Moroccan Bar Associations Provide Financial Aid to Lawyers Amid COVID-19 Crisis

Lawyers are also being hit hard by the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Following the instructions of their bars, many of them are closing their offices to remain in compliance with the containment measures decreed by the Moroccan authorities. However, several lawyers have turned to teleworking and are offering remote consultations. "Consulting firms are the least affected by the crisis, as their activity does not necessarily depend on the courts," explains a lawyer at the Casablanca bar. Today, explains the lawyer, "only summary proceedings and certain criminal cases are continuing in Moroccan courts. The rest has been suspended following the instructions of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary," reports Médias24.

It is a trying time for lawyers, especially "trainee lawyers, but also to a large extent, associate lawyers," explains a source at the Rabat bar. This category of lawyers is not registered with the National Social Security Fund (except in rare cases). It will therefore not be able to benefit from the allowances paid by the CNSS as part of the measures adopted by the Economic Monitoring Committee. It is therefore in a spirit of solidarity that the 17 bars in Morocco are setting up their own support mechanisms for lawyers, "whose number now exceeds 15,000".

In Casablanca, the bar, which has nearly 4,500 members, has created a special account with 6 million DH, for 1,600 lawyers. An aid of 4,500 DH will be paid to 1,105 registered lawyers. 525 trainee lawyers will receive a scholarship of 2,000 DH. The lawyers were selected after examination of their situation by the Bar Council. The Rabat bar, with 2,000 members, is the second largest in terms of registered members. With a budget of 5 million DH, the order has decided to pay 5,000 DH to registered and associate lawyers, 2,500 DH to trainee lawyers. The decision was not easy, as according to the Bâtonnier Me Mohamed Barigou, "even lawyers who could do without such a subsidy have registered on the list". The Rabat bar has finally decided to review its eligibility criteria. The aid will only target lawyers whose transfers over the past six months do not exceed 250,000 DH, reports medias24.

The same phenomenon was observed in Casablanca, where "profitable firms have submitted their applications to receive the 4,500 DH aid," laments a source at the bar. In Tangier, the aid will be paid without selection criteria to all members of the bar. Nevertheless, the Bâtonnier Ibrahim Semlali called "on lawyers who can do without the aid to donate it to the bar’s solidarity fund".

In Marrakech, Oujda, Kenitra, Settat or Tetouan, similar initiatives have been taken, with some specificities in terms of the amounts paid, the means of financing or the eligibility criteria for the beneficiaries.