Por Ismael Buendia 
The Ministry of Justice, Local Administration, and Public Function will hold the III Conference ‘Women who inspire us in the Defense of Equality’ on February 25 in Malaga as part of the activities for International Women’s Day. The choice of Malaga as the venue is due to it being the only Andalusian province with a female president of the Court of Justice and deans of judges, lawyers, and the Faculty of Law. All of them are legal professionals who have broken a glass ceiling, with the dean of the Bar Association being the first woman to hold such a position not only in Malaga but in all of Andalusia.
The Minister of Justice, José Antonio Nieto, has met with Flor Carrasco and the board of directors of the Bar Association for the first time since her recent election. Carrasco replaces Salvador González after his appointment as President of the Spanish Bar Association. Nieto mentioned that she is making history as the first female dean of a bar association in Andalusia, highlighting the significant impact of her educational and analytical activities, including organizing «one of the most important Bar Association conferences in Spain and Europe.»
Both will open the conference, along with the Government Delegate of the Junta de Andalucía in Malaga, Patricia Navarro, which in the previous editions took place in Granada and Cordoba. Nieto mentioned that choosing Malaga for the third edition was «very easy» because «there is no other province where a woman leads the Provincial Court, the Judgeship, the Bar Association, and the Faculty of Law.»
The panel will include judges Lourdes García and Cristina Hurtado de Mendoza, Carrasco herself, and Isabel González, a professor of Administrative Law at the University of Malaga. They will discuss current challenges in the application and development of regulations on conciliation, the necessary measures to deepen co-responsibility, the role of Justice in ensuring the fundamental right to equal opportunities, and the essential commitment of social and institutional agents.
The roundtable will be moderated by the Secretary-General of Judicial Services of the Ministry, Rosalía Espinosa, and will be concluded by the Deputy Minister of Justice, Ana Corredera.
The challenge of the Efficiency Law
The Minister emphasized the crucial role of legal professionals in a crucial year where «we have to implement a complex law that will transform the landscape of Justice in Spain, the Efficiency Law, which will be a significant leap and can only work if all legal operators are involved to enhance citizen service.»
«We need to gather opinions and receive contributions from everyone,» he said, recalling the two participatory conferences held in Seville and Granada to gather input from all legal operators on the draft Justice Strategic Plan being developed by the Ministry to address issues related to judicial infrastructure, digitalization, staff reorganization, service humanization, and system sustainability.
Nieto expressed regret over the deficit in creating organs, under the Ministry of Justice, which in recent years has only established 12 courts in the province and 5 magistrate positions, while the Andalusian High Court considers 42 courts and 14 magistrates necessary due to population growth and the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking on the coast.
On the other hand, the Bar Association of Malaga thanked the Junta for its support in areas such as compensating legal professionals for legal aid, which was increased last year after being frozen for 14 years, emphasizing the importance of unity among the 10 Andalusian bar associations and the Junta to deliver better service. Carrasco highlighted the significant challenge posed by the introduction of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in the new Efficiency Law to «try to relieve the courts of unmanageable litigation and ensure that agreements come from citizens as our courts cannot handle more and resources are limited.»
Andalusia has already taken steps ahead of the law with a Mediation Strategy to promote this alternative conflict resolution method. It is the first region to include it in the Legal Aid system, establishing a public and free Criminal Mediation Service (SEMPA) and will create another one for Civil and Commercial Mediation this year.