Master's Degree in Access to the Legal Profession

Competences

Generic competences

• GC1.- The student must acquire up-to-date general knowledge about the different aspects of legal practice.
• GC2.- The student must be able to systematically understand relevant information, its legal context and how to apply it to complex situations, taking into account how it affects the party he/she represents.
• GC3.- The student must master the techniques that allow him/her to obtain and analyze information, evaluate its relevance and validity, synthesize it and adapt it to the technical-juridical context in question.
• GC4.- The student must be able to deal with complex and unpredictable legal situations in a systematic and creative way, with critical judgment, with incomplete information, taking risks, making decisions and communicating them to any type of audience.
• GC5.- The student must be able to communicate correctly both orally and in writing, using the most current technology.
• GC6.- The student must be able to act autonomously in the planning and implementation of projects and legal decisions.
• GC7.- The student must be able to play different roles within a legal team.
• GC8.- The student must be able to recognize the need for change and must have the necessary ability to correctly advise in its management.
• GC9.- The student must be able to act autonomously in a framework of responsible freedom.
• GC10.- The student must be able to provide value through their knowledge and legal practice skills.
• GC11.- Master techniques to tackle and solve complex problems efficiently.

We have sought a real correspondence between the proposed generic competences, with those developed in similar educational entities in other countries in the area of influence, especially in the EU. It is evident that this relationship was found in the identity between subjects taught and studied in the different educational systems and the objectives of competences that are projected. Likewise, the Benchmark Statements for Master's Degree of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) of the United Kingdom have been consulted.

Specific competences

These are focused on a series of specific competences, which have been determined with the same procedure as the generic ones and, of course, starting from RD 775/2011.

• SC1.- Know and be able to apply procedures for determining, billing and liquidating fees and expenses associated with the professional activity
• SC2.- Know and be able to apply in practice organizational, management and commercial environment of the lawyer's profession, as well as its associative, fiscal, labor and personal data protection legal framework
• SC3.- Know and be able to organize and plan the individual resources for exercising the legal profession in its different organizational modalities.
• SC4.- Know and be able to apply professional deontological rights and duties in the attorney's relations with the client, the other parties, the court or public authority and between lawyers
• SC5.- Know and evaluate the different responsibilities related to exercising the professional activity, including the basic operation of free legal assistance and the promotion of the lawyer's social responsibility
• SC6.- Know how to identify conflicts of interest and know the techniques for their resolution, establish the scope of professional secrecy and confidentiality, and preserve independence of criteria
• SC7.- Know how to develop abilities and interpersonal skills, which facilitate exercising the profession of lawyer in their relations with citizens, with other professionals and with institutions
• SC8.- Know how to identify the performance and organization requirements that determine legal advice
• SC9.- Know how to develop skills that allow lawyers to improve the efficiency of their work and enhance the overall functioning of the team or institution through access to information sources, knowledge management and the management of applied techniques and tools
• SC10.- Know how to present oral and written facts, and extract argumentative legal consequences, in attention to the context and to the recipient they are addressing, according to the specific modalities of each procedural area.
• SC11.- Know how to develop professional work in specific and interdisciplinary teams
• SC12.- Possess, understand and develop skills that make it possible to apply the specialized academic knowledge acquired in the Undergraduate Degree to the changing reality that lawyers face, in order to avoid situations of injury, risk or conflict in relation to the interests entrusted or their professional practice before courts or public authorities and in advisory functions
• SC13.- Know the techniques directed to research and establishment of facts in the different types of procedure, especially the production of documents, interrogations and expert evidence
• SC14.- Know and be able to integrate the defense of clients' rights within the framework of national and international jurisdictional protection systems
• SC15.- Develop skills and abilities for choosing the right strategy for the defense of clients' rights, taking into account the requirements of the different areas of professional practice
• SC16.- Know the different techniques of composition of interests and know how to find solutions to problems through alternative methods to the jurisdictional path
• SC17.- Be able to face professional deontological problems.
• SC18.- Be familiar with the operation and problems of institutions related to the exercise of the legal profession.
• SC19.- Be aware of the reality and work of other legal operators, as well as professionals related to the exercise of their profession, understanding their relevance.
• SC20.- Be familiar with the development of the professional career and the possible lines of activity.

Calendar and Schedule

Cronogram / Schedule Academic Calendar

Admission

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Admission Process

The admission process consists of the following phases:

Submitting documentation

The following documentation must be sent by postal mail or courier to the Postgraduate Admissions Section:

• Completed Admission Application.
• Updated Curriculum Vitae.
• Photocopy of DNI (Spanish candidates only) or passport (only foreign candidates).
• Photocopy of the Academic Record (completed or of last year of university degree).
• Two color passport-size photographs.
• Document that certifies having B2 Intermediate Level OF Spanish (for non-Spanish speakers who wish to take the MASTER'S DEGREE).

Proficiency test

Once all the documentation is received, and it is verified that the degree submitted grants access to a Master's degree, according to what is established in Arts. 15 and 16 of Royal Decree 1393/2007, the candidates take the proficiency test of the chosen program, which is the responsibility of University Development Department.

The test takes place in person in Madrid and in different Spanish cities and, additionally, it can be taken remotely, for those candidates residing outside of Spain.

The proficiency test, which aims to analyze the student's abilities to complete the Master's program, evaluates the candidate's profile and abilities, so it does not require prior preparation and allows the student to receive broader and personalized advice on their academic and professional options.

The proficiency test consists of three parts. The first is an aptitude test with which the maturity of the student is evaluated and the reasons that lead him/her to study with us are analyzed. The second is a Spanish language level test, as the case may be, for those students who cannot prove to have the required level, in which the Intermediate Level must be reached and the third is a face-to-face or telephone personal interview with the Program Coordinator or with the School Administration.

Once said proficiency test has been passed, the candidate holds a personal interview with the Program Coordinator in which he or she enrolls or with the School Administration.

2.- Upon completion of the admission tests, the Admissions Commission analyzes the results and documentation submitted by the candidate and approves or rejects the application. The candidate receives written information about their admission, about the process of formalizing their enrollment in the Program and about the final documentation that must be submitted, duly legalized.

3.- Formalizing registration and enrollment

After registration, the candidate will formalize their enrollment, selecting online the subjects and completing the required information. Throughout the process, the candidate is in permanent contact with the University Development Department and with the academic directors of the chosen Program, who will advise him/her on any questions.

The weight of the different phases is the following:

- Admission test: 25%

- Interview: 25%

- Academic Record of prior studies: 50%