Legal education in Czech republic

This post is aimed at those who would like to learn something about legal education in Czech republic, i.e. what must one do if he or she wants to become a lawyer in our country. First one has to choose a faculty of law. These are four: in Brno, Praha, Plzen and Olomouc. The best one is in Brno, the most famous in Prague. Plzen has terrible reputation among Czech lawyers for being the most corrupted faculty where you can basically buy your degree without actually studying anything. Most of our politicians who have "JUDr." degree graduated from Plzen, sometimes under very suspicious conditions. Not much is known about Olomouc, but from what I've heard, it's quite OK. Second, one has to pass an entrance exam. It is a test (sometimes followed by an interview) that is based either on knowledge of facts (in Prague, Plzen and Olomouc) or general ability to solve problems (in Brno). As to the programmes that an applicant can choose from, the basic one is Master degree programme. It takes five years (ten semesters) to complete and the graduate student is awarded a "Mgr." degree which is roughly equivalent to "J.D." In the first year the students are taught some basic facts about theory of law, philosophy of law, Roman law (being the fundament of nowadays continental private law), and history of law systems. In the next two years the private law is covered in subjects such as "Civil law, Civil procedure, Labour law, Intellectual property law, Commercial Law etc. The final two years consist mainly of public law subjects, such as Administrative law, Penal law, International public law and so on. To be awarded the degree each student has to write a thesis (usually about 65 pages long) and pass final state examination. Once he or she gets a diploma, she can call himself or herself a lawyer and work in various areas connected to the law. For some positions there are further requirements, of course. An attorney-wannabe, for example, must work for three years for another attorney, he must then pass the Bar exam (which is very difficult), and if he or she wants to start his own company, he has to get insured, for which he needs at least 46.000 USD. We don't have solicitors and barristers, only "advocates" (attorneys). Advocates usually have "JUDr." degree (juris doctor), which is a degree awarded to a lawyer who writes a dissertation and passes a "rigorous" exam. It has no other use but increasing one's repututaion because the dissertation is usually just extended thesis from Master degree programme and Czech people prefer "JUDr." over "Mgr" which is a title that is shared by many other professions, including teachers, philosophers and so on. "JUDr." is sometimes called "small doctorate" as opposed to "big doctorate", i.e. PhD. The latter is gained after three years course at the law faculty, whereas the former can be gained at any time as long as one has "Mgr" degree, a dissertation (usually about 120 pages long) and enough money to pay the fee (230 USD). Bachelor degree programmes also exist in our country but with a "Bc." degree one can't enter a legal profession and in order to become an attorney he or she has to undertake the full Master degree course. The bachelor programmes are for people who work with law, such as officials and businessmen, but don't need extensive theoretical background.

Let's see what happens if I do this...

This post serves purely testing purposes and will be deleted soon (and hopefully replaced by something more meaningful).