OSCE Mission provides bar exam training for lawyers in Sandzak

NOVI PAZAR, 4 June 2004 - The OSCE Mission to Serbia and Montenegro, in co-operation with the Belgrade NGO Projuris Organization for Legal Education, concluded a bar exam training programme for 60 lawyers from throughout the Serbian region of Sandzak. This preparatory training has been held in the municipality of Novi Pazar over the past two months.

A result of co-operation between the Mission and the judiciary in Sandzak, the programme is a response to requests for bar exam training for judicial apprentices. It is also aimed at facilitating ethnic minority integration into the judiciary, through improving the qualifications and training of candidates for professional positions in the courts and offices of the Public Prosecutor.

This project also contributed to the broader programme designed to improve the proficiency and professionalism of the judiciary. The Serbian bar exam is a prerequisite for employment in the judiciary.

Participants of the multi-ethnic class were selected from applications solicited through the courts and media of Sandzak, and included judicial apprentices as well as other lawyers. Each member of the class received course materials, practice examinations, and a set of ten publications, one for each subject covered in the bar exam. Experienced lecturers from the judiciary and law faculties ran the courses in the ten different law subjects.

The OSCE Mission will continue to support the development of the judiciary and legal system throughout Serbia and Montenegro through a comprehensive programme leading to an ethnically representative, well-trained and professional judiciary in support of efficient and independent courts.