N15.T4 – The path of a young lawyer to judicial office
HRA NEWSLETTER 15 – TOPIC 4
The judicial office, as a symbol of authority, justice, and expertise, is one of the most important functions in modern society. However, the path to this office is long and complex. It requires many years of work and personal sacrifice, while offering relatively modest financial compensation compared to the responsibility and workload involved. As a result, young lawyers in Montenegro are less willing to pursue a judicial career. Even after assuming judicial office, working conditions and salaries are often unsatisfactory, which is why this career path is most often chosen by a small number of highly motivated individuals.
The path to judicial office begins with earning a law degree, either through a four-year programme or the 3+2 study model, which provides the required qualification level (VII-1).
After that, candidates must meet the requirements to sit for the bar exam. This is achieved by completing three years of traineeship in a court, the State Prosecutor’s Office, or the Constitutional Court, or by working with an attorney-at-law or a legal property rights representative. Eligibility to take the bar exam is also granted to lawyers with four years of work experience in other legal positions in the public or private sector. During the three-year traineeship, court and prosecution trainees receive a monthly salary of approximately 600 euros, which is a highly discouraging factor for young lawyers considering this career path.
After passing the bar exam, the conditions for appointment as a judge are clearly defined depending on the type of court.
To be appointed as a judge of a Misdemeanour Court or a Basic Court, a candidate who has passed the bar exam must have at least two additional years of experience as a court or prosecution advisor, attorney-at-law, notary, or professor of legal sciences, or at least four years of experience in other legal positions. Appointment as a judge of the Commercial Court requires five years of experience after the bar exam in the capacity of an advisor, attorney-at-law, notary, or professor of legal sciences, or six years of experience in other legal positions. For appointment as a judge of the Administrative Court, the prescribed requirement is eight years of experience as an advisor, attorney-at-law, notary, or professor of legal sciences, or ten years in other legal positions. It should be noted that the basic salary of advisors in courts and prosecution offices is around 800 euros, while the average salary in Montenegro is slightly above 1,000 euros.
Once these conditions are met, candidates applying for judicial office for the first time must respond to a public call. Selection is based on the grade obtained in the bar exam or, if the candidate is not satisfied with that grade, on the result of a written test. The written test consists of drafting a court decision in both criminal and civil matters. Candidates then attend an interview with members of the Judicial Council, during which motivation for judicial work, communication skills, decision-making ability, and problem-solving skills are assessed.
Following selection as a candidate for judge, mandatory initial training is conducted. For candidates for judges of Basic Courts, this training lasts 12 months, while for candidates for Misdemeanour Court judges, as well as judges of the Commercial and Administrative Courts, it lasts six months. During the initial training, candidates are entitled to remuneration amounting to 70 per cent of the salary of a Basic Court judge. Given that this salary ranges between 1,200 and 1,600 euros, this amounts to between 840 and 1,120 euros per month.
After the completion of initial training, the Judicial Council, based on the report of the Programme Committee for Initial Training, the final proposed grades for candidates, and the reports of the authorised legal entity responsible for judicial training and the mentors on the training conducted, determines the final assessment for the theoretical and practical parts of the initial training. If the assessment is “satisfactory,” the Judicial Council adopts a decision on their appointment as judges.
All of the above shows that the path to a judicial office, in theory, takes at least six to seven years after graduation from the Faculty of Law. In practice, it often takes longer, depending on the type of court, whether the candidate gains experience within the judiciary or in other legal positions, and whether public calls are announced in a way that allows a direct transition from trainee or advisor status to selection as a judicial candidate. Lengthy traineeships, an extremely demanding bar exam, and many years spent in lower-paid legal positions—common stages of this process—make the judicial profession increasingly unattractive to young lawyers. This trend is further exacerbated by frequent public verbal attacks on judges by politicians, which undermine the dignity of the profession.
Given that, at the end of 2025, Montenegro lacks more than 40 judges across almost all courts in the country, it is essential to timely design policies that introduce better working conditions and incentive measures for talented students, in order to realistically expect the vacant judicial positions to be filled.
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