News, analysis and opinion pieces on professional ethics published on AGENTE LEX.
The General Statute of the Legal Profession prefers the engagement letter, and the Organic Law on the Right of Defence allows the client to demand it. The profession should take the next step on its own initiative: always use it, even in small matters.
The General Statute of the Spanish Legal Profession, approved by Royal Decree 135/2021, devotes several articles to individual practice. We summarise the rules that affect the lawyer working on their own every day, from where they can act to what to do when they take over a matter a colleague was handling.
Collaborations between firms, partner departures and agreements with other professionals all raise the same question: can fees be split? The Code of Ethics sets a general rule and four exceptions, and prohibits paying commissions for bringing in clients unless the client is informed.
The new customer service law requires large companies and basic services to offer human service, identify each procedure and resolve within a maximum period. A firm will only be obliged if it meets those conditions. Even so, the legal profession should adopt similar standards on its own initiative.
On 20 March 2026 the Plenary of the General Council of the Spanish Legal Profession approved an interpretive circular on the use of generative artificial intelligence in briefs. Its central conclusion: using AI is lawful, but filing what it produces without verifying it is, in general, a serious offence.
In May 2026 the Advisory Council on Innovation and the Legal Profession of the Spanish Legal Profession published ten principles for the safe and responsible use of artificial intelligence. We summarise them and suggest how to turn them into concrete firm practices.
