Portuguese Bar Association

The Portuguese Bar Association or Portuguese Lawyer's Bar (Portuguese: Ordem dos Advogados) is the public association to which all attorneys-at-law belong in Portugal, founded in 1926. Its early origins are found on a private association founded in 1838 by a group of lawyers from Lisbon.

Graduates in law from university who wish to act on behalf of clients before a court of law must register at the Portuguese Bar Association. Only those who are duly registered can provide legal consultation and appear before the court. Other graduates in law may chose other jobs, which do not demand registration at the bar association.

Being a public association, it is independent from the government, but it has some public powers, which include disciplinary action over its members. Its decisions are subject to judicial impeachment. In Portuguese law, an attorney-at-law is known as advogado. His job equals that of both solicitors and barristers (although Portugal also has a separate profession of solicitor, or solicitador).

The internship for a Portuguese recently graduated Lawyer to become full member of the Bar, includes a complex week-long exam at first, three day long pre-exams on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday, then an usually unpaid, though sometimes paid, internship of eighteen months and finally, a last exam for a whole day. However, after this exam, the intern is also subject to an oral exam which is again, mandatory.

Law courses are available in Portugal in Public or Private Universities, though the Public ones are usually more nationally well praised, mostly in the Public Sector of the State namely on Public Administration.[1]

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