Apprenticeship: training period or part of a training period during which a trainee is embedded in one or several workplaces. A trainee lawyer may be training by taking part in the work of private practices, firms, administrations, courts and other structures relevant to his or her learning path, as determined by national rules. Apprenticeship can be combined or not with formal courses.
Accreditation: According to national organisational rules, training providers (see definition) may need to be accredited by the bar or another official structure for their training activities (see definition) to be recognised officially as fulfilling legal requirements relative to training of lawyers.
Alternatively, a bar may have put in place an accreditation scheme for training activities, in line with internal rules regarding training obligations of member lawyers.
Thus accreditation can be given by a Bar or Law Society either to a training provider or a training activity.
Blended learning: training activities with include both e-learning activities and face-to-face activities. To be considered as bone fide training, the overall activity has to be organised according to a set programme and contain explicit training objectives.
Continuous training: any professional training taking place during the career of a lawye*r, be it on legal matters, management, skills, etc. It can also be mentioned under the term of career development, continuing training. It is organised according to national rules. It may include specific training schemes for specialisation (see term).
E-learning: a training activity which takes place in a structured manner, and includes a training programme fulfilling specific training objectives. It can use online activities such as access to online information, answering questionnaires, watching podcasts, participating in online discussions, participating in webstreaming sessions, etc. It can be combined with face-to-face training. The combination is then called blended learning (see term).
European Judicial Training : In the Communication COM(2011)511 “Building trust in EU-wide justice : a new dimension to European judicial training”, European judicial training is considered to cover training of judges, prosecutors, but also lawyers, notaries, bailiffs and court staff.
This extensive understanding of the term has been criticised in some legal circles, but shows that while training of each legal profession has it specificities, training legal practitioners in the proper implementation of EU law includes some common challenges and obstacles, for instance the lack of well developed data on training activities.
Face to Face training: Any training activity which necessitates the simultaneous presence in the training premises of trainers and learners. It can be combined with e-learning to provide blended learning.
Induction period: taking into consideration the variety of organisation of lawyers’ professions at national level, the induction period can exist or not. If it exists, it concerns a period during which an individual, after having obtained the required university diploma to be able to become a lawyer, undertakes professional training either as through an apprenticeship, courses or a combination of both. This period may be a prerequisite to be considered as a full-fledged lawyer.
The induction period* covers:
♣ post-university professional training necessary for passing the last examination in the judicial career or
♣ professional training taking place before registration/ appointment as fully qualified lawyer and/or just after
Initial training: see induction period
Lawyer: for the purpose of this study, a lawyer is a jurist who is registered to a bar or law society in the European Union.
Specialisation: according to the national organisation of the profession, certain specific requirements regarding training may exist if an individual lawyer wishes to acquire an officially-recognised specialisation in one sector of the law.
Training: For the purpose of this study, the term training will be used to cover acquisition of knowledge as well as acquisition of know-how in relation to law, EU law, linguistic skills and organisation of judicial and legal systems in the EU.
Training activity: any structured activity organised for the purpose of “training” an individual or a group of persons, with a training programme set up to fulfil well-defined training objectives. It can take place through face-to-face training (workshops, seminaries, conferences, etc.) or online tools (e-learning) or a combination of both (blended learning).
Training of lawyers: for the purpose of this study, training of lawyers is understood to cover professional training only and does not include academic training. Training of lawyers can take place either in during the induction period* (see term) or all through the career as continuous training*.
Training provider: any structure, profit or non-profit, recognised or not by a bar, which organises several training activities relevant to the professional development of a lawyer. This study will consider only the training providers offering training activities related to the law, especially European Union law or legal and judicial organisation in other member states, or training activities related to the acquisition of competences in legal terminology of other European languages.