LAWYER'S PROFESSION IN ROMANIA

Law is a fascinating field of study and profession. In Romania, the essential

condition for practicing law is the completion of a four-year Bachelor program at an
accredited law school. After graduation, students who want to become as lawyers must
pass the Bar exam, which is a multiple-choice exam with 100 questions.

In theory, a person can be a qualified lawyer in Romania at 22 years old. Unlike
the US, students in Romania do not need to complete any college or post-high school
education to enroll in a Law University and therefore, they can finish law school and be
eligible to take the Bar exam at 22.

After getting a law degree and passing the Bar exam, you can become a trainee
lawyer (avocat stagiar) and must practice, for two years, alongside a fully qualified
lawyer (avocat definitiv). As a trainee lawyer, you can only plead before low courts.
After two years of practice, trainee lawyers must pass an exam to become fully qualified
lawyers, who can plead before any court, except for the High Court of Justice and
Cassation.

In 2004, Law 255/2004 for the organization and exercise of the legal

profession was adopted. Under this law, the Romanian lawyers are obliged to wear a
robe in all court proceedings, regardless of whether it is a court of first instance, appeal
or the Supreme court.However, unlike the UK barristers and the Queen’s Counsel,
Romanian lawyers do not wear wigs!

In the UK, there are two types of practicing lawyers: solicitors and barristers.
Solicitors generally handle office work, whereas barristers plead cases in court.
Barristers depend on solicitors to provide them with trial work because they are not
allowed to accept work on their own.
 In Romania, there is no difference between lawyers, like
the barristers and solicitors. There is only one category of lawyer, the ‘avocat’
(attorney-at-law), who can draft legal paper, and also represents its clients in court.

In many countries, prosecutors are also lawyers who represent the state’s interests
in criminal proceedings. And in order to become prosecutor, you must first pass the Bar
exam and qualify as lawyer. However, under the Romanian legal system, a law graduate
can directly opt to take the Magistrate exam, which is a special school for graduates
who want to become judges or prosecutors. Therefore, a Romanian prosecutor does not
need to be a lawyer first.

The profession of lawyer is free and independent, with autonomous organization

and functioning, under the terms of this law and the status of the profession. It is
regulated by Law no. 51/1995 for the organization and exercise of the profession of
lawyer. This profession is exercised only by the lawyers registered in the panel of the
bar to which they belong, a bar component of the National Union of bars of Romania
(U.N.B.R).

The lawyer promotes and defends human rights, freedoms and legitimate
interests. The lawyer has the right to assist and represent natural and legal persons
before the courts of the judicial authority and other bodies of jurisdiction, criminal
prosecution bodies, public authorities and institutions, as well as before other natural or
legal persons, who have the obligation to allow and ensure the lawyer to conduct his
activity unhindered, in accordance with the law.

To become a lawyer, you must follow the following steps:

 To follow and complete the courses of a law school, after which to obtain
the bachelor’s degree;
 To pass an entrance exam in the profession / bar admission, organized at
least once a year by UNBR (National Union of bars of Romania), and at
 national level, within the National Institute for lawyers Training and
improvement (INPPA).
 To do a two-year internship / professional training (the duration of the
internship is calculated from the date of enrollment in the lawyers’ list).
“The professional traineeship represents the period covered at the
beginning of the profession and aims at the initial training and training of
the lawyer in order to obtain the professional title of permanent lawyer”,
reads the Statute of the lawyer profession. During the internship, the lawyer
carries out his activity with the professional title of trainee lawyer, under
which he is enrolled in the list of lawyers with the right to exercise the
profession.
 After completing the internship, you must take the completion exam. A
person can become a definitive lawyer only after being declared admitted
following an examination organized by UNBR (annually and nationally),
according to Law no. 51/1999 and the Statute of the lawyer profession, or
by passing the INPPA graduation exam. According to the rules in force, the
rejection of this examination three times inevitably leads to the exclusion
from the profession of the trainee lawyer.

At the same time, a definitive lawyer must attend the forms of continuous
professional training organized by the bar, INPPA or the forms of practicing the
profession.