Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, any person holding a

Magister's degree A magister degree (also magistar, female form: magistra; from , "teacher") is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education. The magister degree arose in medieval universities in Europe and was originally equal to the doctorate; ...

in law (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

: ''magister prawa'') is called a

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

().

Lawyers

Polish lawyers may work in

licensed A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

legal professions A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as wel ...

public administration Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

tax services A tax advisor or tax consultant is a person with advanced training and knowledge of tax law. The services of a tax advisor are usually retained in order to minimize taxation while remaining compliant with the law in complicated financial situations ...

and

governmental agencies A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...

. Since a

legal entity In law, a legal person is any person or legal entity that can do the things a human person is usually able to do in law – such as enter into contracts, lawsuit, sue and be sued, ownership, own property, and so on. The reason for the term "''le ...

can be represented in a court of law by its employees, companies do not employ advocates or attorneys-at-law but instead rely on in-house lawyers, counsellors or associates not admitted to the bar. Because an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuran ...

can act for any person under

Polish law The Polish law or legal system in Poland has been developing since the first centuries of Polish history, over 1,000 years ago. The public and private laws of Poland are codified. The supreme law in Poland is the Constitution of Poland. Po ...

, some lawyers do what in the UK is done by solicitors. Thus, specialized persons write legal agreements, conduct negotiations, or execute debts. Polish law expressly permits persons with Magister's degree in law to provide legal counselling. In the reasons for judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal of 26 November 2003 (ref. no. SK 22/02), the view was expressed for the first time that the provisions in force in Poland allow persons holding a Magister's degree in law to carry out legal counselling on their own account. A consequence of the judgment was the legal sanctioning of legal counselling offices run by persons who graduated from

law schools A law school (also known as a law centre/center, college of law, or faculty of law) is an institution, professional school, or department of a college or university specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for bec ...

but do not belong to

bar association A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence.

s. The person with qualifying legal education can work as: * counsellor at law, legal counsellor or legal advisor (

: ''doradca prawny'') who provides

legal advice Legal advice is the giving of a professional or formal opinion regarding the substance or procedure of the law in relation to a particular factual situation. The provision of legal advice will often involve analyzing a set of facts and advising a p ...

, drafts documents and

legal opinion In law, a legal opinion is in certain jurisdictions a written explanation by a judge or group of judges that accompanies an order or ruling in a case, laying out the rationale and legal principles for the ruling. Opinions are in those jurisdi ...

s; with a permanent contract of commission with a client, a counsellor has

power of attorney A power of attorney (POA) or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs (which may be financial or regarding health and welfare), business, or some other legal matter. The person auth ...

administrative proceeding Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regulations"), adjudica ...

s and selected

civil proceedings Civil law is a major "branch of the law", in common law legal systems such as those in England and Wales and in the United States, where it stands in contrast to criminal law.Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 19 ...

Licensed legal professions

The licensed legal professions are as follows: * judge (); * prosecutor (), a legal representative of the State, except for trials involving the Treasury, their primary duties include

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

, supervision over police investigations and acting on behalf of

public interest In social science and economics, public interest is "the welfare or well-being of the general public" and society. While it has earlier philosophical roots and is considered to be at the core of democratic theories of government, often paired ...

in all trials; * counsel of the State Attorney Office (), a legal representative of the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

where significant State property is at stake, their representation is also mandatory in all trials involving the Treasury at central courts, *legislative counsel (

: ''legislator''), a legal profession whose practice consists in providing professional assistance to public authorities in the law-making process, * advocate (), whose primary function is to provide legal assistance, prepare

s and drafts of

legislative act Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to a ...

s, and represent persons before a court in civil, administrative and criminal trials; * attorney at law (), whose primary function is to provide legal assistance, prepare

s and drafts of

s, and represent persons before a court in civil, administrative and criminal trials; * notary (), whose job consists of a blend of

civil law notary Civil-law notaries, or Latin notaries, are lawyers of contentious jurisdiction, noncontentious private law, private civil law (legal system), civil law who draft, take, and record legal instruments for private parties, provide legal advice and gi ...

and notary public duties; * bailiff (), a

public officer Public administration, or public policy and administration refers to "the management of public programs", or the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day",Kettl, Donald and James Fessler. 2009. ''The Politics of the ...

(but not an official) whose primary function is to execute court's decisions concerning civil claims. Some legal professions may also be performed by graduates in other specific disciplines, such as economics or engineering. They require an appropriate admission examination to be passed; as such, lawyers are authorised to represent persons before courts in matters related to their profession. Such professions include: * tax advisor (), whose primary function is to advise persons in tax matters, represent them before courts and State authorities in tax matters and perform other activities related to

tax law Tax law or revenue law is an area of legal study in which public or sanctioned authorities, such as federal, state and municipal governments (as in the case of the US) use a body of rules and procedures (laws) to assess and collect taxes in a ...

; * patent attorney (), whose job consists of providing legal assistance in

industrial property Industrial property is one of two subsets of intellectual property (the other being copyright), it takes a range of forms, including patents for inventions, industrial designs (aesthetic creations related to the appearance of industrial produc ...

matters.

Standard of courtesy – ''Mecenas''

In modern Polish language, '' mecenas'' is an honorific title addressed to a person working in a legal profession and authorised to appear in a court of law on behalf of a client – advocates and attorneys at law.

The distinction between advocates and attorneys at law

The division between ''adwokat'' and ''radca prawny'' was created by a 1959 law that forbade advocates from advising socialised economy units (primarily

state enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

s and

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

s, which were the dominant form of economic activity in the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...

) and introduced the new profession of ''radca prawny'' for that purpose. Advocates and attorneys at law have their independent

bar association A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence.

s (both are members of the

Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) is an association gathering together bar associations of 32 countries in Europe (those of the European Union, of the European Economic Area and of Switzerland), The United Kingdom, and an add ...

); membership is obligatory for those willing to practice the respective profession: :* Advocates: The National Bar Council of Advocates (ca 7,600 members); :* Attorneys-at-law: The National Bar Council of Attorneys-at-Law (ca 50,000 members). Currently, admission to the National Bar Council of Advocates is open to the National Bar Council of Attorneys-at-Law members and vice versa. Lawyers can be members of both bar associations simultaneously; however, they cannot practice both professions concurrently. Since 2015, the position and rights of advocates and attorneys at law are identical in almost all matters, leading to public discussion on the unification of the two professions. Legal regulations regarding the two professions slightly differ: :* Attorneys at law can enter into any

employment contract An employment contract or contract of employment is a kind of contract used in labour law to attribute rights and responsibilities between parties to a bargain. The contract is between an "employee" and an "employer". It has arisen out of the old m ...

while practising their profession; however, if they defend persons charged in criminal trials, they cannot remain employed under an employment contract; :* Advocates cannot enter into any

while practising their profession (this includes being hired as an in-house lawyer or as an

associate attorney An associate attorney is a lawyer and an employee of a law firm who does not hold an ownership interest as a partner. Types Practicing attorney An associate may be a junior or senior attorney, but normally does not hold an ownership interest in ...

salaried partner A partnership is an agreement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments or combinations. Organizations m ...

at a law firm, although it is commonly evaded through

self-employment Self-employment is the state of working for oneself rather than an employer. Tax authorities will generally view a person as self-employed if the person chooses to be recognised as such or if the person is generating income for which a tax return ...

); The two bar associations have their own rules and

ethical code Ethical codes are adopted by organizations to assist members in understanding the difference between right and wrong and in applying that understanding to their decisions. An ethical code generally implies documents at three levels: codes of b ...

s according to which: :*Attorneys at law are allowed to publish information about their services (advertisement is forbidden); advocates' rules in this matter are much stricter; :*Advocates are subject to significant limitations applying to the kind of business activities that they are allowed to undertake; the following actions are forbidden by the Advocates' Code of Ethics as colliding with the advocate's profession, while they are fully allowed to be performed by attorneys at law: :::- holding the manager's position in another person's business entity; :::- holding the position of a member of the management board or proxy in commercial partnerships and companies, except for law firms; :::- acting as a regular commercial agent; :::- running the same office with a person rendering other services, if they collide with advocates' ethical rule While the Polish term ''radca prawny'' was usually literally translated to a legal advisor, in 2018, the bar adopted ''attorney at law'' as the official translation to avoid a misconception that its members only provide legal consultation and advice, rather than the full range of legal services, including representing their clients in courts.

Admission to practice law

There are no bar associations for judges and public prosecutors. The

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

is in charge of the administration of the professions, while the

President of the Republic of Poland The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executiv ...

appoints judges. Advocates, attorneys at law, notaries, bailiffs, patent attorneys, and tax advisors have their bar associations. There are several ways of admission to the bar. As to advocates and attorneys at law, the following options are available:Act of 26 May 1982 – Law on AdvocatesAct of 6 July 1982 on Legal Advisors *

in law followed by apprenticeship (

: ''aplikacja'') and bar exam; * Magister's degree in law followed by five years of legal professional experience and bar exam; * Doctorate in law followed by either bar exam or three years of legal professional experience; * High academic qualification in legal sciences (

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

professorship Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a 'person who professes'. Professors ...

Apprenticeship (''aplikacja'')

An examination for admission to bar apprenticeship for advocates and attorneys at law is a written test. A hundred out of a hundred and fifty points guarantee admission. The examination covers: 1)

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

and

criminal procedure Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail ...

; 2)

infraction A summary offence or petty offence is a violation in some common law jurisdictions that can be proceeded against summarily, without the right to a jury trial and/or indictment (required for an indictable offence). Canada In Canada, summary of ...

law and infraction court proceedings; 3) financial criminal law and financial criminal proceedings; 4) civil law and

civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and regulations along with some standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or ca ...

; 5)

family law Family law (also called matrimonial law or the law of domestic relations) is an area of the law that deals with family matters and domestic relations. Overview Subjects that commonly fall under a nation's body of family law include: * Marriag ...

; 6) public

economic law Economic law is a set of legal rules for regulating economic activity.Ferdinand Joseph Maria Feldbrugge, Gerard Pieter van den Berg, William B. Simons (1985) "Encyclopedia of Soviet Law", '' BRILL'', O. S. (Olimpiad Solomonovich) Ioffe, Mark W. Ja ...

; 7) commercial companies and partnerships law; 8)

labour law Labour laws (also spelled as labor laws), labour code or employment laws are those that mediate the relationship between workers, employing entities, trade unions, and the government. Collective labour law relates to the tripartite relationship be ...

and

social security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

regulations; 9)

administrative law Administrative law is a division of law governing the activities of government agency, executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law includes executive branch rulemaking (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regul ...

and administrative procedure; 10)

administrative court An administrative court is a type of specialized court on administrative law, particularly disputes concerning the exercise of public power. Their role is to ascertain that official acts are consistent with the law. Such courts are usually co ...

proceedings; 11)

European Union law European Union law is a system of Supranational union, supranational Law, laws operating within the 27 member states of the European Union (EU). It has grown over time since the 1952 founding of the European Coal and Steel Community, to promote ...

; 12)

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

; 13) organization of justice in Poland. Bar training for advocates and attorneys at law lasts for three years and consists of theoretical and practical courses. Each trainee (

: ''aplikant'') has a patron, who must be a practitioner from the respective bar. The bar examination is a written exam that lasts four days and consists of preparing various documents and briefs in the following areas: criminal law, civil or family law, commercial law, administrative law, ethics. Bar training for notaries is slightly shorter (two and a half years) and covers different areas of law.

National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution

The body in charge of training for future judges and public prosecutors is the National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

. After one year of general training, the candidates proceed to specialised training for another thirty months. Then, trainee judges serve apprenticeships as

law clerk A law clerk, judicial clerk, or judicial assistant is a person, often a lawyer, who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by Legal research, researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial ...

s (twelve months) and as referendaries (

: ''referendarz''). A similar apprenticeship is required for future public prosecutors.Act of 23 January 2009 on The National School of Judiciary and Public Prosecution

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawyers In Poland Professional certification in law