Lawyers will return to courts on Oct 7, bringing a four-month boycott of judicial proceedings to a halt for the time being as the bar waits for a new House of Representatives and government to take another look at the disputed law governing the profession.
The decision was taken by the executive bureau of the Association of Moroccan Bar Associations (ABAM) at a meeting in Rabat on Sunday.
The strike is not over just yet. Lawyers will stay away from courts and continue withholding their services across the country until Oct 7.
A day later, the new House elected in the Sept 23 legislative polls is due to open its October session, traditionally presided over by King Mohammed VI.
ABAM said the pause was “provisional” and warned against reading the decision as a retreat.
“The suspension of the strike in no way means abandoning lawyers’ demands or accepting the provisions of the law at the center of the dispute,” it said.
The association is banking on the post-election changeover to reopen a row that has kept nearly 18,000 lawyers away from courts since June.
It said the polls would produce a new parliamentary majority and government, giving the profession another opportunity to press its case over a law it says cuts into the independence of the bar.
The long boycott has already left its mark on court work. Cases have been repeatedly put off because lawyers did not appear, leaving litigants waiting and remand prisoners facing further delays in their trials.
Lawyers have several bones to pick with the new law.
They oppose provisions allowing the Court of Auditors to scrutinize certain funds linked to the profession, curtailing the powers of bar presidents and opening the market to foreign lawyers and law firms.
They are also up in arms over the transfer of responsibility for the training of trainee lawyers to the Justice Ministry, arguing that the changes give the ministry and public prosecution greater sway over a profession whose independence they want preserved.
ABAM said it would keep pressing its demands and that debate over the law would remain open.
