Description
Persons who are entitled to practice as a self-employed lawyer in a Member State of the European Union, in another Contracting State to the Agreement on the European Economic Area or in Switzerland under one of the professional titles listed in the Annex to the Act on the Activities of European Lawyers in Germany (EuRAG) may apply to the competent examination offices for a determination of the equivalence of their professional qualification.
With the determination of equivalence, the applicant can obtain admission to the bar in Germany. In addition to practicing as a European lawyer, the applicant is thus able to practice as a lawyer in Germany within the meaning of Section 12 (4) of the Federal Lawyers' Act (BRAO).
If the equivalence of the professional qualification is successfully established, the admission to the bar does not depend on the requirements of an integration according to §§ 11 ff. EuRAG. In particular, admission to the bar does not depend on the fact that the applicant has already exercised a three-year effective and regular activity as a European lawyer in Germany.
Procedure
The determination of the equivalence of a professional qualification acquired abroad is made upon application.
The competent examination office for the federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Saxony is the State Judicial Examination Office of Baden-Württemberg as the "Joint Examination Office of the State of Baden-Württemberg and the Free States of Bavaria and Saxony".
The aptitude test for admission to the bar is also conducted in Germany by the following examination offices:
- Joint Examination Office of the states of Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Thuringia for the taking of the aptitude test for admission to the bar, and
- Joint Examination Office of the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein.
The Examination Office determines the equivalence of a professional qualification from abroad if the professional qualification acquired there includes those skills that are essential for practicing the profession of lawyer in Germany.
If such equivalence cannot be established, the applicant has the possibility to prove his qualification by passing an aptitude test.
Once the equivalence of the training has been established, the competent bar association shall proceed with the admission to the bar.