Lawyers in Poland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In Poland any person who possesses a master's degree in law is called '"lawyer"' (prawnik). New law of June 30, 2005 essentially made lawyer's profession more open that it was before. Previously it was almost impossible to became a lawyer without support from family already in the profession.
[edit] Poland's Bar Association
Five jurist's occupations require prospective candidates to apply for internship, pass an examination for admission to internship, finish an internship of three and a half years (or in case of judges or prosecutors three years), and finally pass an appropriate admission exam. Those occupations are:
- Public Prosecutor (prokurator): The legal representative of prosecution and supervision over police investigations;
- Judge (sędzia);
- Notary (notariusz): whose job consists of mixture of civil law notary and notary public duties;
- Barrister (adwokat): whose main function is to represent persons before court in both civil and criminal trials;
- Counselor (radca prawny) A strange remnant of the pre-1989 situation, when each state-owned enterprise has its own counselor(s). With the diminishing number of such enterprises, counselors are now very similar to barristers, but they cannot represent their clients in criminal cases.
There are also ways to be admitted to Barristers' or Counselors' bar associations without finishing internship (articles). Persons with J.D., as well as persons who worked in law for 5 years in public administration or private companies and persons doing law advice as a non-admitted lawyer for 5 years, can join the bar by just passing the final exam.
Both admission to internship exam, and final bar exam are given before 5 persons panel. 3 of them are appointed by Minister of Justice, while 2 by local bar.
Once admitted to the bar association of one occupation, a jurist can move to another occupation with little hassle.
Only members of those five occupations can write certoriaris to the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Tribunal in cases in which they themselves are sides. All others must use the services of barristers or counselors.
Similar privileges have habiliated J.Ds. They can join any bar association without exams, and can write certoriaris to Supreme Court and Constitutional Tribunal.
[edit] Lawyers not members of the Bar Association
Many lawyers do not practice law in the strict sense. They may work in public administration (which has its own highly legalized proceedings), the police (which prosecute small crimes), tax services and similar governmental agencies. Additionally, since a company can be represented in civil court by its own employees, some small and medium companies do not employ barristers or counselors, but instead rely on in-house lawyers not admitted to bar.
Because under Polish law an agent can act for any person therefore some lawyers do what in the UK is being done by solicitors. Thus, specialized persons write legal agreements, perform negotiations, or execute debts. Polish law specifically permits persons with Masters Degree in Law to give legal advice.
