AAM does not only work for Portuguese lawyers

While exiting the court after the final statements in the case where he is representing Alan Ho, the President of Macau Lawyers Association (AAM), Jorge Neto Valente, responded to a few questions from journalists. One of these questions regarded an interview published on Friday, March 4, in the Hoje Macau newspaper, where lawyer Manuela António expressed concerns about the increasing difficulties for Portuguese lawyers to work in the territory, saying that the AAM is “giving in to pressures to the detriment of the quality of lawyers.”
On this topic, Neto Valente commented: “That is not true. I think what is on the line here has nothing to do with quality or giving in to pressures, since there were no changes [to the association positions]. In fact the AAM positions are quite clear and I have been saying [to the association] that we are very worried about the quality of our education system, which in our opinion has been suffering some deterioration. We should demand more quality from law courses, and in some cases we should even demand that they should be closed.”
“The only change that happened here was the closing of the protocol that allowed around five or six lawyers from Portugal to come to Macau each month. That is not possible anymore,” Neto Valente said, adding that “the association does not work only for Portuguese lawyers. The association works for 400 lawyers and cannot worry itself over particular cases.” Neto Valente concluded by saying, “Manuela António has stories from people who enjoyed coming [to Macau]. I have them, too, but the last thing I want is for someone to come and say that I contributed to solving that problem because I also have a personal interest.”