Attorney-at-law

Professions Published

An attorney-at-law provides legal advice to private persons and corporations and assists the parties in court or when dealing with other authorities. They are a lawyer who is particularly experienced and qualified, and they are a member of the Finnish Bar Association. The workplaces are in law firms or state legal aid offices and as entrepreneurs. The work is independent, demanding specialist and customer service work.

Entrepreneurship, law firms or state legal aid offices.

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The work of an attorney-at-law is demanding, responsible legal expert work. In addition to legal knowledge, you need the ability to work independently and take initiative. In customer service, you are required to have the ability to get along and work with different people. You must be able to listen to the views, problems and wishes of different parties, but you must also take a stand and present even difficult issues to the customer.

The attorney-at-law's duty in both civil and criminal matters is, in accordance with law and good practice, to the best of their ability to supervise the rights and interests of their client. Good attorneyship requires absolute secrecy about everything you know in your work. You must be loyal to your client. The law requires that an attorney-at-law is known to be honest. Their finances must be impeccable, and they must be suited for practising the profession in other respects as well.

You need to have good language proficiency. The work requires continuous monitoring of the development of legislation. It is beneficial to be able to withstand pressure.

You can study law and complete a Master of Laws degree at universities. In addition, you must complete the bar examination organised by the Bar Association. It is possible for a Master of Laws to be qualified as a Master of Laws with court training by completing one-year auscultation, i.e. court training. Postgraduate degrees in law include Licentiate of Laws and Doctor of Laws.

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The Finnish titles asianajaja (attorney-at-law) and asianajotoimisto (law firm) are protected by law. They can only be used by lawyers admitted to the Finnish Bar Association who have at least four years of professional experience in the field, and they have taken the bar examination. A person aged 25 or over can apply to become an attorney-at-law. The service activities of attorneys-at-law are guided by stricter quality criteria and more extensive regulation than those of other lawyers, and they are supervised considerably more closely than other legal professionals.

Median salary

5500 €/mo

Private sector

5871 €/mo

Public sector

5064 €/mo

The data is based on the median income, meaning the amount of salary which is the middle of the salary amounts arranged in order of magnitude.

Source: Statistics Finland's structural statistics on wages and salaries

Professional fields