Brazilian Bar Association (OAB)

The Brazilian Bar Association (Ordem dos Avogados do Brasil—OAB) is authorized by the Brazilian government to regulate entry to the bar and to uphold professional conduct among lawyers. Its predecessor was the Instituto da Ordem dos Advogados Brasileiros, founded in 1843, when statutes were approved by the emperor, Dom Pedro II. The OAB was effectively organized in 1931, with government approval of the statutes coming in December of that year. As of the early 2000s the OAB's organization stems from 1963 legislation that recognizes it as an organ working in the public interest and that mandates a federated structure. In each state capital there is a section of the OAB, with councilors who serve as members of the Federal Council of Lawyers. Also serving as members of the council are all its former presidents. The presidencies of the Federal Council and of the OAB are coextensive and are customarily occupied by well-known and highly reputable lawyers. The OAB has regularly published a law journal and a newsletter. The OAB has often been at the forefront in defending human and civil rights and in upholding democratic institutions, whether in the twenty-first century, during the period of redemocratization, or at earlier turbulent periods of Brazilian history.

See alsoBrazil, National Security Law .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Coelho, Fernando. A OAB e o regime militar, 1964–1986. Recife, Brazil: Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil, Secção de Pernambuco, 1996.

Machado, Rubens Approbato, and Hermann Assis Baeta. História da Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil. 4 vols. Brasília: OAB, Conselho Federal, 2003.

Skidmore, Thomas E. Politics in Brazil, 1930–1964: An Experiment in Democracy. New York: Oxford University Press, 1967.

Skidmore, Thomas E. The Politics of Military Rule in Brazil, 1964–1985. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

Stepan, Alfred, ed. Democratizing Brazil: Problems of Transition and Consolidation. Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press, 1989.

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                                    Douglas Cole Libby