With permission from the Spanish Bar Association Congress and the congresses organized or co-organized by the Illustrious Barcelona Bar Association, one of the congresses I usually mark on my calendar is the Legal Congress of the Malaga Bar Association, which this year has reached its 18th edition.
In this edition, as with the previous one, it was divided between conferences, round tables, workshops, and expert panels, making up a total of 80 hours of training spread over a day and a half.
At first glance, it might seem very intense, and indeed it is, but the advantage of this Congress is that within the total training hours, you have the ability to choose the area that interests you the most: immigration, labor, consumer affairs, commercial, property law, tourism, maritime, banking, criminal, anti-money laundering, violence and minors, digital, sports, animal welfare... A wide range of possibilities for attendees to choose between reinforcing their practice area or expanding their knowledge into new areas.
Under the same conditions as the last time, this time we were able to attend, but it had to be virtually, because agenda issues made it impossible to attend in person during those nearly two days of Congress.
In terms of the sessions that we were able to attend, we must highlight the following:
HORIZONTAL PROPERTY AND URBAN RENTALS PANEL. Law on the Right to Housing. This first panel included lawyer Cristina Vallejo, judge Francisco Javier Fuertes, and lawyer Alberto Torres.
This panel focused mainly on the novelties established in the new Law on the Right to Housing (Law 12/2023, of May 24, on the right to housing), and especially on its future due to the constitutional challenges that have been presented and admitted for processing.
ROUND TABLE ON VICARIOUS VIOLENCE. This round table featured Isabel Tajahuerce (Director of the IIF's own Master's program at UCM), Amparo Diaz Ramos (Lawyer), and Maria Jose Barba (Psychologist).
Of all the round tables coinciding with this one, the one on vicarious violence seemed the most appropriate to me, particularly how this type of violence against minors, which puts them at risk to harm the other parent, can even lead to the children's alignment against that parent. The round table reached several conclusions, such as the need for much more rigorous training on this topic, but it is also important to see how we as lawyers can confront this type of violence and fight it, which will require meticulous legal intervention.
From this point, the great disadvantage of online attendance at a Congress is that sometimes the agenda does not allow you to commit to more, despite wanting to attend. Thus, we were not able to fully attend the conference on civil liability, capital investment, mediation, the practice of the doctrine of unjust enrichment in separate property regimes, the protection of artificial intelligence, or the commission of opening.
Logically, the advantage of in-person attendance is that it is much more difficult not to attend many of these sessions, which undoubtedly would have happened. However, we hope that for the next congress next year, the agenda can be more relaxed, and it will be possible to attend in person this magnificent congress.
