Citizens Advice International Conference Gibraltar 2015

The  conference ‘Pathways to Resolutions’ was opened by the chief minister Fabian Picardo, introduction and welcome by the Hon. Steven Linares and hosted by CAB Gibraltar was attended by Richelle de Wit and Myra Azzopardi from CAB Spain. The conference was held at the Elliot’s hotel. We attended the cocktail event later in the evening. The conference mainly discussed the matter of ‘mediation versus litigation’ Due to the lengthy wait and expense of court battles, many including lawyers have been looking at and encouraging mediation as a way to solve family, employment and commercial disputes. All treated with confidentially and in differing ways as suited to the purpose.

Mediation process is not new to CAB Spain, as we have closely followed our mentor on this subject Agustin Azparren Judge/magistrate/ lawyer who has taken a sabbatical from the bench and joined the group’s lawyers. Agustin has been paramount in encouraging the law firm to take consider this in lieu of litigation in matter which would be best dealt with in this way. This is at present being practice with some of the banks and mortgage issues.

The conference had speakers such as mediation experts and talks from various lawyers from well-known Gibraltar law firms. A short talk was also given by a Assya Kavrokova director of European Citizens Action Service (ECAS)

The evening cocktails was held on the terraces of the Catalan hotel, with the straits as a backdrop it was an ideal setting for CAB Spain advisors to mingle and share experiences and business cards with the delegates of CAI from various countries.

It was encouraging to find the ombudsman of Gibraltar present and to be able to have a conversation with him, after all the buck stops at him. Both Richelle and I had a lengthy discussion with Paul Peralta Head draftsman Government of Gibraltar. (Drafting of laws). This was quite a highlight for us due to our in-depth interest in the law and the making of. You can imagine our interest in being able to pose questions on how and why one drafts certain laws. We did try to urge some comments from Paul on why the new EU regulations on succession had so many confusing articles. He respectfully declined to enter into this area.

We took the opportunity to submit our application for CAB Spain to become a member of CAI. This will give us the opportunity to liaise with Citizens Advice agencies in many countries. Obtain and share knowledge with the delegates from the CAI network that has its main office in Brussels. Let us hope that now we can also receive support when we approach the EU on various matters that need resolving for our community in Spain.

We had a wonderful and informative two days and would like to thank Pili Rodriguez chairperson from CAI and the Gibraltar CAB Bureau manager for the invitation. Also thank you to the warm hospitality we received from Gibraltar Citizens Advice Bureau, taking this opportunity to personally thank Joanna McGrail and Michael Recagno.

We would like to thank GBC news for using their conference picture.

Please note: The information provided is based upon our understanding of current legislation. It is not legal advice but is provided freely to enable you to be properly informed. We recommend that if you are considering taking action, you should seek professional advice.