Revue - Droit et société n°118-2024 - 115

Working Time and Work Intensity in Portuguese Courts
sought to implement an autonomous and concentrated management system,
following a greater organizational specialization and management-by-objectives
model aimed at administering a more efficient justice.9 Within the area of management,
the aim was to streamline distribution and procedural requirements, simplify
the allocation and mobility of human resources, and provide greater autonomy
for the court management structures. Given the growing hybridization of the
profession and organizational management, with the latter becoming increasingly
a part of the profession's list of skills,10 working conditions have also become an
important element to be taken into consideration in the functioning of courts, the
performance of judicial professions, and the quality of justice delivered to citizens.
Nevertheless, the working conditions in which judicial professionals perform their
duties are rarely scrutinized and evaluated,11 akin to health services. Based at the
Center for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra, QUALIS is a research project
that studied the working conditions of three different judicial professionals working
daily in the Portuguese courts: judges, public prosecutors, and court clerks.
Portuguese court clerks, public prosecutors, and judges have been characterized
as having poor physical working conditions and a demanding working environment.
According to previous studies, the workload requires working at high speed and
under time pressure in cramped working spaces with inadequate furniture and
technological resources.12 These poor working conditions have consequences that
are well known, not only in terms of judicial professionals' health and well-being,
lasted 3 years and included the adoption and implementation of multiple measures with the aim to
reduce the level of indebtedness of the Portuguese State. The MOU included measures to be implemented
in the judicial system, such as reducing of the number of courts (concentration) and adopting
management structures to reduce the functioning costs of courts.
9. João Paulo Dias and Conceição Gomes, " Judicial Reforms 'Under Pressure': The New Map/
Organisation of the Portuguese Judicial System, " Utrecht Law Review, 14 (1), 2018, p. 174-186,
DOI: 10.18352/ulr.448; or go to Portuguese e-justice portal, at .
10. Mirko Noordegraaf, " Hybrid Professionalism and Beyond: (New) Forms of Public Professionalism
in Changing Organizational and Societal Contexts, " Journal of Professions and Organization, 2 (2), 2015,
p. 187-206. DOI: 10.1093/jpo/jov002.
11. Paula Casaleiro, Ana Paula Relvas, and João Paulo Dias, " A Critical Review of Judicial Professionals
Working Conditions' Studies, " International Journal for Court Administration, 12 (1), 2021, p. 1-28.
DOI:10.36745/ijca.334.
12. João Paulo Dias and Paula Casaleiro, Conceição Gomes, " Os/as 'invisíveis' da justiça: condições
de trabalho dos/as oficiais de justiça em Portugal, " Culturas Jurídicas, 18 (7), 2020, p. 1-31.
DOI: 10.22409/rcj.v0i0.45751; Paula Casaleiro, Ana Paula Relvas and João Paulo Dias, " A Critical
Review of Judicial Professionals Working Conditions' Studies, " cited article; Marina Henriques, Teresa
Maneca Lima and João Paulo Dias, " As Condições de Trabalho dos Atores Judiciais em Portugal:
reflexões a partir da queixa do SOJ à OIT, " Revista Inclusiones, 8 (2), 2021, p. 120-142, ; António Casimiro Ferreira, João Paulo Dias, Madalena Duarte, Paula
Fernando, and Alfredo Campos, Quem são os nossos magistrados? Caracterização profissional dos
juízes e magistrados do Ministério Público em Portugal, Coimbra: Centro de Estudos Sociais, 2014,
; Duarte Rolo, João Areosa, Henrique Silveira, Miguel Amaral,
Raquel Varela, and Roberto della Santa, Inquérito Nacional às Condições de Vida e de Trabalho dos
Funcionários judiciais em Portugal, Lisbon: SEAL/IHC, 2023.
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https://e-justice.europa.eu/16/EN/ http://hdl http://www.handle.net/10316/94090 http://hdl.handle.net/10316/86801

Revue - Droit et société n°118-2024

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