Do you want to become a lawyer? If you are not a child of art, it is one of the most difficult professions to undertake due to the long course of study and the numerous competition (in Italy there are more than two hundred thousand). On the other hand, if you have what it takes, this profession can be very rewarding, even from an economic point of view. In this article you will find the necessary steps to become a lawyer in Italy.
Steps
Method 1 of 7: Prepare for University
Step 1. Go to high school
A good lawyer must have a solid humanistic culture. Of course, it is possible to graduate in law even after having attended a technical institute, but students who come from high school (classical or scientific) have an edge.
- Write and read a lot. A lawyer must be able to master the Italian language perfectly (both written and spoken). To do this, it is not enough just to study grammar, but it is necessary to practice writing and reading. If you find it difficult to get a pass in Italian, probably a forensic career is not for you.
- Do not neglect the study of philosophy. Among the humanities taught in high school, philosophy is among the most useful because it develops the ability to analyze and the ability to reason in the abstract, which are essential skills of every jurist (he must be able to split a hair in four, to put it in simple terms). If you get low marks in philosophy despite your best efforts, you'd better give up on getting a law degree.
- Study English or another foreign language. Perfect knowledge of one or more foreign languages could open the doors of an international law firm to you.
Method 2 of 7: Enroll in a Faculty of Law
Step 1. Choose your faculty
The law degree course is offered by many universities in Italy. Not all of them enjoy the same prestige: the most prestigious faculties are generally also the most difficult. Other faculties, on the other hand, are known precisely for being easier. If you are ambitious and have good skills, don't look for shortcuts, which could only tarnish your resume.
Step 2. Prepare for the admission tests
Many law faculties now have a programmed number of students and therefore it is necessary to pass an entrance test. The tests generally concern the understanding of functional or complex legal texts, the assessment of basic language skills as well as assessing your historical knowledge and issues of social, political and economic importance.
- Practice. Take the tests assigned in previous years. There are also some exercise books on the market that can offer you valuable help.
- Read legal texts. It is useful to become familiar with the legal texts. Start with those of the first year and don't try to memorize at this stage, but just focus on understanding the text.
Method 3 of 7: Take the Degree Course
Step 1. Attend classes
In law degree courses, it is generally not compulsory to attend lectures. However, frequency is very important because:
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Get in touch with the professors. You can interact with the teachers, ask questions, take notes. On the exam they may remember you and that will make things easier for you.
Become a Lawyer in the United States Step 10 - Get to know your fellow students. In this way you can exchange notes, information, tips on exams.
Step 2. Give your all, especially in core subjects
It is important to acquire a solid foundation in fundamental subjects such as civil law and civil procedure, criminal law and criminal procedure, knowledge of which is essential first of all to pass the bar exam.
Step 3. Dedicate yourself to the dissertation
The preparation of the degree thesis is one of the most formative steps of the degree program. Don't look for shortcuts, but rather look for a professor to follow you and help you set up the work.
Method 4 of 7: Do the Forensic Practice
Step 1. Search for the studio where to practice
It is essential to find a law firm that allows you to do good forensic practice. Avoid overspecialized studies. Becoming a patent or tax lawyer won't help you pass the exam. The ideal is to find a multidisciplinary study that deals with both civil and criminal law and that allows you to practice in both areas. The lawyer with whom the practice is carried out is called, in the forensic jargon, dominus.
Step 2. Sign up in the register of practicing lawyers
Apply to the Council of the Bar Association to register in the register of practitioners. The internship lasts eighteen months and can also be carried out at the same time as a subordinate employment activity, as long as it is compatible in terms of working hours and as long as there are no situations of conflict of interest (for example, if the study where you want to carry out the practice has litigation pending against your employer). The internship is usually carried out with a lawyer, who must have been enrolled in the register for at least five years. Part of the internship can be done:
- For no more than 12 months: at the State Attorney's Office or at the legal office of a public body or at a judicial office;
- For no more than six months: in another country of the European Union, with a legal professional qualified to practice the profession, whose title is equivalent to that of a lawyer;
- For no more than six months: during the last year of the degree course, if an agreement to that effect has been stipulated between your university and the bar;
- Furthermore, if you have graduated from a specialization school for the legal professions this is evaluated as equal to one year of internship;
Step 3. Attend the hearings
To validate the practice you must attend at least 20 hearings every six months. Attention that these must be hearings with actual procedural activity, hearings of mere referral are not valid.
Step 4. Draw up procedural documents
A good law firm where to practice must allow you to draw up procedural documents (or at least participate in their drafting), essential for the preparation, as well as mandatory for the validation of the practice. If you are put to photocopying rather than writing, it is better if you are looking for another studio where you can practice.
Step 5. Perform professional activity as a substitute
If you have already completed your degree and have carried out an internship for at least six months, you can start sponsoring directly, albeit as a substitute for your dominus. In practice, this mainly means attending hearings alone, but the dominus still remains responsible for your actions. In particular, you can sponsor:
- In civil matters: before the court and the justice of the peace;
- In the criminal field: before the justice of the peace in proceedings under the jurisdiction of the justice of the peace, as well as before the court for contravention and other crimes already within the jurisdiction of the praetor.
Step 6. Study
Don't be reduced to the last few months to prepare for the qualification exam. The best thing to do is to combine practical activity with study. So, if, for example, your dominus entrusts you with the task of drafting an eviction for arrears, you will take the opportunity to study the rules on validating the eviction and the lease rite, as well as to study and deepen the discipline of the lease and the rules on termination for default.
- Use the library of the firm or the council of the order. The texts you studied at university are probably not enough for adequate preparation. You can save on the purchase of books by using the library of the study where you practice and / or the library of your council of the order.
- Follow the jurisprudential news. Here, too, you should take advantage of the resources of the firm and / or the council of the bar, which will normally be subscribed to databases and the main legal journals. Online legal journals, mostly free, are also useful.
- Practice writing. It is important to write a lot during the preparation. If you practice good legal practice, you will already be writing many court documents, but don't neglect to train yourself to write opinions. It is also important to keep your grammar and spelling knowledge fresh.
- Take a training course. Following the 2012 forensic reform, it is now mandatory to follow a training course lasting at least 18 months. The courses can be organized by professional associations, trade associations or other authorized subjects. Better to privilege the forensic schools of the councils of the order. The didactic load of the courses is at least 160 hours overall. Emphasis is placed on: the legal language, the drafting of judicial documents, the appealing technique of judicial measures and administrative acts, the technique of drafting the out-of-court opinion and the research technique.
Method 5 of 7: Take the Qualifying Exam
Step 1. Buy up-to-date codes to take to your writings
Starting from the 2015 exam session, it will no longer be possible to use commented codes.
Step 2. Take the written tests
The written tests are carried out on the topics formulated by the Minister of Justice and have as their object:
- The drafting of a reasoned opinion, to be chosen between two issues on the subject regulated by the civil code;
- The drafting of a reasoned opinion, to be chosen between two matters regulated by the criminal code;
- The drafting of a judicial document that requires knowledge of substantive law and procedural law, on a question proposed, on the subject chosen by the candidate from among private law, criminal law and administrative law.
Step 3. Prepare for the oral
Do not wait to know the results of the written tests to prepare for the oral exam. The test is quite heavy and many candidates fail. Study on manuals that are well updated, and keep up to date: it is easy for the examiners to ask questions about the latest legislative changes.
Step 4. Take the oral exam
During the oral exam you must illustrate your written tests and answer on the following subjects: forensic law and ethics, civil law, criminal law, civil procedural law, criminal procedural law; as well as two other subjects, previously chosen by you from among the following: constitutional law, administrative law, labor law, commercial law, community and international private law, tax law, ecclesiastical law, judicial and penitentiary systems.
Step 5. Get the certificate
After the successful completion of the qualification exam, you will be issued a certificate for enrollment in the register of lawyers.
Step 6. Join the register and make the solemn commitment
Once you have obtained the certificate, you can register with the competent register in relation to your professional domicile. Having obtained the registration, in order to exercise it is necessary to make a solemn commitment before the council of the order by reciting the following formula: "Aware of the dignity of the legal profession and its social function, I undertake to observe the duties with loyalty, honor and diligence of the profession of lawyer for the purposes of justice and to protect the client in the forms and according to the principles of our legal system"
Method 6 of 7: The Alternative Ways to the Qualification Exam
Step 1. Judiciary and state advocacy
You can enroll in the Bar Association without taking the qualification exam if you have served as an ordinary magistrate, military magistrate, administrative or accounting magistrate, or state lawyer. In such cases, however, it is necessary that you have not incurred disciplinary sanctions (except for a simple censorship). Furthermore, for a period of two years you cannot practice the profession in the districts in which you have performed your functions in the last four years prior.
Step 2. University career
You can join the register if you are a tenured university professor in law after five years of teaching.
Method 7 of 7: Building Your Career
Step 1. Choose whether to open your own studio
Now that you're enabled, the big question is: are you ready to go on your own? Many young lawyers continue to work at the firm in which they practiced even after the qualification exam, for two reasons: on the one hand, opening your own firm requires a certain investment and fixed expenses that you might be especially at the beginning. not able to sustain. On the other hand, many young lawyers think it is useful to stay under the protective wing of their dominus in order to continue to have their own mentor and gain further experience before taking the plunge of setting out on their own.
Step 2. Consider associating with other colleagues
A very effective way to significantly reduce the investment required to open your own studio is to associate with other colleagues. The simplest solution is to limit yourself to dividing the expenses, but you can also evaluate the idea of setting up a real associated firm, therefore also dividing the earnings.
Step 3. Consider partnering with other professionals
A similar solution is to associate with other professionals, such as accountants and labor consultants. In this case we are talking about multidisciplinary studies, which are highly appreciated by clients for the wide range of services they offer.
Step 4. Consider working in a large law firm
In Italy, unlike in other countries, lawyers cannot be employees, but can only work as freelancers. However, it is common practice for larger law firms to use paid collaborators. In these cases you are not usually allowed to have your own customers, but you are paid a fixed salary.
Step 5. Get your clientele
Lawyers are not allowed to advertise with the exception of simple informative advertising on their professional activity, on the organization and structure of the firm and on any specializations and scientific and professional qualifications held. For example, you can open a website and illustrate what you do, but you cannot use banners or other tools that are not suited to professional dignity, nor make any type of comparison: you cannot write about being the best in your field or making prices. lower than the competition. These limits to the possibility of self-promotion dictate that you must be quite socially active to build and maintain a network of social relationships that allow you to acquire your clientele. And then, of course, you have to win the lawsuits.
Step 6. Respect customers
Your customers are your most precious capital, try to respect them. The basic rule in relations with customers is to keep them constantly informed. Upon granting the mandate, you must inform your client about the activities to be carried out and the possible solutions. In other words, you must be very clear on what, in your opinion, the real chances of winning the cause entrusted to you are. You must also inform the customer about the expected duration of the process and its cost. If requested, you must provide a quote as accurate as possible. If you collect any money on your customer's behalf, you must notify them immediately and pay them back as soon as possible. If the client owes you money in turn, you cannot still withhold the sums without his consent (unless it is legal fees paid by the judge). If there is any conflict of interest with your client, you must resign from the position.
Step 7. Specialize
Today more than ever it is not possible to be a handyman lawyer, but it is necessary to restrict the scope of what you deal with. Most lawyers work in only one, or at most two, of the three main professional macro-areas: civil law, criminal law and administrative law. Then there are further niches of specialization such as labor law, social security law, tax law and so on. Theoretically there is no assignment that you cannot carry out (except for registration in the register of cassation lawyers to exercise higher jurisdictions), but it is the ethical obligation of lawyers not to accept assignments that they know they cannot perform without adequate competence.. You can obtain the title of specialist in a specific subject, following a training course at least two years. Alternatively, you can obtain the title of specialist if you have been enrolled in the register for at least eight years and you can demonstrate that you have practiced your professional activity in one of the sectors of specialization in a regular, prevalent and continuous manner in the last five years. Finally, you can use the title of specialist if you are a university professor of the subject in question.
Step 8. Update yourself
As a lawyer, you have the obligation to ensure the continuous and constant updating of your professional competence in order to ensure the quality of professional services. On the one hand, you must fulfill the educational obligation by attending refresher courses, masters, seminars, conferences, study days and round tables (also online) study commissions, working groups. On the other hand, you must constantly update yourself on legislative and jurisprudential news. To this end, it is essential to have a constantly updated database and to follow one or more legal journals.
Advice
- Many enroll in law attracted by the prospect of becoming lawyers and earning a lot, but they have no real passion for the law. Do not enroll in law school if you find law boring or simply uninteresting: you will have to study it for the rest of your life.
- Do not study by heart, the law is made up of concepts that you must first understand.
- Buy a legal dictionary and absolutely avoid using a common dictionary: legal language is specialized and its terms have different meanings (or shades of meaning) than the common language.
Warnings
- The forensic internship does not in any way establish a subordinate employment relationship. The trainee is always entitled to reimbursement of expenses incurred on behalf of the study. With a specific contract, after six months of practice you can be awarded a fee or indemnity for the activity carried out.
- If you are in a hurry to start earning, do not attempt a legal career as it takes a long time to reach an adequate income.
- The profession of lawyer is incompatible with any other self-employed activity carried out continuously or professionally. Scientific, literary, artistic and cultural activities are exceptions. However, registration in the register of chartered accountants and accounting experts, in the list of publicists and in the register of auditors or in the register of labor consultants is permitted. Furthermore, it is incompatible with the exercise of any commercial enterprise activity, with the capacity of unlimitedly liable shareholder or director of a partnership carrying out a commercial activity, with the capacity of sole director or managing director of joint-stock companies, also in a cooperative form, with the capacity of chairman of the board of directors with individual management powers. Finally, it is incompatible with any subordinate employment activity even if carried out part-time, with the exception of teaching or research activities in legal subjects at universities, secondary schools and public research and experimentation institutions and bodies.
- Those enrolled in the register of lawyers must take out an insurance policy for civil liability and against accidents, as well as enroll in the social security fund, with the consequent obligation to pay pension contributions.
