What is a lawyer specialising in Criminal Law?
The lawyer specialising in Criminal Law has a particular qualification in the specialist field of Criminal Law in line with § 13 Rules and Regulations for Specialised Lawyers (Fachanwaltsordnung (FAO)), Being a specialised lawyer in Criminal Law provides the person seeking legal advice with a guarantee of a high professional qualification and specific practical experience in the field of criminal defence.
1. Specialised Defense Lawyer
The title of a specialised lawyer is awarded by the respective local competent bar association.
For the title of a specialised lawyer to be awarded, the requirements of §§ 2 and 3 FAO must be fulfilled. This means that the lawyer has particular theoretical knowledge as well as certain practical experience. This includes the independent processing of 60 Criminal Law cases as well as the defence on at least 40 days of trial in large lawsuits (court of lay assessors, County Court, Higher Regional Court or Federal Court of Justice). In addition, a specialised lawyer must be able to present a license of at least three years and prove his profession as a lawyer.
2. Experience in Criminal Law
The title “Specialized Lawyer for Criminal Law” is only awarded to lawyers that can provide evidence of particular knowledge and practical experience in the following fields:
Methods and laws of criminal defence as well as relevant auxiliary sciences (forensic psychiatry, technical analysis of traffic accidents, legal medicine), etc.).
Material Criminal Law including Criminal Law relating to young offenders, Dangerous Drugs Act, Criminal Traffic Law, Commercial and Taxation Criminal Law.
Criminal Proceedings Law including youth offender and regulatory offence procedures as well as sentence execution or penal law.
The lawyer acquires this particular theoretical knowledge in the scope of specialised lawyer course lasting several weeks, which he completes with exams marked and assessed by independent bodies.
After receiving the specialised lawyer title, a specialised lawyer is required to attend a further training course in his specialist field pursuant to § 15 FAO. The bar association must be informed of this training without having asked.
Merely a few lawyers in Germany have a dual qualification ae Specialised Lawyer for Criminal Law and Specialised Lawyer for Taxation Law. The title as Specialist Advisor for Criminal Taxation Law, introduced in 2014, guarantees for a further qualification.
