Brazilian Civil Procedural Code Update 

The court process can be a long and drawn-out affair. However, there are organizations and legislation out there to try and speed up these proceedings. An example of this is currently happening in Brazil.

This week, an idea conceived in 2009 by a group of jurists headed by Supreme Court Justice Luiz Fux was approved by a special committee of the House of Representatives that was created to assess it. Now, a draft of the new Civil Procedural Code (CPC), which aims to expedite proceedings that are related to civil lawsuits, is in play. It will still need to be approved by both houses of Congress before becoming law.

This is not the only change to Brazilian law that has been discussed in recent months. However, this change has been met with more support from judges, lawyers and professors than its predecessors. 

Mario Gelli​, a lawyer for the firm Barbosa, Mussich and Aragão, said that the new legislation would encourage parties involved in a dispute to seek alternative ways to settle it—like conciliation and mediation—instead of appearing in front of the judge and moving to litigation.

The amendment also improves outdated language, like setting clear standards when stipulating attorneys’ fees in cases when the Treasury is convicted.

There is a little resistance as some Brazilian lawyers have advised that this is not going to alter the current substantially of legal disputes. Lawsuits could still take years to settle and improvements need to be made in the education of law students and the technology that is available to notary public.

Regardless, this is a good place to start when it comes to change and can help get a dialogue going to impact further improvements to the penal code.