Summary

The idea of a unified law exam or state exam, which has been on the minds of practising lawyers and academics alike lately, has not been discussed for the first time in Estonia. Attempts of this kind were also made in the decades following the restoration of the independence of the Republic of Estonia, when, following the example of Germany, there was an explicit or rather silent attempt to introduce a national law exam in our country. The memory of a historian, including a legal historian, goes beyond immediate experience, as their job is to delve into historical documents. Thus, at the end of 2022, the author researched the events of the 1941–1944 German occupation at the School of Law of the University of Tartu. At the same time, another attempt to introduce a common state exam for lawyers in Estonia had reached the draft level of the Ministry of Justice. It is not surprising, then, that the archives also show a discussion of the issue among Estonian lawyers in the summer of 1944. The author shares her findings with today’s legal audience.