A move that's not going down well

"Location, location, location": this motto, which prevails in the real estate industry and underlines the crucial importance of a property's location, could also, as surprising as it may seem at first sight, be applied to court hearings. For while the place from which justice is served may seem to be indicated only incidentally on a decision or order, it counts for a great deal in certain matters. And that's what's at stake in the battle being waged by more than 90 family lawyers against the decision to relocate family court judges to an administrative building at 35 rue de Bonnevoie, in place of the Inap (Institut national d'administration publique), which has been vacant since June 2023.

90 lawyers may seem like a drop in the ocean among the 4,000 members of the Luxembourg Bar. But this collective is unprecedented, especially in a field characterised by a myriad of small firms – a sign that it is not lucrative enough for the big business firms. These lawyers go from meeting to meeting and don't usually take the time to get involved in politics. A number of leading members of the Bar, including Lydie Lorang and Gaston Vogel, also added their signatures to a letter sent on 11 October to the Minister of Justice, Sam Tanson (déi gréng), the Minister of Mobility and Public Works, François Bausch (déi gréng), and the Chairman of the Justice Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Charles Margue (déi gréng).