Bar Practice Qualification Master
Program director:
D. Plácido Molina
Campus:
Madrid
Date:
October 2026
LANGUAGE:
Spanish
The first real year of your life as a lawyer.
Qualifying Master’s Degree for entry into legal practice, focused on professional training from day one in law firms and legal advisory.
Passing the bar exam is mandatory. But the real challenge comes afterward: when you sit in front of a client for the first time.
This program is designed so that that moment isn’t your first real encounter with the profession, but the natural continuation of your training.
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Introduction and objectives
Many law graduates finish their degree with solid legal knowledge and discover something uncomfortable when they start working: they don’t know where to begin.
Not for lack of study. For lack of prior experience.
The objective of ISDE’s Master’s in Access to the Legal Profession is to reduce the gap between knowing the law and practising it.
Here, the training is not limited to preparing you for the qualifying exam. It prepares you for a lawyer’s day-to-day work.
Throughout the programme you will learn:
- How to analyse a real legal matter
- How to structure a procedural strategy
- How to draft an effective legal submission
- How decisions are made within a law firm
The exam comes at the end. The profession starts earlier.
Sponsor
Structure, location and calendar
CAMPUS: Madrid
DURATION: One academic year.
STRUCTURE
Phase 1:
- Classroom-based training
- One full academic year
- Classes from Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 14:30. Includes curricular and extracurricular sessions, conferences, and practical workshops.
Phase 2 (Internship placement):
- Mandatory phase. One academic term in law firms or legal departments of large companies partnering with ISDE (more than 250), at both national and international level.
The programme combines academic training, practical skills development, and progressive professional exposure.
You do not work only with a syllabus. You work with the real logic of legal practice.
Throughout this Master’s in legal practice, you will:
- Analyse real legal documentation
- Take part in preparing matters
- Train in procedural drafting
- Understand the lawyer–client relationship
- Learn how a law firm works internally
The objective is not only to pass the exam, but to ensure that your first day at work is not the first time you see how the profession actually works.
Career Opportunities
The Master’s in Access to the Legal Profession is designed to support your entry as a junior lawyer in:
- National and international law firms
- In-house legal departments
- Specialist firms
- Compliance teams
- Corporate legal departments
Finding a job matters, but what matters most is how you start once you have it.
Those who arrive without understanding the day-to-day work need months to adapt.
Those who have already trained with a law firm’s working logic can start adding value from day one.
ACADEMIC PROGRAM
The curriculum integrates exam preparation with legal practice:
Module I. Legal Framework and Professional Practice (9 ECTS)
- First Semester
Subject I.1. “Practice of Law” (3 ECTS)
Subject I.2. “Practice of Procuratorship” (3 ECTS)
- Second Semester
Subject I.3. “Professional Ethics and Liability” (3 ECTS)
Module II. Legal Practice: General Areas (30 ECTS)
- First Semester
Subject II.1: “Civil Practice” (3 ECTS)
Subject II.2: “Criminal Practice” (3 ECTS)
Subject II.3: “Civil and Criminal Procedural Practice” (6 ECTS)
Subject II.4: “Commercial Practice” (6 ECTS)
- Second Semester
Subject II.5: “Administrative Practice and Judicial Review (CA)” (6 ECTS)
Subject II.6: “Labour and Social Security Practice” (6 ECTS)
Module III. Legal Practice: Specific Areas (9 ECTS)
- First Semester
Subject III.1: “Protection of Fundamental Rights” (3 ECTS)
- Second Semester
Subject III.2: “Tax Procedures and Taxpayer Guarantees” (3 ECTS)
Subject III.3: “International Jurisdiction: Strategy and Litigation” (3 ECTS)
Module IV. Public Speaking and Mock Trials (6 ECTS)
- First Semester
Subject IV.1: “Public Speaking and Mock Trials I: Civil and Criminal Jurisdictions” (3 ECTS)
- Second Semester
Subject IV.2: “Public Speaking and Mock Trials: Labour and Administrative Jurisdictions (CA)” (3 ECTS)
Module V. Master’s Final Project (6 ECTS)
- Second Semester
Subject V.1: “Master’s Final Project” (6 ECTS)
Module VI. External Internships (30 ECTS)
- Third Semester
Subject VI.1: “External Internship I: Legal Operators” (3 ECTS)
Subject VI.2: “External Internship II: Professional Practice in Partner Organisations”
The regulations are not studied as isolated theory. They are continuously applied in real situations.
That is why the exam is prepared by understanding what each piece of knowledge is for, rather than memorising without context.
FACULTY
The faculty of our Master’s in Access to the Legal Profession is composed of practising lawyers, in-house legal professionals, and specialists who work daily with real clients and live cases.
They are the ones who review legal submissions, prepare cases, and interview candidates in their firms. They bring that same way of thinking into the classroom.
They teach you how a lawyer thinks when faced with a real problem.
DIRECTION
Mr Plácido Molina (Lawyer, Cuatrecasas)
| SUBJECT | ACADEMIC BOARD |
| 1. Practice of Law | Mr Plácido Molina |
| 2. Practice of Procuratorship | Ms Carmen Giménez |
| 3. Civil Practice | Mr Fernando García-Mon |
| 4. Criminal Practice | Mr Miguel Bustos |
| 5. Civil and Criminal Procedural Practice | Ms Carmen Ladrón de Guevara |
| 6. Commercial Practice | Mr Antonio Tapia |
| 7. Administrative Practice and Judicial Review (CA) | Ms Julia Muñoz |
| 8. Labour and Social Security Practice | Ms Ana Campos |
| 9. Protection of Fundamental Rights | Ms Elvira García |
| 10. Tax Procedures and Taxpayer Guarantees | Mr Guillermo Bailach |
| 11. International Jurisdiction: Strategy and Litigation | Mr Miguel Ortego |
| 12. Public Speaking and Mock Trials: Civil, Criminal, Labour and Administrative Jurisdictions | Mr Plácido Molina |
ACCREDITED DEGREE
Once the relevant Program has concluded and ISDE has verified that the STUDENT has completed their work satisfactorily, the STUDENT will receive the corresponding Degree certificate for each PROGRAM.
In compliance with current legality and, specifically, as set forth in article 4.4 of decree 84/2004, it is noted that ISDE’s programs are professionally oriented and therefore, unless explicitly stated otherwise, they are courses that do not lead to the acquisition of a title with official value, but to that of a proprietary title from ISDE.