unambiguous action of Lawyer only serves to the citizen and to the system of the State of Law if pressure is exempt, if lawyer has total freedom and independence to know , to form an opinion ,to report and defend, with no other obligation than the ideal of Justice. In no case he must act coerced or by complacency. Honesty, integrity, rectitude, loyalty, diligence and veracity are virtues that must adorn any action of the Lawyer. They are the cause of the
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necessary relationship of trust Lawyer-Customer and the basis of honor and dignity of the profession. The lawyer must always act honestly and diligently, with competence, with loyalty to the customer, respect for the opponent, keeping secret about all he knows because of his profession. And if any Lawyer does not do so, his individual performance affects the honor and dignity of the whole profession. The Spanish Constitution recognizes to everyone the right not to declare against himself, and also the right to privacy. Both seek to preserve the freedom and the intimate personal and family life of citizens, increasingly vulnerable from state powers and other ones not always well defined. Citizen needs Lawyer to know the effect, the significance of his actions, and to do so, he must confess him his most intimate circumstances . Lawyer thus becomes a custodian of the personal privacy of his customer and his inalienable right not to testify against himself. Professional secrecy and confidentiality are both duties and rights at the same time of Lawyer which are only concretion of the fundamental rights that the legal system grants to his own customers and to the defense as an essential mechanism of the State of law. All what it is revealed by his customer, with all its circumstances, and all that he is communicated by another lawyer confidentially, it will have to be kept secretly.
Corresponding to the fundamental principles of the Advocacy, the terms of the incompatibilities and personal publicity are regulated. Lawyer can not jeopardize his freedom and independence, his loyalty to his customer and the professional secrecy and thus the Code prohibits the exercise of professions or to develop functions Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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that directly or indirectly create any kind of physical or mental pressure that may jeopardize his independence or the disclosure of any secret datum that not only could harm the interests of customers, but also, it would seriously affect the confidence of citizens in the right of defense , and by extension the entire system of guarantees. Personal publicity, until now a statutorily restricted activity and which has caused in recent years a great liberal regulatory activity in Councils and Associations must adopt ethical rules. This Code of Ethics establishes the basis of the personal advertising of Lawyer, just as it affects to professional ethics. Advertising will have to respect the principles of dignity, loyalty, truthfulness and discretion, preserving in any event the professional secrecy and the independence of Lawyer. The function of harmony that imposes to Lawyer the obligation to seek the resolution between the parties requires that the information is not biased and does not invite to dispute or litigation. The independence of Lawyer is closely linked to the principle of freedom of choice. Lawyer is free to assume the management of a matter and citizen is also free to entrust his interests to a lawyer of his entirely free choice and to cease his professional relationship when he thinks it is convenient. This absolute freedom, could jeopardize the right of defense if between the professional performance of a Lawyer and the one of his substitute there is a vacuum of effective legal assistance. Therefore, from the old institution of " permission " it is convenient to retain the necessary communication of the substitute to the substituted one but entrusting the latter a responsible performance of information , which it was already happening in practice. This allows to guarantee that citizen will not stay in defenseless between the performance of the substituted one and the substitute, Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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establishing a single moment when one's responsibilities will cease and it will begin those of the other one, and he will try, in addition, to give an important information to the substitute always as a benefit of the interests of the defense matter. Lawyer must always keep in mind the high role that society entrusts him, which is nothing less than the effective defense of individual and collective rights which recognition and respect is the backbone of the State of law. Therefore, he only can handle a matter when he is trained to advise and defend it in a real and effective way, and this forces him to constantly adapt and increase his legal knowledge and to ask for the help of more expert colleagues, when he needs it. For the first time, it is undertaken the regulation of the possession of customers funds. The collective and multidisciplinary exercise of the legal profession , along with the techniques offered by financial institutions today, advise to regulate the possession of the customers funds , keeping them identified, segregated from the firm's ones, and always available, what it will contribute to the transparency in the activities of the Lawyer, strengthening the confidence of the customer. Few variations are experienced by ethical rules governing the obligations and relationships of the Lawyer with the Association, with Courts, with colleagues or customers. Only, it deepens a bit more in the safeguard of the fundamental values that guide the professional practice in the lawyer-customer relationship. And so, the obligations of information are specified, the precautions to avoid the conflict of interests protecting the liability and independence of the lawyer are increased, establishing mechanisms to clearly identify the beginning and the end of his performance and therefore his responsibility , and over all, insisting on the recognition of his freedom to cease in the defense when he doesn´t want to Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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continue in it, entirely free decision that guarantees permanently the independence and which corresponds to the one that the citizen has in order to designate a lawyer of his choice at any time. The system of free choice of a Lawyer and acceptance of defense , will experience dysfunctions in the defense by Legal Aid, which would be avoided if also entitled citizens, could choose a lawyer among those registered in the lists of Legal Aid, what will be possible if, as it is desirable ,defense is guaranteed in any case , by a legal aid system better in line with the social reality, which makes possible for the citizen , beneficiary of the Legal Aid, the free choice of a lawyer and for this one a decent reward for his work . Until the rules governing the Legal Aid are not changed, they will condition both the free assignment of a lawyer and the free acceptance of the defense. The concept "lawyer´s contingent fee" that was never considered included in fees by the Advocacy, is updated. The " lawyer´s contingent fee " as an association and participation with the customer in the outcome of the litigation, jeopardizes the independence and freedom of the lawyer who stops being an advocate to become his customer's partner in pursuit of a material result, that in addition to adulterate the defense function, causes abandonment or discrimination of the citizens who have to reclaim rights of scarce proprietary importance or which custody is difficult. These ethical rules do not impose restrictions on free and fair competition but become fundamental duties of all lawyers in the exercise of its social function in a State of Law, which requires to perform it with competence, in good faith, with freedom and independence, loyalty to the customer, respect for the opponent and keeping secret of all he knows because of his professional performance. It will correspond , where appropriate, to the Regional Councils and the Associations to adapt these ethical rules to the specificities of their respective regions, spreading their knowledge, monitoring their compliance and correcting disciplinarily their lack of compliance to Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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guarantee the good implementation of the high mission that our society has entrusted to Lawyer, a task in which we perform a real public role, for which the State has provided us with regulatory and disciplinary powers, also public ones .
Article 1- Ethical obligations. 1. Lawyer is obliged to respect the ethical principles of his profession established in the General Statute of the Spanish Advocacy , approved by Royal Decree 658/2001, June 22, in the Code of Ethics approved by the Council of Associations of European Lawyers (CAEL) November 28, 1998 , and in this Code of Ethics approved by the General Council of the Spanish Advocacy, in those ones approved by the Council of Associations of the Autonomous Authority , and in those ones of the Association in which he is included .
2. When Lawyer is acting outside the scope of the Association of his residence, inside or outside the Spanish State, he will have to respect, in addition to the rules of his Association, the ethical rules in force in the scope of the Association of reception or in which he develops a determined professional performance.
3. The Councils of the Associations of the Autonomous Authorities and the Associations will have to send the established Codes of Ethics to the General Secretariat of the General Council of the Spanish Advocacy and this one will get from the Secretariat of the CAEL those ones from the other European Union countries .
Article 2- Independence. Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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1. Lawyer´s independence is a requirement of the State of Law and of the effective right of defense of citizens, this is the reason by which it is a lawyer´s right and a duty.
2. In order to be able to properly advise and defend the legitimate interests of his customers, Lawyer has the right and the duty to preserve his independence before all kinds of interferences and before his own or others' interests. 3. Lawyer will have to preserve his independence before pressures, demands or complacencies that limit it, either from public, economic or factual powers, courts, his own customer or even his colleagues or collaborators.
4. Lawyer´s independence allows him to refuse the instructions which, contrary to his own professional judgment, try to be imposed by his customer, his office colleagues, the other professionals whom he collaborate with or any other person, entity or current of opinion, stopping in the advice or defense of the matter when he thinks he cannot act with absolute independence .
5. His independence prohibits Lawyer to exercise other professions or activities that limit it or that are incompatible with the practice of the legal profession, as well as partnering or collaborating professionally with companies or professionals that perform them, or using, in connection with them, the possibilities referred to in Article 29 of the Statute.
Article 3- Freedom of defense.
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1. Lawyer has the right and duty to defend and advise freely his customers, without using illegal or unfair means, or fraud as a way to circumvent laws.
2. Lawyer is obliged to exercise his freedom of defense and expression under the principle of good faith and the rules of the correct professional practice.
3. Lawyer is protected in his freedom of speech by Section 437.1 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary.
Article 4 -Confidence and integrity. 1. The relationship between the customer and his lawyer is based on confidence and it requires the lawyer´s upright professional conduct, a honest, loyal, truthful and diligent one.
2. Lawyer is obliged not to disappoint the confidence of his customer and not to defend interests in conflict with the latter.
3. In the cases of joint practice of advocacy or in collaboration with other professionals, Lawyer will have the right and obligation to refuse any intervention that may be contrary to these principles of confidence and integrity or implies a conflict of interests with customers of other members of the collective.
Article 5 -Professional secrecy.
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1. Confidence and confidentiality in lawyer-customer relationships, inborn in the latter´s right to privacy and in the right not to testify against himself, as well as in fundamental rights of third parties, impose to Lawyer the duty and confers him the right to maintain the secrecy of all the facts or news he knows because of any of the forms of his professional performance , and it is not allowed he is obliged to testify about them as recognized in Article 437.2 of the Organic Law of the Judiciary.
2. The duty and the right to professional secrecy include customer´s confidences and proposals, the adversary´s and colleagues´ ones and all the facts and documents that have been known or received because of any of the ways of his professional performance.
3. Lawyer will not be allowed to provide to courts or his customer the letters, notes or communications received from the lawyer of the other party , unless his explicit authorization.
4. The conversations with customers, the opponents or their lawyers, in their presence or by any telephone or telematic means, will not be allowed to be recorded without warning and compliance of all the involved persons and, in any case, they will be covered by the professional secrecy.
5. In case of exercise of advocacy collectively, the duty of secrecy will reach the other members of the collective.
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6. In any case, Lawyer will have to make respect the professional secrecy to his staff and to any other person assisting him in his professional activity. 7. The duties of professional secrecy remain even after he has finished providing his services to the customer, without being limited in time.
8. Professional secrecy is a fundamental right and duty of Advocacy. In the exceptional cases of extreme gravity in which the obliged preservation of the professional secrecy, could cause irreparable damages or flagrant injustice, the Dean of the Association will advise the lawyer for the sole purpose of guiding him and, if possible, determining alternative means or procedures of solution of the problem weighing the legally protected interests in conflict. This does not affect the freedom of the customer, not subject to the professional secrecy, but whose consent alone does not excuse his lawyer of its preservation.
Article 6- Incompatibilities.
1. The lawyer who is into any cause of absolute incompatibility for the exercise of advocacy, will have to request his departure or pass to non-practicing member in all the Associations in which he appears as a practicing one. The request will have to be made within one month since it appears the cause of incompatibility, though since its appearance he will have to stop any professional activity as a lawyer. 2. The lawyer who is into any cause of incompatibility in respect of an issue or kind of issues, will have to refrain from participating in them. Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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In case that the incompatibility happens once the professional action has begun, the lawyer will have to cease immediately in it, avoiding the risk of defenselessness whilst he is substituted by another lawyer. 3. In the cases of collective or collaborative practice of advocacy, the incompatibilities of any member of the group or their collaborators reach the whole group.
4. In his professional performance Lawyer will have to respect the rules on incompatibilities of the Association of reception, as well as those ones of the Association of residence. Article 7- Advertising. 1. Lawyer will be allowed to advertise, respectfully, loyally and truthfully, his professional services, with full respect for the dignity of persons, for the existing legislation on these matters, about preservation on fair competition and on the unfair one, fitting himself in any case to ethical rules contained in this Code and those ones that, in its case, are issued by the Autonomous Council and the Association within territorial scope he acts.
2. It infringes this Code of Ethics, the advertising that:
a) It reveals directly or indirectly facts, data or situations covered by the professional secrecy. b) It affects the independence of the lawyer. c) It promises the obtaining of results which does not depend exclusively on the activity of the lawyer who advertises.
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d) It makes reference directly or indirectly to the Lawyer´ s customers who is using the advertising or his cases, or his successes or results. e) He writes in by himself or third parties to victims of accidents or misfortunes who lack of full and calm freedom to choose their lawyer because of experiencing at that time a recent personal or collective misfortune, or to their heirs or assignees . f) It establishes comparisons with other lawyers or their specific actions or unfounded statements of self-praise. g) It uses the emblems or symbols of the Associations and those other ones which by their similarity could lead to confusion , since its use is reserved only for institutional advertising which , for the benefit of the profession in general , can only be done by the Associations , Regional Councils and the General Council of the Spanish Advocacy. h) It encourages generically or specifically to litigation or conflict. i) It uses means or expressions, or written or audiovisual involving discredit, defamation and contempt of Advocacy , Justice and their symbols . j) It does not identify the Lawyer or Collective Law Firm that offers its services. k) It uses means or contents contrary to the dignity of people, Advocacy or Justice.
Article 8 - Disloyal Competition. 1. Lawyer can not get customers disloyally. 2. Acts of disloyal competition are those that infringe both state and regional rules that safeguard the loyal competition and specially the following ones:
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a) The use of direct and indirect advertising procedures contrary to the provisions of the General Law of Advertising, and to the specific rules on advertising contained in this Code of Ethics and other supplementary regulations. b) Any practice of direct or indirect customer attraction that infringe the dignity of people or the social role of the Advocacy. c) The use of third parties as a means of avoiding the ethical obligations. The lawyer or lawyers favored by such advertising in case of breach of Art. 28.3 of the General Statute of the Spanish Advocacy whilst they don´t prove they have nothing to do with it and their immediate resignation of the professional order when he is aware of it will be deemed responsible for it. d) The reception or payment of compensations infringing the competition laws and those ones established in this Code of Ethics . e) The contravention of articles 15 and 16 of this Code, and / or the provision of free services involving the sale at loss in the terms established in Article 17 of the Disloyal Competition Act .
Article 9- Substitution of Lawyer. 1. In order to assume the management of a professional issue entrusted to another lawyer, he will have to ask for his permission, if it does not appear his resignation; and in any case, he will have to communicate it to him as early as possible before his effective substitution. The substituted Lawyer will have to provide to whom continues all the information in its possession and to collaborate in what it is necessary to guarantee the customer's right of defense. 2. The lawyer who succeeds another one in defending the interests of a customer, will have to collaborate diligently so that he pays the due fees to the substituted lawyer, without prejudice to the legitimate disagreements between both of them.
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3. The provisions of the preceding paragraphs will not be applicable if the professional order is performed in a regime of labor dependence of the customer.
4. If the adoption of urgent measures in the interest of the customer were necessary , before it can be complied the abovementioned conditions, Lawyer will be allowed to adopt them, informing his predecessor previously and making anticipated public knowledge of it to the Dean of the Association in which scope he acts.
5. The permission will not be allowed to be refused, and the substituted lawyer will have to provide to whom continues, all documents and information in its possession and to collaborate in what it is necessary in order to guarantee the customer 's right of defense .
6. Without prejudice to the disciplinary correction of the Lawyer who breaches unreasonably the abovementioned rules, the substitution of a Lawyer by another one in a procedural act, without prior notice to the substituted one, will be deemed as a very serious offence, because of affecting the effectiveness of the defense and the dignity of the profession
Article 10 - Relationship with the Association. Lawyer is obliged to: 1. Obey the provisions of the General Statute of Advocacy, of the Statutes of the Regional Councils and of the Associations where he exercises his profession, as well as the other rules of Advocacy and Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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the agreements and decisions of the Governing Bodies in the pertinent scope.
2. Respect the Governing Bodies and their members, having to pay attention with the utmost diligence to the communications and summons issued by such bodies or their members, in the exercise of their functions.
3. Contribute to the maintenance of association charges and other economic ascriptions of the Association in the manner and time that have been established.
4. Inform to the Association of any act of exercise of the profession without proper qualification as well as any illegal practice, both because of the non-joining to the Association or because of being suspended or disqualified the defendant, in the cases that Lawyer knows.
5. Inform the Association of the grievances that he or any of his companions has/have received during or as a result of his / their professional exercise.
6. Communicate the Association the personal circumstances affecting the professional exercise, such as address changes , absences exceeding one month or cases of illness or disability for the same period , without providing the care of his affairs.
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7. The lawyers who exercise in a different territory of their membership will be obliged to notify it in the Association where they are going to do so in the manner established by the General Council of the Spanish Advocacy or, in its case , in the Regional Councils and to record in all the writings and actions they sign , the Association to which they belong, his membership number , and in their first document or action , as well, they will make known in writing the date of the communication.
Article 11- Relationship with Courts. 1. Lawyers´ obligations for the courts of law: a) Acting before them in good faith, loyalty and respect. b) Collaborating in the fulfillment of the purposes of the Administration of Justice. c) Respecting all those involved in the administration of Justice requiring at the same time the same and reciprocal behavior from them regarding Lawyers . d) Exhorting their protégés or customers to the observance of respectful behavior towards persons acting in the Courts of Law. e) Contributing to the diligent processing of the entrusted issues and the procedures in which he intervenes. f) Maintaining the freedom and independence in the exercise of the right of defense, with absolute correctness, making public to the pertinent Court and the Lawyers´ Professional Association any interference in them. In his actions and documents, Lawyer will avoid any personal reference, direct or indirect, oral, written or by gestures, whether of approval or reproach , to the Court and to any person related to it or who intervenes before it as well as to the other Lawyers . Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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g) Respecting the contradictory nature of trials, he will not be allowed to give evidences, notes or other documents to the Judge in a different way to what it is established in the applicable procedural rules. He will not be allowed to divulge or submit to the courts a proposal of friendly solution made by the other party or his Lawyer, without his express consent. h) Complying the timetable in the judicial actions and informing to the Association of any undue delay of the Courts superior to half an hour. i) Communicating with the due advance to the Court or Tribunal and to the colleagues involved , any circumstance that prevents him or his customer from going punctually to an errand.
2. The abovementioned rules will also be applicable to the relationship with arbitrators and mediators .
Article 12- Relationships among Lawyers. 1. Lawyers must maintain mutual loyalty, mutual respect and comradeship relationships .
2. The Lawyer of most seniority in the professional exercise must pay selflessly orientation, guidance and advice in a broad and effective way to the new ones who request it. Reciprocally they have the right to request advice and guidance to senior lawyers, to the extent necessary to comply fully with their obligations.
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3. The Lawyer who wants to initiate an action, on behalf of himself or as a customer´s lawyer, against another colleague for his professional actions, will have to inform the Dean previously, just in case he thinks it is appropriate to mediate.
4. In the judicial documents, in the oral reports and in any oral or written communication, Lawyer will always maintain the utmost respect to the lawyer of the opposing party, avoiding any personal allusion. 5. The Lawyer will develop his own best efforts to prevent any kind of acts of violence against other lawyers who defend opposite interests, being his duty to prevent and impede them by all legitimate means, though coming from his own customers to whom he will require to respect the freedom and independence of the opposite Lawyer.
6. Lawyer, in his communications and statements with the Lawyer of the opposite party, will not compromise his own customer with comments or statements that may cause him discredit or direct or indirect damage.
7. Lawyer must try the extrajudicial solution of the claims for his own or other colleagues´ fees, by the transaction, the mediation or the arbitration of the Association. It is a reprehensible behavior the contestation of fees performed maliciously or fraudulently as well as any other comment in the same sense regarding the fees or other economic conditions of another colleague. 8. Meetings of Lawyers and their customers will try to be held in places that do not involve privileged position for any of the lawyers involved and it is recommended the use of the premises of the Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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Lawyers´ professional Association when there is no agreement about the place to hold the meetings. However, if the meeting has to be held in the office of any of the Lawyers involved, it will be in that belonging to the one who has the most seniority , except in the case of the Dean or an Ex - Dean , in which case it will be held in that belonging to them, unless they specifically decline the offer . The rule must be obeyed, though one or more of the Lawyers provide their professional services to companies, bank entities or savings banks.
9. Lawyer must always receive and with the utmost urgency to the colleague who visits him in his office and with preference to any other person, whether or not a customer, who is waiting for in the office. In case of impossibility of immediate attention, he will momentarily leave his occupations to greet his colleague and apologize for the wait.
10. Lawyer must immediately deal with the written or telephone communications from other lawyers and the latter must be done personally.
11. Lawyer who is negotiating with another colleague the transaction or extrajudicial solution of an issue will be obliged to notify him the cessation or interruption of the negotiation as well as considering this paperwork finished , before presenting a legal claim.
12. The communications with foreign lawyers must also be considered of confidential or discreet nature, being recommendable it is previously required from the foreign colleague their acceptance as such.
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13. Lawyer who promises to help a foreign colleague will always bear in mind that the colleague has to rely on him in a greater extent than in the case of lawyers from the same country and therefore he will refrain from accepting paperwork for which he is not sufficiently trained, facilitating the foreign Lawyer information about other lawyers with the specific preparation to fulfill the order.
Article 13- Relationships with customers. 1. The relationship of Lawyer with customer must be based on mutual trust. This relationship may be facilitated by the subscription of the Order Form. 2. Lawyer will only be allowed to take charge of a case, by order of his customer, order of another lawyer who represents the customer, or by appointment of the Association. Lawyer will have to verify the identity and authority of whom did the order. It is the duty of the lawyer to identify himself before the person who he advises and defends, even when it does it on behalf of a third party in order to assume the civil and ethical responsibilities which, in its case, are applicable. In the event of telephone consultation or by computer network with an office or consultancy whose lawyers are unknown for the caller, this identification, as well as the Association to which he belongs, it is the first and immediate duty of the conversational partner lawyer. 3. Lawyer will be free to accept or reject the case which intervention is requested in, without having to justify his decision. Likewise, Lawyer will be allowed to abstain or cease in the intervention when discrepancies arise with the customer. He will have to do so whenever it coincides circumstances that may affect his full freedom and independence in the defense or the obligation of professional secrecy.
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The Lawyer who renounces to the legal management of an issue will have to carry out the necessary action to avoid his customer´s defenselessness. In the case of defense assumed by the appointment of the Association, the acceptance, rejection, abstention or cessation will have to be accommodated to the rules on legal aid and on these kind of appointments.
4. Lawyer cannot accept the defense of interests opposed to other ones he is defending, or to his own ones. In case of conflict of interests between two customers of the Lawyer, he will have to renounce to the defense of both of them, unless their express authorization to intervene in defense of one of them. However, Lawyer will be allowed to intervene in the interest of all the parties acting as a mediator or in the preparation and drafting of contractual documents, being his duty to maintain in this case a strict and exquisite objectivity.
5. Lawyer will not be allowed to accept professional commissions involving actions against a previous customer, when there is a risk that the secrecy of the information obtained in the relationship with the previous customer may be violated, or could be beneficial for the new customer. 6. Lawyer will also refrain from dealing with the affairs of a group of customers affected by the same situation , when there is a conflict of interests among them, there is a risk of violation of professional secrecy or may be affected his freedom and independence .
7. When several Lawyers form part or collaborate in the same office, regardless of the form of association used, the abovementioned rules will be applicable to the group as a whole, and to all and each one of its members. Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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8. Lawyer will not accept any issue if he thinks he is not competent to manage it, unless he collaborates with a lawyer who is.
9. Lawyer has a duty to inform customer, even by writing, when he requests it in the same way: a) His opinion about the chances of his claims and the foreseeable result of the case. b) Approximate amount, as much as it is possible, of the fees, or the basis for their determination. c) If owing to his personal and economic circumstances he has the possibility to request and obtain the benefits of Free Legal assistance. d) All those situations that apparently could affect his independence, as family , friend , economic or financial relationships with the other party or his representatives. e) The evolution of the entrusted issue, important resolutions, appeals against them; possibilities of transaction, advantage of extrajudicial agreements or alternatives solutions to the litigation. 10. Lawyer will advise and defend his customer with diligence and dedication, taking personal responsibility for the work commissioned without prejudice to seek collaborations.
11. Lawyer has an obligation, while assuming the defense, to carry it out fully, having full freedom to use the means of defense, provided they are legitimate and have been lawfully obtained, and don´t tend as their only purpose to delay without justification the lawsuits.
12. The documentation received from customer will always be available for him. In no case, Lawyer will be allowed to retain it, not
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even with the pretext of collecting outstanding fees. However he will be allowed to retain copies of the documentation.
Article 14- Relationships with the opposing party. 1. Lawyer has to refrain from any relationship and communication with the other party when he has an evidence that he is represented or assisted by another Lawyer, keeping always with his colleague the relationship arising from the issue, unless he expressly authorizes the contact with his customer.
2. When the opposing party has no lawyer, he will have to recommend him to appoint one. And if in spite of this, he insisted on his decision of not to have any, the participant will have to avoid any kind of abuse.
Article 15- Fees. Lawyer is entitled to receive payment or fees for his professional action as well as the reimbursement of the expenses which he has been caused. The amount and regime of the fees will be freely agreed between the customer and the lawyer with respect to the ethical rules and disloyal competition. Fees must be received by the Lawyer who effectively manages the issue, being contrary to the dignity of the profession the partition and distribution of fees among Lawyers except when:
a) It responds to a legal cooperation. b) There is among them a collective exercise of the profession in any of the authorized forms of association. Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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c) They are compensations to the colleague who has separated from the collective office . d) They are amounts paid to the heirs of a deceased colleague.
Also Lawyers will not be allowed to share their fees with anyone outside the profession, except in cases of cooperation agreements with other professionals , signed under the Statute.
Article 16- Lawyer´s contingent fee. Suspended of validity and effectiveness by agreement of the Plenary Session of the General Council of the Spanish Advocacy, December 10, 2002.
Article 17- Provision of funds. Lawyers have a right to request and receive the delivery of amounts as funds on account of the supplied expenses, or of their fees, both prior and during the processing of the case. The amount will have to be in accordance with the provisions of the issue and the estimated amount of the final fees. The lack of payment of the provision will authorize to renounce or to condition the beginning of the professional tasks or to stop them.
Article 18- Contestation of fees. It is an ethical infringement the behavior of the Lawyer who repeatedly tries to get fees that have received contestation or justified complaints because of their excessive amount. It will also be an ethical infringement the behavior of the Lawyer who contests
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unreasonably and habitually the bills of his colleagues or induces or advises customers to do so.
Article 19- Payments for customer attraction. Lawyers will never be allowed to pay, demand or accept commissions or other kind of compensation to another lawyer, nor to any other person for sending him a customer or recommending to future possible customers.
Article 20- Treatment of alien funds. 1. When Lawyer is in possession of money or bonds of customers or of third parties, he will be obliged to have them deposited in one or several specific account-s opened in a bank or credit institution, with immediate availability. These deposits can not be arranged or confused with any other deposit of the lawyer, the firm, the customer or third parties.
2. Unless there is a legal order, a judicial mandate or an express consent of the customer or of the third party on behalf of whom it is done, it is prohibited any payment made with such funds. This prohibition is applicable even to the detraction by the Lawyer of his own fees unless he is authorized to do so as contained in the Order Form or a later customer´s document and, of course , without prejudice to the preventive measures that may be requested and obtained from Courts . 3. The Lawyer who has alien funds in the setting of a professional activity carried out in another State member of the EU will have to observe the rules in force on deposit and accounting of the alien funds in the Association to which he belongs in the Member State of origin. Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es
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4. Lawyers have a duty to check the exact identity of whom delivers them the funds. 5. When the lawyer receives alien funds for purposes of mandate, management or action different to the strictly professional one, he will be subject to the general regulations on such kind of actions .
Article 21- Coverage of the civil liability. 1. Lawyer must cover with his own means or with the recommended insurance, his professional liability, in an amount appropriate to the risks involved. 2. The Lawyer providing professional services in another State Member of the UE different from the one where he is incorporated, will have to comply with the provisions relating to the obligation to have an insurance of professional civil liability in accordance with the requirements of the Member State of origin and the Association of reception. DEROGATING PROVISION It is derogated the Code of Ethics approved by the Plenary Session of the General Council of the Advocacy, June 30, 2000 . FINAL DISPOSITION These ethical rules will enter into force on the 1st of January, 2003.
______________________________________________________ Translated for CostaLuz Lawyers by his legal assistant Manuel Guerrero.
Costa Luz Lawyers C/ Ancha 30, 3º - 11201 Algeciras - (t) +34 956.092.687 - (f) +34 956.092.697 mldecastro@costaluzlawyers.es – marialuisa@costaluzlawyers.es