García Padilla compares the quintessence of the legal profession from both sides of the pond

In a breakfast seminar that took place at KPMG Abogados in Barcelona, el Mr. Antonio García Padilla, Professor of commercial and procedural law, former Dean of the Law School of Rio Piedras (Puerto Rico), former Rector of the University of Puerto Rico and President of the Puertorican Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation, addressed the topic - “The training of  lawyers in Europe and in the USA. A comparative analysis”.

Among the attendees were Mr. Enoch Albertí, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the University of Barcelona, Mr. Enric Bartlett, Dean of the ESADE Law School, Mr. Pere Mirosa, former Dean of the ESADE Law School, and Mr. Josep D. Guàrdia, President of the Academy of Jurisprudence and Legislation of Catalunya.

During his introduction, Mr. Ramon Mullerat, former President of the CCBE and member of the American Bar Association, referred to the main differences between the practice of the profession on either side of the Atlantic in terms of the application of the law, the function of the lawyer and the lawyer-client relationship, and emphasized that one of the fundamental differences lies in the training, which was the topic of the seminar.

Mr. García Padilla referred to structure and methodology. Concerning the structure, he explained that, whilst generally lawyers’ training in Europe is equal to a first university degree, in the US it is rather a post-degree training and the admission test is focused more highly on comprehension as opposed to knowledge. With regard to methodology, he underlined that the case method introduced by Christopher Landgdell, first dean of Harvard, attempts to organize training in a more scientific manner and aims at making the students think rather than learn, and to participate in the judicial result of cases.

García Padilla also opined that after World War II there has been a slow convergence of the two systems and after the Bologna process, the difference will be even further mitigated.

An interesting debate among all the participants took place, discussing ABA law schools, their ABA accreditation, law firm’s and students’ demands and the current state of the legal profession during the recession in both the US and the EU.


Barcelona, 14 December 2009