On Monday, March 29, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Justice Jānis Bordāns has convened a commission for the examination of the professional qualification of a lawyer for the first meeting.

At the Commission meeting today it is planned to elect the Chairperson of the Commission and its deputies, as well as to agree on the date on which the first unified lawyer qualification exam will take place in Latvia.J. Bordāns: "A single lawyer's exam will benefit everyone – universities, teachers, students and the state. Its aim is to improve the quality of legal education in Latvia in order to promote equivalent knowledge, skills and competences for law students, as well as to ensure the same requirements and uniform testing methods for obtaining the qualification of a lawyer." The State unified professional qualification examination will be taken after the defence of the Master's thesis and it is necessary for the acquisition of the professional qualification of a lawyer. The commission for the examination of the professional qualification of a lawyer established by the order of the Minister for Justice includes 45 persons , both representatives of the academic environment and practitioners. Representatives have been nominated by the University of Latvia, Rīga Stradiņš University, Rezekne Academy of Technology, Daugavpils University and Turiba Business School. The examination commission also includes representatives of five highly qualified professions – prosecutors, sworn advocates, sworn bailiffs and sworn notaries, as well as invited judges - from regional courts and international institutions. From now on, the Ministry of Justice will organise the qualification exam twice a year according to the winter and summer session in higher education institutions. These changes were made with the aim of improving the quality of legal education in our country by setting sufficiently high and uniform requirements for obtaining the qualification of a lawyer. From now on, there will be two professional qualifications to be awarded clearly from each other in law study programmes: lawyer and legal assistant.