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Education Information

To become an attorney at law, you must have either a law degree / master’s degree in Dutch law from one of the universities in the Netherlands or a master’s degree from the Universidad di Aruba (UA), the university located in Aruba. At the UA, Aruban law is taught. Anyone aspiring to work as an attorney at law or judge or in any other legal profession in Aruba must have mastered Aruban and/or Dutch law.

At the university, law students are trained to become all-round jurists. This means that, after completing your law studies, you will be able to work in several different fields. After getting the Bachelor of Law and/or Master of Law degree(s), you will be able, as a jurist, to answer the most diverse legal questions you may be faced with on a daily basis.

As of academic year 2003-2004, the UA started implementing the Bachelor-Master structure for the Aruban Law program. A broad interest in social affairs, analytical thinking skills, a good command of the Dutch language, and taking pleasure in dealing with people are stimulated by this study.

If you meet the admission requirements, you may enroll by means of an enrollment form, which you can get at the UA desk. When you do not meet the admission requirements but are over 21 years of age, you may be allowed by the Minister of Education to take the exams based on the special entrance examination called colloquim doctum. You can find more information about this examination in the Colloquim Doctum Regulations of the Faculty of Law, which is available on request from the university’s administration department at 4 J.E. Irausquinplein in Aruba.

Of course, it is also possible to study law in the Netherlands. You can do so in Amsterdam, Leiden, Tilburg, Nijmegen, Groningen, Maastricht, and Utrecht.

The UA has cooperation agreements with several different universities in the Netherlands. Specific agreements have been made with these universities about exemptions from examinations for UA students, so that, after graduating from the UA, you will be able to get a master’s degree in Dutch law fairly quickly, apart from your master’s degree in Aruban law. For more information, go to www.ua.aw.

After completing the program and finding a job at a law firm, the first three years in the legal profession are considered a period of practical training. During this period, you will actually be working as an attorney at law, but under the supervision of an employer. In addition, you can follow a (currently) voluntary Legal Training Program during this period.

For more information (in Dutch) on the Legal Training Program, also visit the PAO (Postgraduate Training) Foundation website at www.pao-aruba.com

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