Training at the Higher Technical College to become a qualified legal specialist HF is suitable for business people and graduates of cantonally recognized commercial secondary schools as well as for police officers (with 3 years of basic vocational training and a professional examination) and people with other 3-year vocational training with additional commercial training, such as a commercial diploma, a certificate as a technical businessman / technical businesswoman or a federal diploma (HFP) as a business economist in the trade. In addition, all course participants must have two years of professional experience and be employed at least 50% of the time during the entire course in a job that deals with legal issues.

A legal specialist HF has the following tasks:

• Analyzing and processing legal tasks and problems
• In public administrations:
  • Draw up first-instance decrees
  • Conduct the entire preliminary proceedings for objections and appeal decisions
  • Invite opposing party and cantonal offices to comment
  • Preparing objection decisions and submitting them to the competent authority for review and consultation
• In law firms:
  • handle minor legal cases
  • carry out legal research
  • drafting public deeds and register applications
• In trust companies:
  • Legal advice or correct drafting of contracts, e.g. for the sale of real estate or succession planning
• With investigative bodies such as the police or public prosecutor's office:
  • Handling minor cases such as road traffic or drug offenses

Civil law, criminal law, criminal procedure law, constitutional law, administrative law, civil procedure law, enforcement law, commercial law and business law are the main topics of the CHE legal specialist training program.

Participants in the HF training course to become a qualified legal specialist HF must work at least 50 percent of their time in an activity that also deals with legal issues. Cantonal administrations, municipal administrations, SMEs, law firms, police, public prosecutors' offices, examining magistrates' offices, SMEs, fiduciary services, banking and insurance are recognized.

Further training as a legal specialist HF enables the legally correct handling of the assigned tasks and provides the necessary legal and procedural skills within the scope of the area of responsibility.

People who have trained as qualified legal specialists CHE handle legal cases, but are not active in court. They work for police forces and insurance companies, migration offices, social welfare offices and trust companies, SMEs, examining magistrates' offices and banks, public prosecutors' offices, building and tax authorities, guardianship offices, road traffic offices and law firms.

There is a comprehensive (4 years part-time, 3 years full-time) and a shortened version (3 years part-time, 2 years full-time) of the training to become a qualified legal specialist HF.

Admission to the shortened training program (3600 learning hours with relevant prior education) is available for participants with:

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

Admission to the longer course (5400 learning hours in the absence of relevant previous training) is available to participants with:

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

In addition, at least 50 percent of the time during the course must be spent working in a professional capacity dealing with legal issues (recognized fields of activity: SMEs, police, examining magistrate's office, public prosecutor's office, banking and insurance, fiduciary services, law firm, municipal or cantonal administration).

The CHE training course to become a qualified legal specialist lasts three years.

The following further training courses are useful for a specialist in HF Law:

• Bachelor of Science ZFH in Business Law
• Bachelor of Science FH International Management
• Postgraduate courses at universities of applied sciences or universities of applied sciences, e.g. Master of Advanced Studies MAS in Public Management, MAS in Corporate Management