The new judicial map increased up to 30% the fees for lawyers / Lawyers warn of further increase in prices from the change of taxation for free professions

2023-11-28 08:23:00, Aktualitet CNA

The new judicial map increased up to 30% the fees for lawyers / Lawyers warn of

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The new map for the redistribution of courts, besides not affecting the reduction of the stock of files, has also increased the service fees from lawyers.

For jurists, the merging of first instance courts into districts has increased transportation costs by increasing the distance of the courts.

Lawyer Klodian Gjermeni told "Monitor" that the reform for the judicial map has increased lawyers' fees by 20 to 30%, as the costs of transporting lawyers to the districts have increased.

"We must take into account that a lawyer who will attend a court session at the Court of Appeal of the General Jurisdiction in Tirana and comes from the city of Saranda or Korça will charge these costs to the citizen.

In addition to the merger of the appellate courts, the increase in fees was also influenced by the merger of a number of courts in civil or administrative districts.

It is worth bringing as an example the citizen of Konispoli or Tropoja, who will follow an administrative judicial process in the Administrative Court of First Instance in Lushnja or Tirana.

This redistribution of the courts, in addition to increasing the service fees for lawyers, in a way also gave an advantage to active or passive corruption", says Gjermeni.

Even the lawyer Përparim Caca from the city of Kavaja told Monitor that the merger of the court of first instance in this city, transferred to Durrës, has forced the lawyers to increase their service fees.

"As much as we have the positive sense not to charge citizens with a service fee, especially the category of pensioners, it is impossible to do it for everyone, as it goes bankrupt. With the removal of the Court of First Instance in Durrës and the appeal in Tirana, the costs have increased".

Meanwhile, a further increase in lawyers' fees is expected according to Klodian Gjermeni, as a result of the adoption of the "Income Tax" law that will tax freelancers from 15% to 23% of their declared annual turnover. The new law goes into effect on January 1, 2024.

The new structure for the operation of the judicial system started on February 1, 2023, initially with the operation of a single Court of Appeal in Tirana, after the merger of the 6 Courts of Appeal in the districts.

While from May 1, 2023, the reorganization of the first instance courts began, 10 were cut from 22, and from July 1, 2023, only two Administrative Courts of the First Instance were kept, at the country level, one in Tirana and one in Lushnja, being merged district administrative courts.

The decision has been assessed as unconstitutional by the Chamber of Advocates of Albania and its annulment has been requested in the Constitutional Court.

The review of the request has already started in the Constitutional Court. The new judicial map also increased the deadlines for judging cases

The reorganization of the judiciary, merging several civil and administrative courts in districts and the centralization of the Court of Appeal only in Tirana, according to the lawyers, has increased both the stock of files and the duration of their trial, exceeding the trial deadlines.

Lawyer Klodian Gjermeni says that in the Court of Appeal of the General Jurisdiction in Tirana, a court session takes place every 5 or 6 months and the judges have insufficient time, due to the workload, for the reasons for the decisions. According to him, this load came not only because of the reform in justice, but also because of the reform of the new judicial map.

"In the Supreme Court, 28,155 files are waiting for review according to the data of the High Judicial Council and currently the files of 2016 are being judged, the Court of Appeal of the General Jurisdiction is currently judging files of 2017, while only in the Court of First Instance Before the Tirana General Jurisdiction, 21,669 judicial fascicles are being judged. So, naturally, we come to the conclusion that the reform has not only increased the number of files in stock, but has also increased the time limits for review, decision-making and the justification (clarification) of these decisions within the legal deadlines", emphasizes the lawyer Gjermeni.

Even in the first instance of the Administrative Court, the opening of the first trial session takes place 7 to 8 months after the filing of the request. "In some cases, pensioners lose their lives before the decision is made", says lawyer Përparim Caca./ Monitor Magazine