Organic Law 1/2025, of January 2, on measures regarding the efficiency of the Public Justice Service (“Organic Law 1/2025”), , has recently entered into force, bringing with it a significant reform of the structure of the judicial system.
According to its preamble, the aim of this reform is to achieve greater rationalization and efficiency within the judicial system by avoiding unnecessary duplication and the dispersion of resources and efforts. Thus, the legislator’s intention with this measure —alongside the introduction of appropriate means of dispute resolution in civil matters —is to correct the dysfunctions that have led into the current, unsustainable backlog of judicial proceedings.
The purpose of this note is not to analyze whether the measures introduced by Organic Law 1/2025 are the most suitable to achieve the legislator’s stated goal, but rather to summarize the main changes made to the organization of our Courts and Tribunals. This issue, despite its undeniable importance, has to some extent been overshadowed by the impact of the introduction of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms in civil litigation.
1. The New Courts of First Instance
The main reform introduced by Organic Law 1/2025 regarding judicial organization is the creation of the Courts of First Instance (“Tribunales de Instancia”) to replace the current single-judge courts (“Juzgados unipersonales”). In this way, every judge will become part of the new Courts of First Instance.
The Courts of First Instance are judicial bodies organized in a collegial manner, comprising various Sections. These courts are governed by Articles 84 et seq. of Organic Law 6/1985, of July 1st, on the Judiciary (the “LOPJ“).
Article 84 of the LOPJ provides that there will be one Court of First Instance per judicial district, and it will consist of either a Single Civil and Investigative Section or separate Civil and Investigative Sections.
In addition, the Court of First Instance may include one or more of the following sections:
(i) Family, Children, and Capacity; (ii) Commercial; (iii) Gender-based Violence;
(iv) Violence against Children and Adolescents; (v) Criminal; (vi) Juvenile; (vii) Prison Supervision; (viii) Administrative Litigation; and (ix) Labour. Articles 85 et seq. of the LOPJ regulate the subject matters over which each Section of the Court of First Instance will have jurisdiction.
Some Sections of the Courts of First Instance may extend their jurisdiction to several judicial districts within the same province or neighboring provinces. Most commonly, the Commercial, Criminal, Juvenile, Prison Supervision, Administrative Litigation, and Labour Sections will have province-wide jurisdiction and be headquartered in the provincial capital.
A notable innovation in the functioning of the Courts of First Instance has also been introduced. Organic Law 1/2025 provides that, although cases will typically be assigned to a judge on a rotating basis, two additional judges may be appointed to hear a case jointly with the judge initially assigned, when warranted by the volume, complexity, or number of parties involved.
The transformation of the current single-judge courts into Courts of First Instance will take place in stages, in the following order:
- First, on 1 July 2025, the Courts of First Instance and Investigation, as well as the Gender-based Violence Courts, will be transformed into Unified Civil and Investigation Sections and Gender-based Violence Sections in those judicial districts where no other type of court exist.
- Subsequently, on 1 October 2025, the Courts of First Instance, Investigation Courts, and Gender-based Violence Courts will be transformed into Civil Sections, Investigation Sections, and Gender-based Violence Sections in those judicial districts where no other type of court exist.
- Finally, on 31 December 2025, the remaining courts will be transformed into their respective Sections.
2. The Central Court of First Instance
Following the reform, the LOPJ also regulates the so-called Central Court of First Instance (“Tribunal Central de Instancia”), which replaces the current Central Courts (“Juzgados Centrales”).
The Central Court of First Instance is now governed by Article 95 of the LOPJ and will comprise the following Sections: Investigation Section, Criminal Section, Juvenile Section, Prison Supervision Section and Administrative Litigation Section.
The Central Court of First Instance will be formally established on 31 December 2025, through the transformation of the current Central Courts into Sections of the Central Court of First Instance.
3. The Justice Offices
The creation of Justice Offices in the municipalities is, according to the preamble of Organic Law 1/2025, one of the key measures aimed at achieving greater efficiency in the judicial system.
The Justice Offices are defined in Organic Law 1/2025 as units within the organizational framework of the Administration of Justice, established to provide certain services to citizens in a given municipality. However, they are not part of the Judicial Office of the corresponding judicial district. A Justice Office will be established in every municipality that does not have a Court of First Instance.
These Justice Offices will offer citizens a much wider range of services than those currently provided by the Justice of the Peace Courts. Their functions will include: assisting local justices of the peace in their assigned duties, carrying out procedural communications, cooperating with the Civil Registry and dispute resolution units, handling requests from citizens related to the administration of justice, and receiving applications for legal aid and forwarding them to the local Bar Associations.
The staff of the Justice Offices will mainly be drawn from the Justice Administration, although the inclusion of staff from other public administrations is also contemplated.
4. Judicial Offices and the distribution of cases in the Courts of First Instance
The modifications introduced by Organic Law 1/2025 also have a significant impact on the organization of the Judicial Offices.
The activities of these offices will be carried out through common processing services and other common services that may be stablished. These common services may provide support to one or more Courts of First Instance, as well as to national, regional, or provincial bodies.
The direction of the service will be entrusted to a Lawyer of the Administration of Justice (“Letrado de la Administración de Justicia”), who will be functionally responsible for other lawyers and staff assigned to the Judicial Office.
The Lawyer of the Administration of Justice who directs the Judicial Office will be in charge of distributing cases among the various judges of a Court of First Instance under the supervision of the Court’s president.
The distribution of cases will be carried out in accordance with publicly approved distribution rules, which will be approved by the Governing Chamber of the High Court of Justice (“Tribunal Superior de Justicia”) on a proposal by the Judges’ Board of each Section of the Court of First Instance.
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Madrid, on the 8 of May, 2025.