Legal Profession in Spain

Explanatory notes:

Estatuto General de la Abogacha Espacola

Consejo General de la Abogacia Espacola

The practice of any legal profession in Spain requires a law degree at a Law School. After obtaining the law degree a Doctorate in Law provides specialization of knowledge in a certain area through lectures and seminars and the presentation of a thesis on a legal topic. The main legal professions in Spain are: lawyers, procurators, notaries, judges and magistrates, public prosecutors and professors. Lawyers carry on the advice and defense of public and private interests through the application of legal science and legal techniques. The rules and organization of the profession of lawyers are stated at the “Estatuto General de la Abogacha Espacola”. It provides a definition of lawyer, its functions, rights and duties, the requirements to practice as a lawyer and the governing organisms of the legal profession. For the legal practice it’s necessary to be incorporated to the Bar Association. There is one Bar Association in each province and in major towns. Bar Associations are organized by the “Consejo General de la Abogacia Espasola”. Lawyers can settle their retributions but contingent fees are expressly prohibited. Unlike lawyers who give advice, procurators represent the parties in court through a power of attorney. They also receive and deliver documents from and to court. Notaries perform a public service conferring authenticity to documents. To develop their function they have a delegated power from the State. In this sense, they depend from the Ministry of Justice and they join the profession after passing an official examination.

Ex.25 Do the puzzle: find as many words as possible. Write them down. Compare your list with your neighbour’s.

h	a	b	c	d	e	t	p	h
r	t	i	g	k	l	o	r	s
e	t	w	v	w	i	l	e	o
a	o	p	a	c	d	f	o	l
p	r	o	p	e	r	y	p	i
k	n	o	t	a	r	y	q	c
e	e	q	g	h	f	g	r	i
a	y	r	o	g	u	i	l	t
c	z	x	y	a	c	f	g	o
b	a	r	r	i	s	t	e	r

Ex. 26 Get ready to discuss: 1) Legal profession in Great Britain.

2) Legal profession in Spain.

3) Requirement for becoming a lawyer.

4) Training of lawyers in Great Britain.

Use the following phrases: to sum up; in conclusion; in short; in a word; in spite of the fact that; etc.