9 June 2022 The Senate passed a draft amendment to the law – the law on attorneys and the law on legal advisers. The initiative of the Upper House of Parliament is intended to align the fees for the activities of attorneys providing legal assistance ‘on an ex officio’ with the fees for the assistance of agents representing customers ‘from choice’, i.e. on the basis of contracts concluded with them.
It follows from the justification of this project that the purpose of the amendments in question is to satisfy the standards set out in two judgments of the Constitutional Court: judgment of 23 April 2020 (reference no. SK 66/19) and the decision of 29 April 2020 (reference no. S 1/20).
In both cases, the Court examined the compatibility of the principle of equality resulting from Article 32(1) The Constitution and the related principle of equal protection of property and other property rights contained in Article 64(2) The Constitution, in the context of the content of the Regulations of the Minister of Justice varying the rules on the fixing of fees for the activities of lawyers and legal advisers acting ex officio from the rules on the establishment of remuneration of proxy agents by choice.
It should also be recalled that, in the legal state which was the basis for both judgments, the lawyers and the counsels acting ex officio were entitled to a remuneration of no more than half of the maximum remuneration and at the same time no higher than the value of the subject matter.
The Constitutional Court concluded that there were no sufficient grounds for differentiating the legal situation of the two groups of attorneys, and therefore the legislation under consideration led to discrimination against attorneys acting at the request of the State. In the opinion of the Senate, this discrimination did not offset the new content of ministerial regulations from 2016, the amendment in question was therefore necessary for the implementation of the constitutional standards set out in the Constitutional Court rulings of 2020
As regards ‘technical’ issues, it should be noted that the new rules on wage fixing are to apply to cases initiated and not completed before the date of entry into force of the new wording.
Finally, it should be stressed that the proposed amendment constitutes a step towards realising wages which have long been subject to continuous criticism of the legal environment.
Author: Jan Markowicz Advocate, graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Silesia in Katowice in the direction of Law. In professional practice, it focuses on the legal and tax service of economic operators and individuals. Author of publications and articles on tax law.