THE LEGAL PRACTITIONERS: OTHER LEGAL OPERATORS

ASSISTANCE. JUDICIAL OFFICE

JUDICIAL OFFICE
- Instrumental organization, to assist judges and magistrates in the
exercise of jurisdictional power (art. 435 OAJP).
- Its basic structure shall be homogeneous throughout the national territory
as a consequence of the unique nature of the judicial power, and it is
based on the principles of hierarchy, division of functions and
coordination.
 - It is made up of people and technological means.
- Each judicial office is presided by the Counsel of Justice
Administration.

Direct Procedural Support Unit (art. 437 OAJP)

 Generally created in every court and directly and immediately assist each
of the judges and magistrates.
 Necessary actions for the exact and effective compliance with the
resolutions issued by judges and magistrates.

Common Procedural Services Units (art. 438 OAJP)

 Not integrated into a judicial body. Assume centralized management and
support tasks for the different Courts and Tribunals in their territorial
area, despite the jurisdictional order (when the intervention of the judge
or magistrates is not essential.

JUDICIAL OFFICE. COUNSEL OF JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION

 Civil servants who depend on the Ministry of Justice
 Entrusted with new functions that used to belong to judges, although
were not related to the exercise of jurisdiction
 Adequate training, a degree in Law for entry into the Corps, in addition to
passing the selective test and a practical- theoretical course at the
Judicial School
 Mixed status with both elements of status of judges and civil servants
o Judges: Particular situations of career, Incapacities,
incompatibilities and prohibitions (except participation in political
parties and trade unions), abstention and recusal, retirement
rules.
o Civil servants: Individual and collective rights and obligations,
responsibility

JUDICIAL OFFICE. COUNSEL OF JUSTICCE ADMINISTRATION

Functions
 Presiding over the Judicial Office. In charge of technical procedural
aspects of the staff working at the Office and he will coordinate their
activity, giving instructions and orders.
 Holders of “public certification” (fe pública), in order to give legal
certainty to procedural acts.
 Promoting and ordering the proceedings, to the extent that it is not
strictly jurisdictional activity.
 Functions foreseen by procedural laws (e.g. functions related to the
execution of judgments that are not exclusive competence of judges,
voluntary jurisdiction, conciliation, mediation, etc.).
 Ensuring judicial awareness of the actions within the process where the
judge does not participate directly.
 Documentation (register, issuing of acts of process); Storage and
deposit of the documents and objects related to processes; Judicial
statistics
Principles of work
Legality, impartiality, unity of actions and subordination in all functions.
Autonomy and independence in public certification.
JUDICIAL OFFICE. CIVIL SERVANTS
Judicial Offices (both Procedural Units and Common Services) contains
different groups of civil servants that are subordinated to the Counsel of J.A.

Servants of Procedural and Administrative Management

 Management and signature of appearance of the parties (when it is done
not through legal representative)
 Documentation of seizures and other relevant acts
 Tasks of registry and distribution of documents
 Gathering of data or elements of process that are not evidences

Servants of Procedural and Administrative Formalities

 Cooperation in general development of the process, e.g. registration and
distribution of the correspondence, drafting documents on the initiative of
the superiors, drafting of acts of communication that are foreseen by the
law.

Servants of Judicial Assistance

 Maintenance of order, except those functions that are foreseen for
Security Forces in investigation of crime
 Technical maintenance of the court
 Freezing of property

ASSISTANCE. JUDICIAL POLICE

- Specialised unit within the State Security Forces and Corps (National
Police, Civil Guard, Autonomous Police, local police).
- Mission to prosecute certain crimes, discover and arrest criminals, as
well as to assist the administration of justice in the acts entrusted to it.
- It depends on the judicial and prosecution bodies in the performance of
their duties. Also depends of the Ministry of the Home Affairs.

Functions
 Investigation of the perpetrators and circumstances of criminal acts and
the arrest of the perpetrators, reporting to the judicial and prosecuting
authorities.
 Assisting the judicial and prosecutorial authorities in actions that must be
carried out outside their headquarters and that require police presence.
 Carrying out actions that require the exercise of coercion and that are
ordered by the judicial or prosecutorial authority.
 Ensuring compliance with the orders and resolutions of the judicial or
prosecutorial authority.

Crimes of a public nature such as drug trafficking, tax crimes, environmental

crimes, terrorism or cases of organised crime, crimes against patrimony and
against industrial and intellectual property, crimes against the life or integrity of
persons (kidnapping, trafficking, prostitution...).
Organic Judicial Police Unit
 Established according to territorial criteria on a provincial basis, and
specialisation in crime or investigation techniques.
 They perform its functions with exclusivity and cannot be moved aside
the investigation without the authorisation of judge or prosecutor.
 Created within the National Police Corps and the Civil Guard, and the
police personnel of the Autonomous Communities and local corporations
collaborate with them.

Attached Judicial Police Units

 Attached to a precise court or prosecutor’s office, based in the judicial /
public prosecutor's office.
 Ocular inspections; the provision of initial information, the investigation of
addresses, the issuing of solvency reports; the issuing of urgent
provisional expert reports; technical intervention in the removal of
corpses; the collection of evidence; immediate intervention actions, the
execution of immediate orders from judges and prosecutors.

ASSISTANCE. OTHER BODIES

Forensic Doctors
Depend on the Director of the Institutes of Legal Medicine, and on requests of
judges, prosecutors and those in charge of the Civil Register, they: (i) provide
medical assistance for detained, arrested persons; (ii) perform forensic analysis;
and (iii) evaluate injuries.

National Institute of Toxicology and Forensic Science/ Institutes of Legal

Medicine and Forensic Science
1. Depends on the Ministry of Justice. On requests of judges,
prosecutors, forensic medics, issue opinions and reports in areas of
biologic, chemical, criminology and other analysis.
2. In provinces with headquarters of the Superior Court of Justice and
Faculty of legal Medicine Institutes of Legal Medicine and Forensic
Science.

National Institute of Medicine and Labor Security Languages’

Interpretation Office
Depends on the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy. Provides opinions
and reports on work accident, professional diseases, etc.
Depends on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and
Cooperation. Collation, revision or translation of documents forwarded by
judicial authorities.
 LAWYERS AND LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES. STATE
ATTORNEYS AND SOCIAL GRADUATES

COLLABORATION. LAWYERS AND LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES

LAWYERS AND LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES. POSTULATION
Legal Representative
 Represents the party before the judge
 Receives all kinds of notifications
 Carries out any act of the party, in the name of the party.
 Cannot act validly and effectively without the assistance of the lawyer
 Acts only within the judicial process
The citizen formally needs the Legal Representative

Lawyer
 Prepares all content of the defence
 Signs all requests of the parties
 Acts within and out of the judicial process (e.g. preparation for the
process).
Substantially his (citizen) jurisdictional protection depends on the lawyer

EXCEPTIONS TO POSTULATION
 DELEGATION OF POSTULATION
Art 545.1 OAJP allows the parties to freely designate their legal representatives
and lawyers from among persons who have the status of L.R. and lawyers.
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL GUARANTEE OF POSTULATION

LEGAL REALTIONSHIP BETWEEN LAWYERS AND L.R. AND THE

PARTIES
Lawyer
Contract for the provision of services (not necessary written), which:
 obliges him to subject their actions to the principle of good faith,
 obliges him to maintain secrecy,
 makes him liable for the damages that he may cause to their clients as a
result of their actions,
 allows him to have the full protection of the Judges and the Courts so
that, the lawyer can exercise his profession in the broadest and most free
manner he understands in each case, in compliance with the
deontological duties of the profession.
Lawyer is obliged to perform all acts necessary for the defence of his client in
the proceedings and to authorize with his signature each and every request
made in the proceedings.
The lawyer can be replaced by any other professional during the proceedings
without the need for a special declaration to the judge, nor a power of
substitution.

Legal Representative
Power of representation (mandate contract). It shall be granted Notarially or
Apud acta. Legal representative must appear at the trial with a power of
attorney that will empower him to act on behalf of his client.
L.R. is obliged to:
 follow the trial,
  transmit to the lawyer chosen by his client, or to the client himself, all the
documents and background information produced during the
proceedings,
 collect from the lawyer copies of the pleadings and documents and other
background information,
 keep the client and the lawyer informed of the course of the proceedings,
 pay (to advance), all the expenses that may be caused.
Can be replaced by any other professional during the proceedings (power of
substitution)

Client
Obligation to pay the fees accrued for the activity that the lawyer and the L.R.
may carry out in their defence and representation. Special summary procedures
established in the law to demand and obtain payment of their fees and
professional rights.

THE SYSTEM OF ACCESS TO THE PROFESSION OF LAWYER AND

L.R
Lawyers and Legal Representatives must be members of the BAR in order to
be able to act before the Courts and Tribunals (except for those who act in the
service of the public administration). Art. 544 OAJP creates a special legislation:
 Royal Decree 135/2021, of 2 March, approving the General Statute of
the Spanish Legal Profession.
 Royal Decree 1281/2002, of 5 December 2002, approving the General
Statute of Spanish Court Legal Representatives.
Objective: That every person meets the requirements established in the
Statutes to practice as a lawyer or Legal Representative. By being registered in
a bar association, it is believed that there will be greater institutional control.

OTHER OPERATORS
State Attorney
 Representation and defence of the State and its autonomous bodies,
correspond to the lawyers integrated in the legal services of the State
(art. 551 OAJP).
 Civil servant who represents and defends the State and its autonomous
Administrations in civil, administrative, criminal and labour proceedings.
 Shall form part of the State Legal Service, which is attached to the
Ministry of Justice.
 Royal Decree 997/2003, of 25 July on the Regulations of the State Legal
Service.
Social graduate
 Labour consultant, specializing in all matters relating to labour law and
social security.
 Intervene in legal proceedings, (labour and social security law).
1. Study, advice, representation and management in social, labour,
social security, employment and migration
2. Issuing of opinions and reports on the aforementioned matters.
3. Acting as an expert in labour. matters before the Courts.
4. Acting as arbitrator, to resolve. disputes in electoral matters.
• Royal Decree 1415/2006, of 1 December, approving the General Statutes of
the Official Associations of Social Graduates.