Professional Associations. Constitutionalists and Professional Associations agree with Marcelo's decision (with José Luís Moreira da Silva)

José Luís Moreira da Silva, president of the Association of Law Firms in Portugal (ASAP) and partner at SRS Legal, welcomes the Head of State's decision and admits that this new law "may call into question lawyers' immunities, insofar as the disciplinary power is no longer self-regulated but is now hetero-regulated, since the majority of members exercising the lawyers' disciplinary function are not lawyers". The lawyer also sustains that the unconstitutionality may, on the other hand, also be sustained by the "possible non-conformity with article 267, no. 4 of the Constitution in that public associations can only be constituted to satisfy specific needs, cannot exercise functions proper of trade union associations and have an internal organization based on the respect for the rights of their members and on the democratic formation of their bodies". The lawyer recalls that this norm, introduced in 1997, at the time when Moreira da Silva was part of the Commission for Constitutional revision and which approved this rule, "guarantees the respect for self-organisation of public associations, including professional associations, which may be put at risk by the new law, by imposing members not elected by the professionals of each Bar Association, who have to choose members outside the professional class. I have many doubts as to whether this norm of the Constitution is not being violated, as it may jeopardise the respect of the members and the democratic formation of the bodies".