In most countries, it is compulsory for lawyers to subscribe to permanent education. Below we share some insights about this mechanism.
During the course of 2013, a number of Eurojuris lawyers from Belgium crossed the border to attend a conference organised by Eurojuris Netherlands. A few months later, they contacted one of the lawyers who organised it, Wytze Van Leeuweren (EJ Netherlands). “They required a certificate,” Wytze explains, “that they genuinely took part in this event, so they can claim permanent education points”.
In most countries, including Belgium and the Netherlands, it is compulsory for lawyers to go back to school every year: be it with a university or another institution, they must find a way to update their knowledge. “In the Netherlands,” says Wytze, “a lawyer has to do sixteen hours of permanent education each year, which amounts to two full days in a class. But if you are a member of a specialist group, you need more than that minimum. For example, I am myself a member of the insolvency group and the employment group, so I need twelve extra hours”.
These rules are fixed by bar associations. Each hour spent studying to update your knowledge of legislation and jurisprudence scores you a point, and you must reach a quota of points that can be higher depending on your degree of specialisation. “It is important,” explains Wytze, “because to be a good lawyer you need to constantly invest in quality, and thus, in education”.
There are a lot of institutions that offer permanent education, but it can also be organised privately. “You can organise it yourself with your lawfirm and commission a professional,” says Witze. “You can organise it any way you want it”.
Thus, most conferences organised by Eurojuris can also be claimed as credit points for permanent education. But if they are on a specific topic, they can only be claimed by a lawyer who is a member of a group of the same speciality. The system is mostly trust-based and the bar only controls randomly and after the event. So why were these Belgian lawyers asking for a certificate from Wytze? “Because bar associations can control that you really were there to study. And also that it was really something about a legal topic, and not about soccer or something!”
Eurojuris Discount for training
Eurojuris International has negociated a 25% discount with ERA – Academy of European Law. Eurojuris members and their staff can benefit from this discount on every ERA event training session.
More information on www.era.int, or contact us via info@eurojuris.net
Do you have experiences of permanent education you would like to share with us? Something to say about this system? Please write to us at journalist@eurojuris.net
