Summary:
João Massano elected as the new bastonário with 54.58% of the votes.
Defeated incumbent Fernanda Pinheiro, who received 45%.
Massano criticized Pinheiro's leadership as divisive between poor and wealthy lawyers.
Commits to restoring the credibility of the Lawyers' Order and avoids public confrontations with the government.
Plans to enhance the Pension Fund and establish a mental health hotline for lawyers.
João Massano Elected as New Lawyer's Order President
João Massano has been elected the bastonário (president) of the Lawyers' Order for the term 2025/2027, defeating the incumbent, Fernanda Pinheiro, with 54.58% of the votes.
Massano, who has been serving on the regional council of Lisbon since 2011 and has led it for two terms, criticized Pinheiro's leadership style, describing it as divisive. He accused her of creating a rift between poor lawyers working in public defense and wealthy lawyers from large firms. Pinheiro received approximately 45% of the votes.
In the second round of elections, out of 17,482 votes, Massano secured 9,541 votes, while Pinheiro received 7,941, resulting in a margin of 1,600 votes. There were also 2,260 blank votes and 186 null votes.
Massano's Commitments and Initiatives
Married with two children, Massano pledged in his electoral program to avoid public confrontations with the government to restore the credibility of the Lawyers' Order. He will relinquish the €6,000 gross monthly salary of the position while continuing to work in his law firm, focusing primarily on the real estate and corporate sectors. Having come from humble beginnings, he once trained as an electrician.
Massano's electoral program includes measures aimed at enhancing the protection provided by the Lawyers' and Solicitors' Pension Fund for beneficiaries, especially in case of illness, and promises to establish a mental health hotline. He aims to provide new lawyers access to subsidized credit lines for expenses related to setting up their practices.
Challenges Facing the Legal Profession
Lawyers share a private pension system with solicitors. A referendum in 2021 showed that most lawyers preferred to choose between remaining in the Pension Fund or enrolling in Social Security. However, due to their status as self-employed professionals, lawyers have never contributed to the general regime and thus lack unemployment benefits and other perks.
Criticized for the high contributions required, which many deem disproportionate to earnings, the Pension Fund primarily focuses on retirement payments, leaving health protection insufficient. The government has tasked a commission with examining the situation and conducting an audit of the Pension Fund.
Recently, the Court of Auditors rejected Massano's direct hiring of a lawyer for the regional council of Lisbon, amounting to €115,000, following an anonymous complaint.
Fernanda Pinheiro succeeded Menezes Leitão, having been elected in December 2022 with 10,539 votes (59.26%), ousting Paulo Pimenta, who garnered 7,245 votes (40.41%). She was the third woman to hold the position of bastonária.
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