Supreme Court forms majority so judges can judge clients of family offices

The STF formed a majority in favor of overturning a rule that prevents judges from judging actions whose parties are clients of the law firm of their spouse, partner or relative up to the third degree.

Since last week, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) has been analyzing the action that points out unconstitutionality in a rule of the Code of Civil Procedure that prevents judges from judging parties that are assisted by a law firm integrated by a spouse or relative.

The Associação dos Magistrados Brasileiros (AMB) claims that it is “impossible” for a judge to know all the cases in which a given company, for example, is attended by a firm where his relative works, especially in cases filed by other firms. That is, even if the relative’s office does not act on the company’s cause, but works for it in another case, the judge would be prevented. This can occur when the firm has many lawyers and serves large companies, with many cases in court.

In the action, all institutions consulted opposed the AMB’s request. The Chamber, the Senate, the Advocacy General of the Union, the Presidency of the Republic and the Attorney General of the Republic argued, in summary, that the rule seeks to preserve the impartiality of Justice, avoiding influence peddling in the courts and has nothing of unconstitutional.

Minister Edson Fachin, who is the rapporteur of the action, argues that the rule of the Code of Civil Procedure is constitutional. According to him, the rule “distributes loads of duties” to the judge and the parties to the process. “In such cases, it is up to the magistrate and the parties to cooperate to provide full, partial and independent justice”, he says.

Ministers Alexandre de Moraes, Cristiano Zanin, Gilmar Mendes, Luiz Fux, Dias Toffoli and Kassio Nunes Marques have already voted to end the impediment. They voted against ministers Edson Fachin, Luís Roberto Barroso and Rosa Weber. The votes of André Mendonça and Cármen Lúcia are still missing.