The Lisbon Circle Administrative Court fully rejected the precautionary measure filed by José Sócrates to halt the appointment of Luís Carlos Esteves as his court-appointed lawyer in Operation Marquês. The judge concluded that the main action is unlikely to succeed and ordered the former prime minister to pay the costs of the proceedings.
The court considered legally sound both the assumption by the General Council of the Bar Association of the competencies to appoint court-appointed lawyers in cases of special complexity, as well as the subsequent appointment of Luís Carlos Esteves. The General Council, led by president João Massano, assumed this competence in March, invoking the need to ensure the right to defense in light of successive withdrawals by defense counsel.
Sócrates contested the assumption of competence, arguing that there would be no minutes documenting the deliberation and that the choice of lawyer had been personal and arbitrary. The court rejected both arguments, considering that the assumption of competence was deliberated and published in the Official Gazette and that the appointment came as a result of an express request from the presiding judge of the panel hearing Operation Marquês, processed through the Bar Association's computer system.
The court also dismissed the accusation that the Bar Association was preventing Sócrates from freely choosing a lawyer, recalling that, under the law, the duties of the court-appointed lawyer cease when the defendant appoints legal counsel.
