The unconstitutional phrase of the Attorneyship Law was annulled – Published in today’s Official Gazette, the Constitutional Court’s decision dated 22/6/2023 and numbered E: 2022/100, K: 2023/114 (1), the phrase “…forty percent shall be distributed equally among the bar associations in that province, and the remainder…” added to the fourth paragraph of Article 180 of the Attorneyship Law No. 1136 was annulled on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.
In the article titled “Income and expenses of the office” in the section on the Legal Aid System
The revenues of the legal aid office are as follows
a) Three percent of the fees according to the tariffs numbered (1), (2) and (3) of the Law on Fees No. 492 based on the total amounts determined according to the final account results of two years ago, and three percent of the fines, except for administrative fines, (4)(5)
b) The shares to be allocated to the bar association and the aids made to the bar association from public and private institutions and organizations, provincial or municipal budgets,
c) All kinds of donations made for this purpose,
d) The fee to be paid by lawyers withdrawing from legal aid,
e) Ten percent of the fee charged by the lawyer assigned with legal aid and five percent of the portion of the legal aid beneficiary who is vindicated in the case, other than the lawyer’s fee.The expenses of the Office are as follows:
a) Fees to be paid, when necessary, to the lawyers assigned with judicial assistance,
b) Fees to be paid to those to be assigned to the Office,
c) Office expenses and other expenses.The income and expenses of the legal aid offices shall be shown in separate sections of the budget of the office. Any surplus income remaining in this section shall be transferred to the following year.
The appropriation to be calculated according to subparagraph (a) of the first paragraph shall be transferred to the account of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations by the Ministry of Finance until the end of March each year. These funds shall be used exclusively for judicial assistance and the funds not spent within the year shall be transferred to the following year in kind. The distribution of the funds among the bar associations shall be based on scoring. Each bar association shall first be given five basic points. One point shall be added to the basic score for every fifty member lawyers, and one point shall be added for every five thousand population based on the provincial population. In provinces where there is more than one bar association, forty percent of the total points to be determined for each five thousand population shall be distributed equally among the bar associations in that province, and the remainder shall be distributed according to the points to be obtained by multiplying the number obtained after dividing the total number of lawyers registered in that province by the number of members of each bar association. The issues regarding the distribution and use of these funds among the bar associations shall be regulated by a regulation issued by the Union of Turkish Bar Associations.
The provision was in place. The Constitutional Court in its relevant decision
“…The distribution of five basic points equally to the bar associations in provinces with more than one bar association as a basis for the distribution of the legal aid allowance, and then the equal distribution of a high percentage, such as forty percent, of the points calculated according to the population of the province, goes beyond the purpose of meeting the current expenses of the offices affiliated to the bar associations with fewer members and may cause the bar associations with more members to face financial difficulties in providing legal aid services.”
The Constitutional Court’s decision will enter into force nine months after its publication in the Official Gazette (19/6/2024).
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