But comparison figures are not comparable

The national Council of the bars today held its extraordinary General Assembly in Paris. Should participate, in addition to the Commissioner of European Viviane Reding and the Minister of Justice, the vast majority of the Presidents of France and the representatives of the profession, very careful at the moment in the evolution of the debate on the custody, which the reform project was presented Wednesday by the Council of Ministers.

How do you see the decision of the European Court of the last human rights and the indictment of the Prosecutor of the Court of cassation week last on custody

They are very clear in our sense. The decision of the Council constitutional end of July, within the priority issue of constitutionality, had already helped clarify things by censuring the regime of custody under the Constitution. This time, it is a control to the European Convention on the rights of the man who will be made by the Court of cassation and its application will be immediate, in contrast to the constitutional decision. Overriding plans for cases of narcotics and terrorism, where counsel is present at the 72eheure, could well be questioned. And the free hearing, introduced by the Chancellery in the Bill on the reform of criminal procedure, which does not provide the assistance of a lawyer, and with the sole purpose is to develop a new system in which the lawyer is totally absent. However there is not to fear the presence of counsel at the outset of the procedure. It is a right guaranteed by the Constitution and by the European Convention for human rights, as is still the judge yesterday the ECHR, in a case that is not this the Turkey time, but the France. Now, we call for specific responses from the Government on this point.

This reform will modify the legal aid budget. The amount provided by the Department you think it appropriate

The Chancellery says that she spend the budget for legal aid for criminal from 15 to 80 million euros. But comparison figures are not comparable. It is a misleading things presentation where the 80 million means inclusive of all taxes, or VAT from 5.5 to 19.6. If it reasoning in duty-free, the budget reached 66 million, not 80. In addition, the 15 million euros of 2010 were used to 145,000 people for assistance that often did not exceed thirty minutes. Next year is 400,000 persons who should be placed in custody according to estimates by the Department, and each may engage counsel for several hours. If you multiply by 10 the workload of the lawyer, should therefore reassess, not in the same proportions but decently, the corresponding compensation.

Should be better control the level of resources of the beneficiaries of legal aid

In the criminal field, this verification is not possible because it is an emergency context. We are not going to ask its tax return or its sheet of payroll to a person placed in custody. In contrast to the civil, we have proposed that before launching any procedure, the litigant may consult a lawyer to verify the appropriateness of the action. This is part of the ethics of our profession.

Where is the implementation of the Act of counsel

We always expect the first reading of the text in the Senate. Officially, the parliamentary calendar is very busy. But one wonders if the Act of counsel will be enacted until the question of custody was settled.

And the creation of the business advocate

The case of Akzo-Nobel in the Court of justice of the European communities of 14 September, which stipulates that company lawyers can benefit from the confidentiality of written opinions that they emit their organization will weigh in the decision. Clearly, the independence of a lawyer is not guaranteed in the same way in and out of the company.