Editorial: a victim of gender violence needs a lawyer before reporting, not after

This is an editorial by the AGENTE LEX newsroom. It expresses the portal's opinion.

On 2 October 2026, at the close of the 2nd Andalusian Meeting on Gender Violence, held in Lucena, the president of the Spanish Legal Profession put forward several demands of the profession. Among them, one that deserves special attention: that legal assistance to victims be mandatory from before the report is filed.

We share the proposal.

What the Legal Profession asked for

According to the note published by the Spanish Legal Profession, the profession demanded:

• Specialised, close-at-hand defence for victims.
• That the reorganisation of the judicial map not move victims further from the courts.
• That legal assistance be mandatory from before the report.
• Adequate conditions for the professionals who provide this assistance.

Why the moment matters

The report may be a victim's first contact with the judicial system. What is stated then conditions much of what follows: the protection measures that can be requested, the evidence that is preserved, the way the facts are told.

For a victim to reach that moment accompanied by a lawyer who explains her rights, helps her order what happened and assesses which measures to request is not a luxury. It is a guarantee that her statement will be useful in protecting her.

Making assistance mandatory changes the starting point: the system guarantees the lawyer's presence rather than depending on the victim asking for it.

Proximity is also a guarantee

The second demand is just as relevant. The reorganisation of Justice, with the new first-instance courts, must not mean a victim has to travel further or face a structure she does not understand. The Legal Profession itself has pointed out, in another forum, the difficulties in identifying who handles each matter in the new organisation, as we reported in the news item on the Legal Profession's proposals for the first-instance courts. In gender violence, that disorientation has a greater cost.

Conditions for those who assist

Specialised assistance requires trained professionals available at any hour. The duty counsel modules include specific compensation for on-call duty and assistance to victims of gender violence, as we explain in the analysis of the new duty counsel fee modules. Extending mandatory assistance to the stage before the report would require reviewing that compensation and the organisation of on-call duty.

What we ask for

1. Of the legislator, to study mandatory legal assistance before the report, with the means needed to guarantee it across the territory.
2. Of the competent authorities, that the judicial reorganisation preserve the proximity of the bodies and services that serve victims.
3. Of bar associations, to maintain and strengthen specialised training for gender violence duty schemes.
4. Of the profession, to keep demanding decent conditions for those who provide this assistance.

A question of the right of defence

The proposal fits a broader idea: the right of defence does not begin when proceedings are opened, but when a person needs legal guidance to decide what to do. The Organic Law on the Right of Defence develops that right specifically, as we reviewed in the summary of the Organic Law on the Right of Defence. For victims of gender violence, that earlier moment is especially delicate.

Access to justice begins before the proceedings. For a victim of gender violence, it begins the moment she decides to ask for help. More editorials in Opinion.