New rules for Professional Associations: Only Marcelo and the Constitutional Court can decide (with José Luís Moreira da Silva)

José Luís Moreira da Silva, president of the Association of Law Firms in Portugal (ASAP) and partner at SRS Legal, admits that this new law "may question lawyers' immunity, insofar as the disciplinary power is no longer self-regulated but is now hetero-regulated, since most of the members who exercise the lawyers' disciplinary function are not lawyers. Could that call into question the immunity of lawyers? In the abstract it is difficult to say, I think that only in the face of specific cases will it be possible to see whether the immunities provided by law for lawyers (mainly those set out in articles 66 and following of the Statute of the Bar Association) are violated - in which case, and if they are, there is unconstitutionality in the specific case".

On the other hand, the unconstitutionality may be sustained by the "possible non-conformity with article 267, no. 4 of the Constitution in which public associations can only be constituted to satisfy specific needs, cannot exercise functions proper of trade union associations and have an internal organisation based on the respect for the rights of their members and on the democratic formation of their bodies". The lawyer recalls that this norm, introduced in 1997, "guarantees the respect for self-organisation of public associations, including professional associations, which may be jeopardised by the new law, by imposing members not elected by the professionals of each Bar Association, who have to choose members from outside the professional class. I have many doubts as to whether this norm of the Constitution is not being violated, as it may jeopardise the respect of the members and the democratic formation of the bodies".