The first open summit of the “Weimar Triangle of Lawyers” was held in Berlin on 22 October 2021. More than 140 participants joined virtually to discuss and debate about the Rule of Law and specifically how this fundamental pillar of our community of values can be protected.
In their introductory remarks, the representatives of the three partner organisations, i.e. Mikołaj Pietrzak (Dean of the Regional Bar Council in Warsaw), Julie Couturier (newly elected Dean of the Paris Bar Council) and Ulrich Schellenberg (former President of the German Bar Association) stressed the need to strengthen cooperation in the face of growing threats to the rule of law in Europe, including in particular systemic attacks on the rule of law in Poland.
During the first panel, moderated by Stefan von Raumer (Vice-President of the DAV, Chair of the CCBE and the DAV Human Rights Committees), current challenges and potential solutions were discussed with a focus on strategies, including litigation techniques, to effectively deal with the erosion of the Rule of Law.
Anja Seibert-Fohr (Judge at the European Court of Human Rights from Germany) referred to the disproportionate restrictions on rights and freedoms as a result of the introduction of states of emergency due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the migration crises.
The violations of the lawyers' professional secrecy were emphasized by Vincent Nioré (Vice Dean-elect of the Paris Bar Council), while Kushtrim Istrefi (Assistant Professor of Human Rights and Public International Law, Utrecht University) highlighted the underestimated possibilities arising from the rarely applied Article 52 of the European Convention on Human Rights, by combining this instrument with the activities of the Parliamentary Assembly of the CoE and the Committee of Ministers.
Michał Chodorek (advocate from the Bar Association in Warsaw) illustrated success stories by joint initiatives of the legal community in Poland, i.a. numerous preliminary questions to the CJEU, the commencement of direct application of the Polish Constitution by the courts in individual cases, and the grass-roots mobilisation of lawyers defending persons detained during LGBT demonstrations.
Siarhey Zikratski (Belarusian lawyer, Svitlana Tikhanouskaya's representative for legal affairs) presented the conditions for practicing the legal profession in Belarus.
The second Panel focused on improving the regulatory framework of legal professions to uphold the Rule of Law. Ralf Peter Anders (Public Prosecutor, Hamburg, Germany) presented the constitutional position of German prosecutors as guardians of the Constitution and the law in all its aspects that should ensure a specific checks and balances mechanism to allow for the effective protection of the Rule of Law.
Jean-Marie Burguburu (President of the National Advisory Commission on Human Rights, former Dean of the Paris Bar Council) underlined the constitutional defences in powers of lawyers, public prosecutors and judges so that lawyers are supposed to be guaranteed the independence above all due to the normative conditions of professional secrecy. In her turn, Laurence Krief (Member of the Paris Bar Council, Secretary of the International Commission) highlighted a number of practical and systemic problems related to legislative activity and the organisation of the judiciary: the underfunding of the judiciary, the shortage of support staff of judges, the excessive caseload of courts and the phenomenon of law inflation.
Dariusz Mazur (judge at the Regional Court in Krakow) emphasised that the attacks on the rule of law in Poland observed in recent years are an extraordinary crisis leading to a gradual takeover of control over the judiciary by government representatives. He expressed his gratitude to the Polish lawyers for their active involvement in the pro bono defence of repressed judges.
Finally, Gabriele Nieradzik (Director of the Department for the Administration of Justice, Federal Ministry of Justice and Consumer Protection, Germany) informed that about one third of the German public has no confidence in the judiciary and stressed the need for real cooperation between the different legal professions.
The speakers of the last panel dealt with new public opinions and social imaginaries trying to predict the future of the Rule of Law. Christoph Flügge (former judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) drew attention to the correlation between public confidence in democratic institutions and the respect for the rule of law and an adequate level of protection and benefits from the state and in this regard stressed the need to normatively ensure an adequate level of social benefits, pensions and welfare from the state.
At the same time, Karolina Gierdal (advocate from the Bar Association in Warsaw, member of the SZPILA collective) questioned the universal significance of the rule of law in current social conditions, especially for less socially protected groups of societies as most of them do not benefit from global prosperity and work for the privileged layers of society.
Raphaël Kempf (lawyer from the Paris Bar Association) highlighted a problem in the public perception referring to the initial lack of public opposition to the state of emergency introduced in France after the 2015 terrorist attacks, and emphasised the special role of lawyers, who should make society aware of the importance of the rule of law for its individual and collective functioning.
Israel Butler (Advocacy Manager, Civil Liberties Union for Europe) discussed ways of intensifying civil society and mobilising society to support the struggle for respect for the rule of law, e.g. by promoting stories of ordinary people fighting for the rule of law in courts. One key aspect is to adjust the level of complexity of the language of communication to its addressees, using concrete arguments and comparisons rather than abstract principles and concepts.
In the discussion afterwards, speakers debated the possibility of judges using social media or broadcasting court hearings due to its potential negative impact on the entire justice system. In this respect, Mikołaj Pietrzak argued that in the face of recent unprecedented attacks on the rule of law in Poland or Belarus, it is now necessary to use every method to explain to the public the importance of particular cases and the values they entail. Finally, the question of economic dimension of the rule of law was discussed concluding that, on the one hand, it is a luxury good for certain social groups whereas a properly functioning justice system could be the cheapest way of ensuring social order in terms of the national budget.
Summing up the conference, Mikołaj Pietrzak, Julie Couturier and Moritz Moelle (Deputy Head of the International, EU and Human Rights Department of the German Bar Association) emphasised the key role of the legal profession in efforts to respect and strengthen the rule of law. The closing speakers also drew attention to the need to structure cooperation within the Weimar Triangle of Bar Associations in order to intensify joint action for the rule of law. In this regard, Julie Couturier invited the gathering to Paris in 2022 to continue discussions and cooperation.
The videos of the conference are available online using the following the link: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtYAzHMXHvDtaj2iccMIF_je7EZ7vEavH
