Article published on June 6, 2019 in LEXBASE AVOCATS
" Vivo per lei "... you know that Andrea Bocelli song, "Je vis pour elle"?
Magistrates, lawyers, court clerks, court staff - we all live for it.
Unfortunately not for music, like Andrea Bocelli... For us, she is justice.
In the cauldron of every trial, all our efforts and dedication are focused on providing the best possible service of justice to the litigants who call on us.
Since we all share the same commitment, the same passion, it might seem natural that our discussions, debates and meetings should always be marked by respect and courtesy.
But this is less and less the case. In Paris, since the move to the new courthouse, whose interior design was chosen to exclude lawyers from spontaneous communication with magistrates and clerks, clashes between members of the legal profession have been on the increase.
What are the causes?
In our view, the main reason for this is the decision by successive governments to restrict the resources of the justice system in relation to its real needs. Restriction of its human resources in terms of clerks and magistrates: let's not forget that the number of magistrates today is more or less the same as it was in the 19th century, while the French population has quadrupled... Restriction of its financial and material resources: which of us cannot complain about the paucity of resources given to the justice system, which has repercussions not only on the quality of case preparation and judgement times, but also on the quality of our professional relations?
For too long, the dedication of all of us has tried to plug the gaps, the leaks, the delays, to mask the bankruptcy of French justice[1]. We have all taken it upon ourselves. We have all borne and still bear the State's failure, in each of our jurisdictions, in each of our offices.
And then there comes a time when good will is no longer enough. We've reached the point where this state of mind of the executive power, which has no respect for the judiciary, ends up pushing the people of justice themselves to no longer be able to respect their duties, to no longer respect justice, to no longer respect themselves.
What happened at the Paris court on May 16, 2019 is symptomatic of the state of paroxysm in which the people of justice, on edge, find themselves today. A judge, exasperated by an incident raised by a lawyer who telephoned the bâtonnier to resolve the incident, refused to wait for the intervention of the bâtonnier or his delegate and called in the police to forcibly evacuate the lawyer from the courtroom. How could it have come to this?
Fortunately, in a joint press release, Marie-Aimée Peyron, President of the Paris Bar, and Jean-Michel Hayat, President of the Paris Court, reiterated that"under no circumstances may the police be called in to assist a lawyer in the performance of his or her duties".
Every day, the pressure on the judiciary, caused by the failure of the State to give the justice system the means to provide a judicial service worthy of the name, causes not only suffering in the workplace[2] but also incidents between lawyers, magistrates, clerks and court staff.
For these types of incidents, we need to talk to each other and try, as far as we can, to resolve them.
Of course, there are specific incidents that have nothing to do with the objective problems of judicial organization, but everything to do with personal relations between members of the legal profession. This other type of incident is of two kinds.
One is the link with structurally "difficult" personalities, people of justice who are quick to make aggressive or disrespectful comments about others. These behaviors do not respect our deontology. They must be punished.
The other is calculated, in search of the incident for the incident.
The most serious aspect of this last type of incident is the attack on the faith of the Palais. What is the faith of the Palais? It's the informal and confidential discussions between people of justice. These discussions are essential. Here again, in the event of a breach of our professional ethics, our professional bodies must intervene to preserve trust between members of the legal profession, in the interests of the public.
The President of the Paris Bar and the President of the Paris Court have announced a meeting of lawyers, magistrates and court staff to discuss our professional relations and find solutions to calm the situation.
In short, we need to talk. To respect each other. To be respected. So that justice is respected.
Viviamo per lei.
[1] Olivia Dufour: Justice, a French bankruptcy? LGDJ, 2018
[2 ] Read the Syndicat de la Magistrature's June 4, 2019 report on workload in the judiciary and the USM's November 2018 report on magistrates' suffering at work on their websites. See also Danièle Alet's excellent documentary "Sois juge...et tais-toi?"
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