‘We have been sought after daily’, says OAB-DF president on the challenges of the attorney’s office in the midst of the pandemic

Cassandra Castro – from Cenarium

BRASILIA (DF) – On the Advocacy Day, celebrated on August 11th, professionals of the area reflected about the profession and highlighted the main challenges and achievements in the area. The president of the National Order of Brazilian Lawyers (OAB), Felipe Santa Cruz, exalted the importance of lawyers in the defense of democracy, of the Constitution, and of the Democratic State of Law, and the need to think about the future, about the model of the practice of law.

The president of OAB Distrito Federal, Délio Lins e Silva Jr, also highlighted, during the program alluding to the date, the challenges faced by those who work in the legal area, including due to the Covid-19 pandemic: “Never in our worst nightmares would we have imagined a pandemic! It came and tested us at every limit. The pain of losing so many people, the difficulty of social isolation, the financial losses… We had to make ourselves strong.”

Another point emphasized by Délio Lins is the citizen service done by the lawyers, a mission that has become even more accentuated due to the pandemic. “We have been searched daily by people who are victims of the most varied problems, some of them can’t pay their bills, others can’t access the judiciary, they can’t talk to some public agency, such as transportation, water, or electricity companies. We, as lawyers, defend them on a daily basis”, he says.

At the same time that it is a traditional career, the practice of law attracts passion for the possibilities it offers to those who decide to follow it, even if they already have a consolidated profession. This is the case of journalist Priscila de Assis, 35, who is in her second semester of law school. She says she received encouragement from her mother to pursue this degree and enter the legal world. “I already came from a political environment and saw a niche that is still little explored in the Amazon, which is electoral law, besides another branch that is growing a lot in the country, digital law,” says Priscila.

The journalist has a specialization in Marketing and Project Management and points out that taking Law school is being an opportunity for both intellectual and personal growth, not to mention the experience of following the strategies used by lawyers in the defense of their clients, a move that ends up making one fall in love with the area, says Priscila.

For lawyer Rosely Fernandes, the Lawyer’s Day is a very special date. With more than 30 years in the profession, she believes that advocating is an art that requires a lot of love, technique, willingness, and talent. “This art requires boldness and talent to listen. Times have changed, there is no room for a stern, arrogant law practice, but rather, for a humanized, collaborative law practice.