Applying for a licence
When do you need a licence?
The licensed Trial Counsel Act entered into force on 1 January 2013. According to the Act, attorneys and trial counsel who are not attorneys-at-law or public legal aid attorneys require a licence to serve as attorney or trial counsel in the ordinary courts. In administrative courts, the licence is required in matters involving child welfare.
A licence is not required if the attorney or counsel has completed a Master of Laws degree and has an employment or service relationship with the interested party. A lawyer employed by a labour market organisation does not require a licence either when dealing with matters related to their employment. Undisputed application matters, undisputed payment demand matters and matters of land law can also be handled by non-lawyers. On the other hand, being a close relative of the interested party no longer gives the right to act as an attorney or counsel in court.
It is the duty of the courts to ensure that a person reporting as licensed trial counsel holds a valid licence. The court will consider on a case-by-case basis whether the counsel requires a licence for their duties.
How to apply for a licence?
The licence is applied for in writing from the Board on Trial Counsel, which processes and decides on the application. The licence may only be applied for in both national languages, Finnish or Swedish. The application form is available in Finnish on the Finnish-language website and in Swedish on the Swedish-language website. According to section 6 of the licensed Trial Counsel Act, the applicant must enclose the information necessary for making a decision with the application.
The Board convenes approximately once per month. Applicants should note that application processing times vary according to the number of applications filed and the additional investigations required by individual applications. As a rule, the meeting will only process applications that have been submitted to the Board at least one week before its meeting. If supplementary or additional information is required from the applicant, the processing time will be longer.
In order to avoid having to supplement their application or provide additional information, the Board recommends that applicants use the application form created by the Board and complete it carefully (the form is attached to this page). To expedite the processing of the application, the Board urges applicants to read the information on the application form and on this website. In the application, the applicant is required to declare certain information about criminal convictions, prohibitions against appearing in court, disciplinary sanctions imposed by the Disciplinary Board and indebtedness. The applicant is required to attest to the accuracy of the information provided in the application and its attachments and attest that their legal capacity has not been restricted.
The application and its attachments can be delivered to the Board on Trial Counsel by post or email (oikeudenkayntiavustajaltk(at)oikeus.fi).
When sending e-mail, replace (at) with @.
Application form
The application form is available in Finnish on the Finnish-language website and in Swedish on the Swedish-language website.
Instructions for using the form:
- Download the form by clicking on the file link with the right mouse button and choosing “Save as”.
- Open the form and fill in the fields if you like.
- You can also print the form empty and fill in the information by hand. Alternatively, you can use the “print to PDF” function to save the completed form in PDF format, which can then be conveniently sent as a file attachment by email.