Julen Fernández Conte is the Director of the Permanent Office of the Consejo General de la Abogacía Española to the European Union. Since 2001, he is responsible for the institutional representation of the Spanish legal profession in the EU. This includes the yearly outreach of the “Observatorio de Asistencia Jurídica Gratuita” for its twelve editions. At European level, he is a longstanding member and Information Officer at the Council of European Bars (CCBE). He also was involved in the hearings and consultations of the European Commission for both Directives on Cross border Civil and Criminal Legal Aid and as member of the EJN. He recently served as external expert evaluator for the European Commission’s Justice Programs and has lead or coordinated the implementation of more +20 EU funded projects. Currently, Julen sits as member of the Consultative Board of the HELP program of the Council of Europe and, in 2014, he was promoter of their Crystal Scales Award for the project “Online Legal Aid Management: Better Solutions for Citizen’s Rights”. At international level, Julen was actively involved in the negotiations for the Defense at the ICC. He served as member of the International Bar Association (IBA) Committee on Legal Aid & Pro bono and of the Union Internationale des Avocats as Deputy Chief Editor of the Juriste International and remains coeditor of “Abogacía Española”. Finally, he is member of several advocacy NGO’s, such as the Prison Litigation Network and author of many articles and speeches in national, European and international conferences.
LOCAL RESEARCHERS - SPAIN
