On the History of Legal Education in Bremen

The History of Legal Education in Bremen

The law programme has been offered at the University of Bremen since 1971. Teaching at the newly founded university started in the winter semester 1971/72. With the new single-stage approach, the study programme was intended to contribute to a fundamental reform of legal education and training. The federal legislator had opened the way for such a reform by inserting an “experimental clause” into the German Law on Judges (Deutsches Richtergesetz – DriG).

To begin with, the study programme was combined with economy and social science programmes in one faculty. This was intended to promote interdisciplinarity and all new students had to complete two semesters of integrated introductory social science studies and were allowed to change their chosen course of study during this time. In 1982, the faculty was divided and the law programme with its professors became a separate faculty. In 1984, the experimental clause was removed and the Bremen law programme returned to the classic two-stage model (university studies and legal training).

With the amendment of § 5a DRiG in 2003, so-called studies in the chosen field of specialisation were also introduced in Bremen. The two-semester studies are designed to provide in-depth and extended knowledge of core subjects in a field chosen by the students themselves. At the University of Bremen, students can choose between six different fields of specialisation, which are closely coordinated with the institutes of the Faculty of Law, and thus guarantee a very high quality of academic training.

After an extended preparatory phase, new examination regulations for the degrees First Law Examination and Bachelor of Law came into force on 1 October 2024. This was the result of a long-discussed and extensively prepared process leading to the introduction of an integrated Bachelor’s degree at the University of Bremen. Students now have the opportunity to obtain an accredited degree within eight semesters while studying for the First Law Examination, completely independently of the latter. Students can thus freely choose between continuing to study for the First Law Examination, completing a Master’s degree or directly entering the employment market. The enormous pressure of the First Law Examination is thereby considerably lessened and law studies at Bremen University have become more flexible to suit diverse paths of life. Naturally, students can still opt for the classic career path of a fully qualified lawyer via the First Law Examination and subsequent two-year legal traineeship.