If you need help solving legal issues, there may be a difference between whether you need a lawyer, a commercial lawyer and an attorney. The following describes the difference between the three titles and when you can use a lawyer/commercial lawyer rather than an attorney. This short article describes what a lawyer and a commercial lawyer are, as well as what a lawyer is, and what the basic difference is.
A lawyer and a commercial lawyer?
Lawyer is not a protected title, which means that anyone can in principle call themselves a lawyer. However, this is far from the case. The Consumer Ombudsman ruled in 2016 that a person may not use the title lawyer for professional purposes without having a degree in law. Cand.jur. (candidatus/candidata juris) is a protected title for a person who has passed a law degree and thus obtained a master’s degree in law. Cand.merc.(jur.) and cand.soc.jur. are also protected titles for those who have obtained a master’s degree in business economics and business law or social science law. The titles bac.jur., cand.jur., cand.soc.jur. and cand.merc.(jur.) are acquired solely by virtue of education.
In Denmark, almost all lawyers and business lawyers are educated from law and business law studies at one of the country’s universities. You can study law or business law at either university or business schools. For example, when you are educated as a business lawyer/Cand.merc.(jur), you cannot become a lawyer because you are educated as a business lawyer and thus cannot hold a job as a legal assistant at a law firm. On the other hand, you can as a Cand.jur/jurist.
A lawyer?
Lawyer is a protected title. This means that you must meet a number of requirements in order to be able to use the title. You must, as a basic rule, have a special educational background in order to be able to call yourself a lawyer. First, you must be educated at master’s level as a cand.jur/jurist from one of the country’s universities. After that, you must complete a mandatory three-year apprenticeship. This often takes place as a legal assistant at a law firm, but it is also possible to acquire practical legal experience elsewhere. The education is both practical and theoretical, and concludes with a written bar exam and a practical test in litigation. After that, you must be licensed as an attorney at the Civil Service Board before you can call yourself an attorney. It therefore takes a minimum of eight years to become an attorney (including law school).
In order to retain your title as an authorized attorney, you must also take out liability insurance that covers at least DKK 2.5 million and a guarantee scheme that covers at least DKK 5 million. The insurance covers if you as an attorney make professional errors that cause losses of one kind or another, and the guarantee scheme covers losses as a result of fraudulent conduct on the part of the attorney or his or her staff.
In addition, you must participate in regular continuing education, parallel to your daily work as a lawyer, be a member of the Danish Bar Association and be subject to the rules of legal ethics. All to ensure the quality of the lawyer’s work.
What do you need and for what?
If you need someone to represent you in legal cases in court, you should basically use a lawyer. This is the only fundamental difference between a lawyer and a lawyer. A lawyer or commercial lawyer can provide commercial legal advice and guidance on a par with a lawyer, but cannot appear in court on behalf of their clients. Lawyers do not have the right to appear in a courtroom like a lawyer. On the other hand, if you need help with legal issues outside a courtroom for private or business purposes, you can easily use a lawyer. Lawyers and commercial lawyers can, as lawyers, specialize in a specific legal area.
LegalUp
At LegalUp you can get help from skilled and experienced lawyers and business lawyers educated from one of the country’s universities, who will solve your business legal problems within, among other things, company formation, HR law, contracts and GDPR. All are specialized in the areas they help you in, as our lawyers have a minimum of three years of specialization and experience in the areas they provide advice in. Our lawyers and business lawyers will help you further within 24 hours and at a fixed price.
