LAWYERS' FIXED FEES REGIME SLAMMED BY ECJ ADVOCATE-GENERAL.

• Position: European Court of Justice - Brief article

Italy may be eventually forced to scrap its system of fixing minimum and maximum fees that lawyers must be paid. Such a regime restricts the free movement of services in the Internal Market and cannot be justified on public interest grounds, Advocate-General Poiares Maduro of the EU Court of Justice has said. In his February 1 opinion (Cases C-94/04 and C-202/04), he notes that the Italian system neutralises the competitive advantage of lawyers based outside Italy as they cannot charge what...