Project Proposal

TRAINING OF YOUNG BACHELORS OF LAW FOR BAR THE EXAME

Author and coordinator:: Leposava Karamarković

INTRODUCTION:

In legal system of Yugoslavia, passing the bar exam is necessary condition for obtaining the position of judge, advocate as well as for being agent at the court for certain disputes of greater importance and value. Bachelors of law has the right to enter the exam after two years of employment in the judiciary or four years of employment in the enterprises or institutions, working on legal matters.

The exam consists of seven big issues of current law: Civil Law (Property Law, Contract Law, Heredity Law, Family Law and Procedural Law), Criminal Law (material and procedural), International Private Law, Administration Law, Labour Law, Commercial Law and Constitutional Law. It has written and oral part of examination.

Exam has to be taken in front of the commission, composed mostly from the highest courts' judges, public prosecutors, professors of the Law faculty and attorneys, who are the most successful in their professions.

JUSTIFICATION OF THE PROJECT:

Candidates for the bar exam are young bachelors of law who, during its preparation, cross the big obstacles.

Those who work in the judiciary, have a bit of opportunity to learn about the practical application of current laws. Nevertheless, it is a fact that the conditions at the courts and public prosecutions are brought to the minimum quality stage. Numbers of eminent experts, because of their refusal to blindly follow orders of regime, were dismissed of duties or in other ways disabled to do their jobs. They were replaced with “obedient” colleagues, who, unfortunately, often put political goals in fort of the law. It is also important fact that the judiciary employees are miserably paid; therefore, in order to provide existence to them and their families, they are forced to do some other jobs as well, neglecting their basic positions. Numbers of judges, prosecutors and assistants are brought to their positions according to “party key” without necessary professionalism and experience. This environment does not enable young lawyers to obtain enough experience and knowledge that can facilitate them preparation and passing the bar exam.

The other big group of candidates for passing the bar exam are those bachelors of law who had obtained the condition of four years of the employment in the enterprises. This group is even in worse position because the majority of them, during their career, have never crossed practical application of current laws. In their enterprises, they are usually occupied with one branch of law, mostly commercial or labour law, so they hardly ever had any contact with criminal, family of heredity law, furthermore, they have no practical knowledge and experience about the court procedure.

Materials for preparing the bar exam are Handbook for Passing the Bar Exam, current textbooks and texts of laws. Candidates are two or four years distant from graduation to entering the exam, under almost impossible condition that they start working just after the graduation. This practically means that it is extremely hard for them to come back to the textbook literature and law reading, without explanations, lectures and practical exercises.

This project would enable to the young lawyers to easily and high-grade prepared for the bar exam. At this kind of practical lectures, candidates would have possibility to attend the lectures and exercises of the most eminent experts from their field of the law, mostly judges and prosecutors and partly of the current and former professors at the Law Faculty; in other words, people who are exactly aware of what is expected from the young lawyers, on what to put the accent and what is the hardest for them to overcome.

PROJECT OBJECTIVE:

At the first place, the aim of the project is to prepare bachelors of law to pass the bar exam. At the second place, strategically maybe more important, is qualification of young human resources for professional work in their fields. Expecting the structural and essential changes in the judicial concept, together with complete social system changes, it is necessary to educate the young people in the way that enables them to be professionally ready and qualified for those changes which means to be able to do their jobs professionally and most up-graded.

DESCRIPTION:

The lectures will be organized in the LEX premises.

One course should prepare 20 candidates.

The course should last for three months.

The total fund of lectures is 205 in the following schedule:

LEGAL FIELD	Number of lectures
Civil law		83
Introduction	10
Property Law	10
Contract Law	20
Heredity Law	10
Family Law	10
Procedural Law	20
Written part	3
Criminal Law		46
Material Law	20
Procedural Law	20
Written part	3
Torts and Offences	3
International private law		16
Administration Law		16
Labour Law		12
Commercial Law		16
Constitutional Law		16

Each field and sub field is in charge of one lecturer. Course is organized in the form of lectures as well as in the form of practical exercises – writing the judgments, objections, and discussion about the court cases. The workshops on the base of existing of imagined cases will be organized, in the framework of practical exercises, by which will be organized complete court procedure.

Preparation for the passing the bar exam implies working in the groups; therefore, the course will insist on active participation of the candidates: by making questions, discussing, and suggesting the outcome of the cases.

EXPECTED RESULTS:

The project will significantly facilitate the preparation of the bar exam to the young bachelors of law. However, the project is not directed only to simple facilitation of taking and passing exam, its indirect result is qualification of young human resources, in practical and theoretical professional sense. Important dimension of the project is directing and informing bachelors of law about proper professional literature, magazines and studies, which will unable their further self-improvement, once they pass the exam.

This, high quality preparation of the young bachelors of law, which would assure successful exam results, would also give young and professional judges, public prosecutors and advocates, without who the legal system can not be established and consolidated not the judicial system as a pillar and guarantee for the functioning of the state of law.

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