ON FREE LEGAL AID: THE PREROGATIVE OF THE NEW CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE AND PREDATORY LITIGATION

Abstract

 Free legal aid is a fundamental instrument to guarantee access to justice, as ensured by the Federal Constitution and regulated by articles 98 to 102 of the 2015 Code of Civil Procedure. According to Marcus Vinicius Furtado Coêlho (2022), this benefit ensures that people without financial means can exercise their rights in court. Fredie Didier Jr. (2023) highlights that the new CPC improved the institution, seeking to balance access to justice with the need to prevent abuses. Daniel Amorim Assumpção Neves (2021) emphasizes that the presumption of indigence must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis, preventing the misuse of the prerogative.Nelson Nery Júnior and Rosa Maria de Andrade Nery (2020) add that the right to free legal aid is not absolute and must be balanced with the duty of procedural loyalty. In turn, Luiz Guilherme Marinoni (2022) addresses predatory litigation as a distortion of the social function of the process, since the massive and abusive filing of lawsuits compromises the effectiveness of justice and overburdens the Judiciary.Thus, the theoretical frameworks demonstrate that the current challenge is to reconcile universal access to justice with the fight against abusive procedural practices, ensuring effectiveness, ethics, and good faith in the exercise of the right to legal action.