Salvador González elected president of the Spanish lawyers’ council

Salvador González Martín (pictured) took office on July 19 as the new president of the General Council of Spanish Lawyers in a solemn ceremony held in the plenary hall of the Senate. González Martín won by majority in the June 28 elections in which the outgoing president Victoria Ortega did not run. During his speech, he called for a greater social role for the legal profession.

“We are an indispensable collective for citizen coexistence, for the proper functioning of Justice and the Rule of Law, a fundamental actor in the political, economic, and social world, and a true generator of wealth and progress. This is the legal profession, and therefore our voice must be heard in all areas, generate opinion, and contribute to improving Justice and the Laws,” he stated in his first speech as the ninth president of the General Council of Spanish Lawyers.

Lawyers’ main challenges

In his speech, González, who is the dean of the Málaga Bar Association, explicitly addressed the main challenges facing the legal profession: dignifying the Duty Shift, which inexorably requires the approval of a new Free Justice law; a solution to the problem of alternative mutualists with pensions well below the minimums provided in the Social Security regime; a procedural and organizational reform that does not clarify the means available for the implementation of the main changes; and the chronic paralysis of certain jurisdictions and territorial areas of Spain.

González expressed the intention to open the legal profession to society, but also, and above all, to open collegiate institutions to all professionals. “We will establish new models of institutional relations and more effective communication. It is essential that all members of the Council and all legal professionals in Spain feel included and heard. To this end, I will promote an environment of open and constant dialogue, where the ideas and concerns of each bar association and each lawyer are valued and considered in our decisions,” he stated.

“We cannot allow the public service of free justice in our country to continue resting, as it does today, on the shoulders of those of us who contribute to this noble cause with our means, our time, and effort in exchange for, at best, a paltry remuneration that is received late and poorly. The dignity and respect that the profession deserves cannot continue to bear this,” said González in the presence of the acting president of the General Council of the Judiciary, Vicente Guilarte, and the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Courts, Félix Bolaños.

Key attendees

Also present at the inauguration were the president of the Senate and host of the event, Pedro Rollán; the president of the Council of State, Carmen Calvo; the president of the Constitutional Court, Cándido Conde Pumpido; the president of the Supreme Court, Francisco Marín; and the Attorney General, Álvaro García Ortiz, among other authorities from the legal world.

In her farewell, Victoria Ortega praised the collective effort that has allowed the Spanish legal profession to continue advancing during her eight years in office and achieve numerous “achievements and projects.” She also called for “a return to dialogue and the culture of agreement as an exercise of responsibility and democratic prescription.” “Justice needs it, and our society is demanding it, because decibel levels only build distance and disaffection,” she noted.

The president of the Senate, Pedro Rollán, highlighted the “enormous work carried out by lawyers in our country.” “Society trusts you greatly; it needs your work as guarantors of the democratic system and defenders of our rights and freedoms,” he stated before the plenary session of the legal profession.