Exercise 2. Read and translate the underlined words. Then read and translate the text. Entering the profession

How does someone become a lawyer? As with doctors and other professionals enjoying a high level of trust because of the specialized knowledge, lawyers are subject to standardized examination and other controls to regulate their competence. In some countries in order to practice as a lawyer it is necessary to get a university degree in law. However, in others, a degree may be insufficient; professional examinations must be passed. In Britain, it is not in fact necessary to have a degree, although nowadays most people entering the profession do. The main requirement is to have passed the Bar Final examination (for barristers) or the Law Society Final examination (for solicitors).

Someone with a university degree in a subject other than law needs first to take a preparatory course. Someone without a degree at all may also prepare for the final examination, but this will take several years. In most countries, lawyers will tell you that the time they spent studying for their law finals was one of the worst periods of their life! This is because an enormous number of procedural rules covering a wide area of law must be memorized. In Japan, where there are relatively few lawyers, the examinations are supposed to be particularly hard: less than 5 percent of candidates pass. Even after passing the examination, though, a lawyer is not necessarily qualified. A solicitor in England, for example, must then spend two years as an articled clerk, during which time his work is closely supervised by an experienced lawyer, and he must take further courses. A barrister must spend a similar year as a pupil.

In most countries, once a lawyer is fully qualified he receives a certificate proving his right to sell his services. There are also insurance provisions so that if a lawyer is ever successfully sued by a client for professional incompetence there will be funds available to enable him to pay damages - which may be extremely large in the case of lawyers dealing with property transactions. Even if a lawyer is very competent, he must take care not to break the many rules of procedure and ethics set by the body which regulates his profession. In England, the body regulating the conduct of solicitors is the Law Society. Among other things, it sets rules for lawyers' accounting procedures and investigates complaints against lawyers by their clients. There is also a Solicitor's Disciplinary Tribunal with the power to suspend or even disqualify (or strike off) a solicitor. Since its members are themselves solicitors some people fear that it may not be completely impartial. But members of the public do, of course, have the right to sue their solicitor.

In most legal systems, conversations between a lawyer and his client are privileged: the client should know that what he says will not be passed on to someone else without his permission. In theory, this could pose difficult ethical problems for a lawyer; for instance, what could he do in a criminal case if he believes his client is guilty? The lawyer must first decide how sure he is of the client's guilt. It can happen that someone thinks he has committed a crime when in fact he lacked the necessary mental state to be guilty. In any case it is the prosecution's job to prove guilt, not the defence's to prove innocence. A lawyer could therefore defend his client simply by trying to point out weaknesses in the prosecution case.

Another ethical problem for a lawyer arises when he has two clients whose stories contradict each other; for example, each says that he is innocent and the other person is guilty. In such a case the lawyer must transfer one of the clients to another lawyer.