Skip to main content

Thomson Reuters Practical Law | Regulation of the legal profession in Luxembourg: overview

The Q&A guide to the regulation of the legal profession in Luxembourg has now been updated! 


The Q&A gives a high level overview of the key practical issues including required qualifications for both domestic and foreign legal professionals working in a jurisdiction; common legal professional structures; national regulators, legal professional insurance and client protection; confidentiality and legal professional privilege; legal fees and fee regulation; client money; and notaries.

To compare answers across multiple jurisdictions, visit the Regulation of the legal profession Country Q&A tool.

The Q&A is part of the global guide to legal systems. For a full list of jurisdictional Q&As visit www.practicallaw.com/legalprofession-guide.

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK

1. How many categories of lawyer are there in your jurisdiction?

There are three categories of practising lawyers in Luxembourg (divided up into lists):

  • Court advocates (avocat à la Cour) (List I), are fully qualified Luxembourg lawyers.

  • Attorneys (avocat) (List II) are qualified Luxembourg lawyers (that are admitted to the bar) who still have to complete their training. To represent parties in front of the various courts attorneys must be supervised by a court advocate (except in a few cases).

  • EU admitted lawyers (avocat de l'UE exerçant sous son titre d'origine) (List IV), foreign lawyers from the EU practising under their original professional title.

As explained further below, to be admitted to the Luxembourg Bar and be authorised to practise as a lawyer, candidates must prove their professional knowledge and good reputation.

There are generally no distinctions between the prerogatives of the different types of lawyers, apart from the fact that only court advocates can represent parties in civil written proceedings in the district and higher courts.

List III lawyers are honorary members (avocat honoraire), a title conferred to a lawyer who has been registered at the Bar for at least 20 years and has voluntarily resigned from it.

There are two types of legal entities for practising lawyers:

  • Société d'avocats ayant la qualité d'avocat à la Cour (List V), which is a corporation formed by lawyers who can practice as a qualified lawyer.

  • Other types of corporation formed by lawyers (List VI).

 

To read the full article check the following link: Regulation of the legal profession in Luxembourg: overview

Share on