Qualified legal specialist HF: What does your day-to-day work look like?

The qualified legal specialist HF works in responsible positions in public administration and in the private sector. They have broad and practice-oriented knowledge in various areas of law (civil, criminal, commercial, economic, constitutional, administrative and procedural law). As qualified clerks, they analyze and process simple legal tasks independently: Depending on where they work, a legal specialist HF advises internally and externally on legal issues, draws up and checks contracts or deeds, processes criminal law cases and debt collection, compiles documents for court proceedings, etc.

A legal specialist HF may not appear in court as a party representative - this role is reserved for lawyers. If the legal situation in a case proves to be legally more demanding, legal specialists HF turn to academically trained lawyers.

Typical work locations and activities are

• Public administrations: Preparation of first-instance rulings, preliminary work for objection and appeal decisions, etc.
• Law firms: Handling minor legal cases, legal research, drafting deeds and register applications, etc.
• SMEs: support for management in legal matters
• Trust companies: Drafting of contracts, e.g. for property sales and company succession planning
• Police corps, investigating magistrates' offices: Handling of minor cases (e.g. road traffic offenses, drug offenses)
• Banks and insurance companies: Working in the legal department to relieve and supplement the work of the lawyers.

Until 2017, the further training and job title for legal specialists was "Rechtsassistentin HF/ Rechtsassistent HF". It is more comprehensive than the paralegal training for the professional examination introduced in 2022.

Target group, personal characteristics and skills: Who is this HF course suitable for?

The courses to become a qualified legal specialist HF are aimed at professionals (mainly commercial, but also police officers and other professions) who

• want to deal with legal issues in depth and train to become a specialist with versatile know-how that can be used in business or public administration.
• who want to learn a legal way of working and acquire a broad knowledge of civil and civil procedural law, criminal and criminal procedural law, commercial and business law as well as constitutional and administrative law.
• are seeking a federally recognized qualification in higher vocational education and training.

This job in the paralegal sector requires the following personal qualities and skills:

• High sense of responsibility
• Precise working method
• Enjoy administrative tasks
• Very good communication skills (oral and written)

Requirements for admission to further training as a qualified legal specialist HF

Further training to become a qualified legal specialist HF is part-time. Based on the framework curriculum, the schools require admission:

• 50% work experience during your studies, in which legal issues are dealt with and what you have learned can be applied in practice.
• an upper secondary level qualification (or equivalent qualification). Depending on the type of upper secondary level qualification, the continuing education program comprises a total of 3600 or 5400 learning hours:

Admission with relevant previous education for shortened training (3600 learning hours) with:

• Graduation as an EFZ commercial clerk
• any other EFZ plus vocational baccalaureate
• high school diploma
• Specialized baccalaureate
• Completion of upper secondary level (basic vocational training or general education) and completion of further formal tertiary education in the legal, commercial or business management field (e.g. paralegal with federal certificate, technical business administrator with federal certificate, business economist with federal diploma, business economist NDS HF) or further training as a police officer with federal certificate.

Admission without relevant previous training for longer training (5400 learning hours) with:

• Non-commercial EFZ (without vocational baccalaureate)
• Technical college certificate

The schools or course directors decide on admission with other qualifications and backgrounds (sur dossier).

Learning material, content and skills imparted in further training

The basic principles of further training to become a qualified legal specialist HF are set out in a framework curriculum. The universities of applied sciences have a certain amount of leeway in designing the courses, which is why the curricula differ in detail. However, all courses impart the knowledge and skills required for the following areas of activity:

• Procurement and preparation of information
• Analysis and assessment of legal situations
• Planning, conducting and monitoring legal proceedings and transactions
• Advice for internal and external clients
• Preparation and examination of documents
• Processing various tasks in appeal proceedings

The subjects in which the skills required to work as a qualified legal specialist (HF) are taught include, for example, depending on the HF:

• Introduction to jurisprudence
• Various areas of law (civil law, criminal law, constitutional law, administrative law, company law, etc.) in the foundation course, later specializations (e.g. construction, planning and environmental law, tax law, social security law, criminal procedure law)
• Communication and conflict management
• Legal approach
• Appeal procedure and presentation technique

Costs of further training

The costs for further training to qualify as a qualified legal specialist HF are determined by the universities of applied sciences and invoiced semi-annually or quarterly.

HF continuing education courses that have been recognized by the Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI are subsidized by the cantons. The subsidies are regulated inter-cantonally and apply to students who have been resident in Switzerland or Liechtenstein for at least 2 years. The schools will inform you directly about the course costs for students with a different place of residence. (Information on SERI recognition can be found in the answer texts).

If you have lived in Switzerland or Liechtenstein for at least 2 years, you can expect the following costs:

• Course costs: approx. CHF 2570-3600 per semester, i.e. for 6 semesters a total of approx. CHF 15,400-21,600
• Exam fee: up to approx. CHF 2200-3500
• Additional costs: Some schools charge separately for teaching materials (up to approx. CHF 3000), enrollment (approx. CHF 250), etc.

Ask the school of your choice about the actual costs you can expect.

Duration, scope and procedure

The further training to become a legal specialist HF lasts 6 semesters and takes place alongside work; in addition to the further training, learners must work at least 50% in a position where they can apply the course material.

The training is organized intwo variantsoffered:

• onemore compactVariant for apprentices with relevant prior education (with a commercial apprenticeship certificate, with another apprenticeship certificate and a vocational baccalaureate, with a baccalaureate or specialized baccalaureate or with an upper secondary level qualification plus formal tertiary education in law or business administration/commercial studies) totaling 3600 learning hours
• onemore comprehensiveVariant for learners without relevant prior education (with a non-CVET EFZ without a vocational baccalaureate or with a technical secondary school certificate) totaling 5400 learning hours.

The learning hours of this HF paralegal training course are divided as followsForms of learning:

• without relevant previous education: approx. 1540 hours of contact lessons, 2400 hours of self-study, 1080 hours of practical training, 380 hours of qualification procedure
• with relevant previous education: approx. 1000 hours of contact lessons, 1500 hours of self-study, 720 hours of practical training, 380 hours of qualification procedure

Structure:The first 4 semesters form the basic studies; semesters 5 and 6 serve to deepen and specialize (as a rule, fields of activity can be selected here, e.g. social insurance, environmental law, tasks in municipal or cantonal administration, etc.).

Form of instruction:Depending on the school and the training offered, further training to become a qualified legal specialist HF takes place as face-to-face teaching, online or mixed (hybrid or blended). The teaching times are determined by the schools and vary greatly; as a rule, they are spread over 3-4 half days per week (e.g. one evening plus a full Saturday per week or one afternoon and evening plus Saturday morning per week).

Individual learning effort: You should allow sufficient time to prepare for and follow up on the lessons and for self-study - how much depends on your prior knowledge, working style, learning speed and chosen training model. We recommend that you allow at least 4-6 hours per week.

Qualification procedure, diploma and title

During the further training to become a qualified legal specialist HF, learning progress is continuously assessed in the form of semester and intermediate examinations as well as graded semester or project work. Those who have successfully completed all the qualification requirements are admitted to thefinal qualification procedureauthorized.

The responsibility for the final qualification procedure lies with the universities of applied sciences, which lay down the provisions and details in a set of study regulations.

In the qualification procedure, the professional competences (listed in step 4) are tested. It consists of (the preparation of) a practice-oriented diploma thesis and its presentation and discussion in the specialist committee as well as a written examination. In detail, the examination parts look like this:

Diploma thesis:Candidates write a practice-oriented diploma thesis in which they deal with a topic from their specific area of law. The thesis should be of practical use and demonstrate an in-depth examination of the field of work. The time required to write the thesis is at least 100 hours.

Oral examinationCandidates present the topic of their diploma thesis (20 minutes) and then conduct a technical discussion with the experts present (at least 20 minutes).

Written examination in the form of case studiesCandidates must complete case studies on specific practical cases. The tasks are set in such a way that they cover all areas of competence in the professional profile (at least 25 hours).

Diploma and title

Those who successfully complete the course receive a federally recognized diploma and may use the following protected title:

• German: Dipl. Rechtsfachfrau HF / Dipl. Rechtsfachmann HF
• French: Spécialiste en droit diplômée ES / Spécialiste en droit diplômé ES
• Italian: Specialista legale dipl. SSS

Recommended title in English (not protected): Advanced Federal Diploma of Higher Education in Law

Until 2017, the professional title for legal specialists HF was "Rechtsassistentin HF/ Rechtsassistent HF". Anyone with the professional title "qualified legal assistant HF" or "qualified legal assistant HF" may adopt the new title (a new diploma will not be issued). This further training is more comprehensive than the training for the professional examination for "Paralegal with federal certificate" introduced in 2022.