The State Attorney's Office participates in criminal trials by exercising in the interest of the state administration the faculties that the procedural law attributes to the person offended by the crime, or by exercising civil action for restitution or compensation for damage through the establishment of a civil party ; Not infrequently the Lawyer assists the administration cited in criminal proceedings as being civilly liable for the employee's illicit act. The same activities are carried out in the interest of other public bodies that enjoy state patronage.
However, in consideration of the limited staff of the legal profession and in order to allow the unified direction of the defense in criminal matters, avoiding sectoral dispersions, art. 1, paragraph 3, of law 3 January 1991 n. 3 made the establishment of a civil party by the State subject to authorization from the President of the Council of Ministers; this authorization is granted, subject to the opinion of the Lawyer's office responsible for handling the proceedings, when public, patrimonial and non-pecuniary interests come into play, of such importance that it is considered appropriate to support the presence of the public prosecutor in the criminal trial.
The art. 44 of 30 October 1933 n. 1611 also allows the State Attorney's Office to take on the defense of state employees or other public entities admitted to legal aid, both as defendants and as civil parties, in criminal proceedings involving them for facts inherent to the functions performed, if the entities members request it and the Attorney General recognizes the opportunity, excluding the existence of a conflict of interest between administration and employee. In such cases, the Lawyer's Office, in addition to guaranteeing public employees from actions by private individuals concerning legitimate administrative activities, also mediated protection of the financial interests of the administration, which could be prejudiced in relation to the outcome of the criminal proceedings.
Before the bodies of military justice, the activity of the State Attorney's Office is limited to taking on the defense of military personnel, where the conditions set out in the art. 44 tun 1611 of 1993 cit., the procedural law not contemplating the possibility of the party damaged by the crime being a civil party.

According to a tradition that has found confirmation in art. 9 of law 3 April 1979 n. 103, the Attorney General of the State is entrusted with the function of representing and defending the Italian State in proceedings before international or community panels. The most important and frequent hypothesis is represented by the assumption of the defense of the State, as legislator or administrator, before the judicial bodies of the European Union: Court of Justice and Court of First Instance.
Of particular importance, however, is also the consultative assistance that the Lawyer's Office provides to facilitate compliance with the treaties in administrative activities and encourage the legislative transposition of community rules into Italian law.
Before some international panels (e.g. the International Court of Justice in The Hague), the State Attorney's Office normally operates within a defense panel, while before the European Court of Human Rights the defense of the State Italian is often carried out by an agent designated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Due to the particular importance of these activities, a proposal for the establishment of branch offices of the Bar in Strasbourg and Brussels is being examined.
In disputes arising before foreign judges, the Italian state is represented and defended by professionals authorized according to national laws, although the direction of defense activities remains with the State Attorney's Office; the possibility remains that the laws of individual states provide for the possibility of direct participation in the proceedings of foreign legal bodies.

In the traditional discipline of tax litigation, defense activities before the commissions were carried out directly by the administration at the three levels of judgement, a legacy of the non-jurisdictional nature of these bodies; the Constitutional Court, however, had held that the Presidential Decree of 26 October 1972 n. 636 did not exclude the patronage of the Lawyer (C. cost., ord. 21 January 1988 n. 48).
Innovating this regime, art. 12, paragraph 4, of Legislative Decree 31 December 1992 n. 546 now provides that state financial offices can be assisted by the State Attorney's Office only in second instance proceedings; also in relation to first instance judgements, however, the Lawyers' Office may be called upon to exercise its consultative functions, or request its patronage from State administrations and other authorized bodies in relation to tax actions of territorial public bodies.

Before the regional jurisdictional sections of the Court of Auditors, the state administration or the public bodies that benefit from the patronage are represented and defended by the State Attorney's Office in pensions matters. However, the art. 13, paragraph 3, of law 3 April 1979 n. 103 allows state administrations, including those with an autonomous system, to delegate one of their officials to support their position, even orally.
In judgments of account and responsibility, also for the possible phase before the Court of Cassation, the participation of the State Attorney's Office is not foreseen, as the protection of the patrimonial interests of the administration, including the state one, is attributed by law to the General Prosecutor's Office or the regional ones of the Court of Auditors.
The abrogation of the domestic jurisdiction of the Court of Auditors, which saw the Presidency of the Council of Ministers necessarily represented by the Bar, led to the devolution of disputes on the career and economic treatment of accounting magistrates to administrative jurisdiction.

The State Attorney's Office carries out its legal aid before the Constitutional Court in the following types of proceedings:

• Judgments on the constitutional legitimacy of laws or acts having the force of law promoted incidentally in another proceeding;
• Primarily challenging laws or acts having the force of law;
• Conflict of attribution between State powers, between State and Regions;
• Judgments on the admissibility of repealing referendums.

In such proceedings before the Constitutional Court, the State Attorney's Office represents and defends the President of the Council of Ministers or the Minister delegated by him for participation in the proceedings (Art. 20 L.11 March 1953, n. 87).
The President of the Council of Ministers intervenes in proceedings before the Constitutional Court also on matters that fall within the competence of other Ministries (Cost. Court sentence n.1 of 1956).
As in general for all State Administrations that are party to proceedings before a Judicial Authority, the assistance in court of the President of the Council of Ministers or of the individual Minister is the exclusive responsibility of the State Attorney's Office.
The competence to appear in proceedings before the Constitutional Court lies with the Attorney General of the State based in Rome (art. 9 L. 3 April 1979, n.103).
Even the appearance of the State Attorney General before the Constitutional Court, like other cases, does not require the presentation of a mandate (art. 12 of the Royal Decree of 30 October 1933, n. 1611 and Constitutional Court, sentence n. 6 of 1969).
Representation before the Constitutional Court lies with the State Attorney General or his deputy (art. 203 of Law no. 87 of 11 March 1953). This highlights in particular how the importance of the defense in said judgments in any case involves the responsibility of the head of the legal profession.
However, the State Attorney's Office is not present before the Constitutional Court in prosecution proceedings brought against the President of the Republic, in which there is no possibility for the State to join as a civil party.

Judgments on the constitutional legitimacy of laws or acts having the force of law promoted incidentally in another proceeding

The State Attorney's Office intervenes, representing the President of the Council of Ministers or a Minister delegated by him, in incidental constitutional legitimacy judgments that take place before the Constitutional Court.
The intervention of the President of the Council of Ministers takes place with the filing of the deductions.
The appearance in court of the State Attorney General does not take place unless at the request of the President of the Council of Ministers, with the Government, through the technical body representing the court, demonstrating the Government's political interest in the preservation of the subject law of the Constitutional Court syndicate.
The intervention of the President of the Council of Ministers does not give rise to an intervention in the strict sense (Cost. Court sentence No. 1 of 1956) and therefore does not prevent the question of constitutional legitimacy from being decided equally in chambers when there is no was the constitution of the parts of the main proceedings in which it was raised (Constitutional Court no. 210 of 1983).
The Attorney General of the State can intervene on behalf of the President of the Regional Council in the judgment of constitutional legitimacy on an incidental basis which concerns laws of Regions which make use of its compulsory or optional patronage (link to the section dedicated to the patronage of the Regions).
The provisions mentioned for the Regions also apply when one of the two Provinces of Trentino-Alto Adige is interested in the proceedings (art. 36 L. 11 March 1953, n. 87).

Primarily challenging laws or acts having the force of law

The Attorney General of the State proposes to the Constitutional Court the question of the principal constitutional legitimacy of a regional law at the request of the President of the Council of Ministers, following a resolution of the Council of Ministers (art. 312 L. 11 March 1953, n. 87 ).
The request does not have to take a particular form, but can be expressed, from time to time, in the form appropriate to the specific case (Constitutional Court no. 147 of 1972).
The act introducing the judgment is directed to the Constitutional Court and is notified to the President of the Regional Council (art. 312 L. 11 March 1953, n. 87).
The State Attorney General also participates as a representative of the President of the Council of Ministers in the constitutional legitimacy proceedings brought before the Constitutional Court primarily by a Region against a law or an act having the force of law of the State or against a law of a 'other Region.

Conflict of attribution between State powers, between State and Regions

Subject to a resolution by the Council of Ministers (art.23, letter g of law 23 April 1988, no. 400), the State Attorney General participates, representing the President of the Council of Ministers or a Minister delegated for this purpose, in the judgments before the Constitutional Court having as their object the resolution of conflicts of attribution between State powers (Articles 20 and 37 L.11 March 1953, n.87).
The State Attorney's Office appears before the Constitutional Court as the direct representative of the Minister concerned only when the conflict concerns the administrative powers conferred on it by law.
The other parties to the proceedings, if they do not appear personally, must be represented and defended by freelancers authorized to practice before the higher jurisdictions. When brought by or against the Government or a Minister, the State Attorney's Office lends its legal aid only in favor of the latter, even if the judgment also concerns another State power which makes institutional use of the Institute's patronage .
The appeal is proposed in the interest of the President of the Council of Ministers and must contain a summary explanation of the reasons for the conflict as well as an indication of the constitutional rules that regulate the matter.

Judgments on the admissibility of repealing referendums

The State Attorney General also represents the Government in judgments regarding the admissibility of abrogating referendums before the Constitutional Court provided for by art. 75 of the Constitution and art. 2 of the Constitutional Law. 11 March 1953, n. 1.

The representation and defense activity in court carried out by the State Attorney's Office presents characteristics of absolute originality compared to the professional activity of the lawyers of the free court, precisely as a consequence of the role it plays as a state body institutionally responsible for the legal defense of public administrations and the care of related public interests.
Civil judgments constitute the procedural venue, the place of choice for the defense of the patrimonial and non-patrimonial sphere of the State, in which the peculiarities of the legal profession's litigation activity and the prerogatives by which it is assisted are more clearly understood, instrumental to the purpose of that defence, especially with reference to the regulation of the revenue court , the regime of notification of judicial documents and the conformation of the ius postulandi .
Unlike the systems adopted in other systems, the Lawyer's Office provides, in the exercise of its patronage, not so much and not only for the direct protection of the interests of the individual administrations or entities sponsored, but rather for the pursuit of the general and exclusive interests of the State in its unity, which can also transcend the peculiar ones constituted by the defeat or victory in individual cases.
From this perspective, the principle of compulsory legal aid and exclusivity of defense reserved to the State Attorney's Office is founded: the jus postulandi attributed to it is understood by the law in its broadest sense.
There is no shortage of hypotheses contemplated by the law, in which public administrations can take legal action directly by making use of their own employees (this is the case of art. 417 bis cpc, on labor disputes, or also of art. 23 of law no. 689/81 regarding opposition to orders - injunction), but this is still a possibility foreseen to an extent limited to individual types of judgements.
In civil proceedings, therefore, the State can only be represented by the Lawyers' Office: it is no coincidence that the possibility of delegation to officials of the administration concerned or to legal attorneys (provided for by art. 2 TU n. 1611/33) concerns only judgments that take place outside the premises of the Lawyer's offices.
The peculiarity of the institutional role played by the state legal body is also reflected in the rule referred to in the art. 1, 2nd paragraph, of TU n. 1611/33, where we read verbatim that "lawyers and state prosecutors do not need a mandate in the exercise of their functions, not even in cases in which the ordinary rules require a special mandate, as long as it consists of their quality ".
The powers conferred by law on state lawyers are, thus, much broader than those of freelance defenders with power of attorney; in fact, by virtue of their qualification they can carry out, even without a special mandate, all procedural acts that the ordinary rules of procedure prohibit to defenders with power of attorney who do not have a special mandate or power of attorney.
However, it should be clarified that the now consolidated orientation in jurisprudence ignores the power of the State Attorney's Office to dispose of the disputed substantive law (see Cass., 2 February 1973, n.321; CdS, section IV, 7 March 1978, n. 178; CdS, 6 May 1980, n. 502; CdS, section IV, 6 April 2000, n. 1995), ownership of which is, consequently, reserved to the administration.
The principle derives from a precise legislative choice of clear division of tasks between state bodies: the State Attorney's Office formally has the position of the lawyer and the Administration that of the client, so it is only the latter that can dispose of "its" right .
It is clear, therefore, that the procedural representation of the Lawyer does not also entail the "substantial" representation of the PA
Pursuant to art. 1, 2nd paragraph of the aforementioned TU, the Lawyer's Office can, however, carry out all those procedural acts (such as, for example, the renunciation of the judicial documents) which, although not constituting a provision of the disputed substantive law, can nevertheless lead to substantial nature.
The fullness of the powers attributed by the art. 1, 2nd paragraph, cited above, is clearly manifested in relation to the powers of technical management of the dispute, the exercise of the various procedural faculties, and the useful conduct of the case.
It will therefore be the Lawyer's Office that decides when and how to start a dispute, and how to manage it, whether to propose a regulation of jurisdiction or competence, whether to decline arbitration jurisdiction, whether to appeal and what to object to. The management will remain totally entrusted to it even when it resorts, for representation in court, to freelancers or officials who must strictly comply with the instructions received.
As regards the methods of attributing the patronage of the State Attorney's Office to public bodies other than the State, the regulations are dictated by art. 43 TU n. 1611/33, which subordinates the provision of patronage to such bodies to the prior issuing of state authorisation, which can be given, first of all, by law, at the time of the establishment of the body or subsequently; it can also be contained in a regulation or in another measure approved by presidential decree (in this case we speak of so-called authorized patronage).
If such authorization has occurred, the representation of the aforementioned bodies is assumed by the State Attorney's Office on an organic and exclusive basis, except in cases of conflict of interest with the State and the Regions.
The authorized bodies are, therefore, obliged to be supported by the Lawyer's Office, without being able, in general, to object to this. Only in special cases, and subject to a reasoned resolution to be submitted to the supervisory bodies, will the entities themselves be able not to avail themselves of the State Attorney's Office (art. 11, 2nd paragraph, law 103/79, which has profoundly innovated the matter).
Consequently, it cannot be accepted that the State Attorney's Office is supported, in the exercise of its legal tasks, by professionals from the free legal profession, nor that bodies benefiting from authorized legal aid then make use of its activity only occasionally.
It should be clarified, however, that this regime only concerns entities which, due to their connection with the state structure or the interpenetration of their functions with those of the State, have very limited margins of autonomy.
The discipline is different for entities with true autonomy, among which the Regions emerge particularly clearly, for which it can be said that two competing defense systems coexist.
The first provides for the possibility for them to avail themselves organically and exclusively of the patronage of the Lawyers' Office, subject to the adoption of a resolution by the Regional Council (art. 10 of law 103/79). The second allows the Regions to request representation and defense in court from the Bar only occasionally, in relation to individual cases, without the need for a general resolution, pursuant to art. 107 Presidential Decree 616/77, which provides the Regions with the right to make use of the "technical bodies of the State".
In any case, differences between the legal profession and the Regions regarding the initiation of proceedings or resistance to the same are always resolved by the Regions themselves, as is also provided for authorized bodies (art. 12, 2nd paragraph, law 103/79 ).

The State Attorney's Office represents and defends the public administrations that avail themselves of its patronage before all administrative justice bodies.
The State Attorney General provides representation and defense of public administrations in proceedings before the Council of State and the Regional Administrative Courts based in the Lazio region.
As an act of the first instance process, however, the request for regulation of competence to the Council of State, pursuant to art. 31 Law 6 December 1971, n. 1034, is ritually signed by the State Attorney who defends the Administration at first instance, even if he belongs to a District Attorney's Office and not to the General Attorney's Office.
The State District Attorneys' Offices, each in their own district of competence, provide representation and defense of the public administrations in proceedings before the Regional Administrative Court which has its seat in the regional or provincial capital in which the individual District Attorney's Office is located. The District Attorney's Office of the State of Turin also has jurisdiction over proceedings taking place before the Regional Administrative Court of Valle d'Aosta.
The District Attorney's Office of the State of Palermo also provides representation and defense of public administrations before the Administrative Justice Council for the Sicilian Region.
Before the bodies of Administrative Justice, the patronage of the State Attorney's Office in favor of state public administrations is mandatory and exclusive.
Only in the proceedings referred to in article 25, paragraphs 5 et seq., of law 7 August 1990, number 241, the Administration may exceptionally be represented and defended by one of its employees, provided that he holds the qualification of manager and is duly authorized (article 4, law 21 July 2000 n.205).
The judicial initiative of the State Attorney General requires the consent of the represented Administration, but the existence of such consent is relevant exclusively in internal relations, while it does not affect the validity of the procedural documents.
Although it does not have the interest alleged in the proceedings, in relation to third parties, therefore, the State Attorney's Office enjoys full autonomy and independence in deciding the conduct in the case and can carry out any procedural act, with the sole limitation of the prohibition on taking alone procedural initiatives that affect political-administrative interests of particular importance of the Administration represented.
The regulation of the patronage of the State Attorney's Office in favor of state public administrations also extends to the Regions with ordinary statute and special statute which make use of its patronage on an exclusive mandatory basis.
The State Attorney's Office also intervenes in court for the Regions and non-territorial public bodies authorized to make use of its ministry on an optional basis.
Before the Administrative Judges, the State Attorney's Office can intervene on behalf of the public administrations it sponsors, whatever the procedural position they assume during the proceedings and therefore whether it concerns the defendant administration or the intervening administration or Appellant Administration regarding measures of other Administrations.