Israel Bar Association Surveys Interns

The Israel Bar Association just sent out a 12 question survey to legal interns (stagiaires) asking the following questions (it was multiple choice but I am only including the questions):

1. Do you think the internship in its current form properly prepares you to work as a lawyer?
2. Was it hard or easy for you to find an internship?
3. If it was hard for you, why do you think that was?
4. During the internship did you only perform legal work?
5. How many hours a day did you work?
6. Do you feel received fair treatment from your employer?
7. How do you rate the quality of your internship?
8. How do you feel about the suggestion to institute an entrance examination at the end of law school as a precondition to beginning an internship?
9. What is your position regarding extending the length of the mandatory internship?
10. What is your position regarding creating a training school to run simultaneously with the internship?
11. What is your position regarding the proposal to change the bar exam to also test critical thinking and analysis rather than rote memorization?
12. Do you think there is a need to change the system to one that institutes standards to determine who can qualify to be an interns mentor (מאמן)?

I think making the bar exam more like the American bar exam to test critical thinking/ analysis and application of the law is a much better idea than the current exam that tests rote memorization. I don't think that the internship should last for more than 1 year. During the internship, salaries are very low. To make interns collect such a pittance for more than 1 year is unfair. I don't see why they need an exam after law school but before the internship. Students take plenty of exams in school and then the bar exam. Why is there a need to insert another test? How would that exam be different than the bar exam?

Deadline to Apply for Dinei Yisrael Exams is July 13!

If you are a foreign lawyer and are planning to take the Dinei Yisrael Exams in August 2012, the deadline to send in your application is July 13. The cost is 160 NIS per test which you must pay at the Post Office to account number 4454120 and send the receipt in with your application.

I have some very good outlines available.

Make sure you read the Basic Requirements for Admission to the Israel Bar (revised 2013). In general, a foreign lawyer who wants to practice in Israel has to pass the Hebrew proficiency exam and 6 of the 8 substantive Dinei Yisrael exams before beginning the one-year articled clerkship or stage (from the French word "stagiaire"). However, if you arrive with two years of work experience you can begin your stage upon passing the Hebrew proficiency exam and can take the substantive exams later. But in order to take the actual bar exam you must pass all of the Dinei Yisrael exams first.
If you have five years of work experience, you just need to pass all of the Dinei Yisrael Exams and clerkship but you do not need to take the bar exam.

The Hebrew exam is given 4 times throughout the year (Jan, April, Aug, Oct) and the 8 substantive exams are given in January and August. The Israeli Bar Office is the gatekeeper to register for these exams- you must register at least one month ahead of time. There is an English review class given in Yerushalayim. And what appears to be a course in Hebrew for Israelis who are qualified overseas. The Lishka (Bar Office) also offers a course in Tel Aviv  for new olim (which appears to be in Hebrew). However, it consists of 42 classes, which looks like overkill to me.

But... in order to begin this process you need to have your degree recognized. To do that, on Mondays Thursdays between 9 AM to 1 PM, (as of May 2014) bring your actual physical diploma and an official transcript to the Hebrew U. Mount Scopus campus where the law school is. (If you don't have your diploma they will give you a hard time, and you will need an official letter letter from the law school that you indeed graduated.) You need to pay 420 NIS as well, so bring some money. Go to Room 116A. You can call them Mondays between 9 to 1 at 02-588-0044 or email: degreerec@savion.huji.ac.il. 

After you do that, bring those documents to the Bar Office at 1 Chopin St and open a file. Bring more money.