Advocate - Advocates in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) and Finland

Advocates in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway and Sweden) and Finland

The Scandinavian countries and Finland have a united legal profession, which means that they do not draw a distinction between lawyers who plead in court and those who do not. To get an official recognition with an advocates title, the candidate must have a legal degree, that is, completed ca. 5–6 years of legal studies, and in addition worked for some time (around 2 – 5 years) under the auspices of a qualified advocate and have some experience from court. When qualified, the candidate may obtain a license as an advocate, in all the Scandinavian languages: advokat. In Finland advokat is the Swedish title for such a qualified lawyer (the equivalent title in Finnish being asianajaja). However, one does not necessarily have to be an advocate to practice law. In Sweden, for example, any adult can practice law and represent a party in court without any prior approval, training, licence or advocate title.

In English, the Scandinavian title of advokat is interchangeably also translated as barrister, lawyer or attorney-at-law.

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