Mandatory Bar Exam

In Croatia, the Croatian Bar Association today solemnly marks the 34th Day of Croatian Lawyers, during which a round table on the topic ‘Access to Legal Services’ has been organized.

The necessary qualifications for the legal profession were discussed, and it was stated that the regulations are inconsistent and should be revised. Current regulations require a person wishing to apply for a lawyer to have not only a law degree but also a minimum of three years of practice with a lawyer, in court, at the state attorney’s office, or in a public notary’s office, and to have passed the bar exam. A lawyer wishing to become a judge must also pass a final exam at the State School for Judicial Officials, while a judge wishing to become a lawyer does not need to take any additional exam.

The Croatian Bar Association believes that a special bar exam should be introduced for lawyers, as was the case earlier when the bar exam consisted of two exams – judicial and legal.

– This is a simple and economical solution that would allow candidates who wish to become judges or lawyers to take exams that are fundamentally equal in terms of knowledge of legislation, but still need to differ based on the specifics of the judicial or legal profession. Experience shows that a lawyer wishing to become a judge must, despite knowing the regulations and court operations, change their legal thinking when they become a judge. The same applies to a judge wishing to become a lawyer, said the president of the Zadar Bar Association, Ivo Brkić.

As part of this year’s Day of Lawyers, the sixth meeting of the presidents of bar associations from Central and Eastern Europe was also held. Discussions focused on legal services in the EU internal market, specifically the specifics and problems of national legal service markets in Central and Eastern European countries.

– Unity and cooperation in defending not only continental law in our countries but also in preventing the erosion of the status and social role of the legal profession are necessary at the EU level, said the president of the Croatian Bar Association, Robert Travaš.

He warned that some activities of the European Commission in implementing the EU Services Directive are attempting to undermine the independence of the legal profession and reintroduce a concept that would ultimately fragment or completely destroy bar associations. In this way, Travaš believes, organized legal practice would be weakened or neutralized in the name of some alleged complete liberalization of access to legal services. This concept was abandoned in 2011 when the Vice-President of the European Commission, Viviane Reding, noted that it would create a completely opposite effect and would certainly lead to a decline in the quality of legal services. However, despite this, the Croatian Bar Association believes that there is an attempt to achieve the liberalization of legal services through indirect means.

The Day of Lawyers is also dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the death of Dr. Ivo Politeo, a lawyer who dedicated his life to the legal profession and the bar association. The International Union of Lawyers entrusted Dr. Politeo with the drafting of the Professional Ethical Code, which has been the foundation of legal ethics since 1954.

This ceremonial gathering was attended by representatives of the International Union of Lawyers, the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia, the academic community, foreign bar associations, and many other dignitaries. The Day of Croatian Lawyers concludes tonight with a ball at the Westin Hotel in Zagreb.