On this Lawyer's Day, we interviewed our partner and retired judge from TJ/SP Marcio Bonilha about the current situation and the future of the profession:
1. You have a long career, serving for decades as a magistrate and as a lawyer. How has the legal profession changed from the beginning of your professional career to the present day?
In recent times, since the beginning of my professional life, in general, all activities performed by legal professionals have undergone profound changes, especially with the evolution of technology and the development of the internet, which have influenced work systems. The legal profession has undergone significant change, requiring new adaptations and adjustments to reality, in the dynamics of its work. It has been transformed from an individual agent to a group component, with the desired and indispensable specialisation in the legal area.
2. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the work environments of practically all professions. In the legal profession, in particular, teleworking and telehearing have become popular. How do you analyse these changes in the work of lawyers? Are they irreversible or temporary?
With the pandemic in course, without prediction of extinction, the innovations introduced will have a long life. The adaptations introduced, resulting from Covid-19, required praiseworthy technological advances, allowing the participation of meetings, hearings and virtual trials, with positive savings in time and elimination of expenses. I am convinced that these changes are irreversible.
3. More and more lawyers and law firms are using case management or legal software, and new technologies are constantly being developed. How do you think technology is changing the legal profession? Will the lawyers of the future be very different from those of today?
Technology evolves in remarkable progress and substantially affects the practice of law, to which it is inextricably linked.
Technological tools in case management, or the so-called jurimetrics, are analytical administration resources that assist in predicting results and indicating probabilities and values involved in these analyses. They are instruments that are already part of the legal world, especially for repetitive or repeated claims. I emphasize that these tools are important, but the human side should also be highlighted, so much so that it will be up to the good lawyer, endowed with legal reasoning and competence, to make the best use of these techniques
4. In your experience, what qualities are indispensable for a good lawyer? And what faults should be avoided?
Qualifications required: Professional ability. Constant study. Ethical respect. Honest conduct. Devotion to Law and Justice. Punctuality. Vigilance.
Failures to be avoided: Irresponsibility. Non-observance of procedural deadlines. Disrespect to parties, prosecutors, judges, defenders and clients. Arrogance.
5. Do you have any message or tip for lawyers who are starting their careers? What is it?
For those Lawyers who are starting out my tip is to equate, balance and combine patience with determination.
One more reminder:
Do not lose the ideal; do not give in to ambition that affronts Law and Justice and practice the good, guarding the eternal principles and moral virtues.
