What a lawyer does
A lawyer defends a client's rights, gives legal opinions, drafts contracts and petitions and follows cases through the courts. Speaking in court is the visible part; the real load is reading and writing. Reading a file, connecting the facts to the law and explaining it in a short, clear text is the core of the profession.
The path in Turkey
Law faculties are entered through the YKS, and placement uses the EA score type, which counts mathematics together with Turkish and social sciences. The ÖSYM guide sets a minimum ranking requirement for law programmes; the figure is published in the guide each year.
The programme lasts four years. The Attorneyship Law requires, for admission to the profession, Turkish citizenship, a degree from a law faculty and completion of the legal traineeship.
Under the law, starting the traineeship requires passing the Legal Professions Entrance Exam, the HMGS. ÖSYM runs it; it has 120 multiple choice questions, and a score of at least seventy out of a hundred is a pass.
The traineeship lasts one year. The first six months are spent in the courts, the remaining six with a lawyer who has at least five years of seniority and is registered with the same bar.
Paths abroad
In the United States law is not an undergraduate degree. A student first completes a bachelor's degree, then applies to a JD programme at law school. Applicants sit the LSAT; according to LSAC it has a four section multiple choice test and a separate argumentative writing component.
In the United Kingdom law can be studied as a first degree. Some universities require the LNAT: 42 multiple choice questions based on 12 passages, plus an essay written on one of three prompts. It measures reasoning and writing, not knowledge.
In France the path starts with a licence en droit. To sit the CRFPA exam that opens the door to the école d'avocats, the CNB requires 60 credits at master 1 level; the CAPA is obtained at the end of the school.
Which school subjects build the foundation
Reading and writing come first. Reading a long text quickly, spotting the weak link in an argument and defending your own view in a well ordered paragraph are used every day in legal education.
History and philosophy explain why institutions are shaped the way they are. Economics returns in contract, commercial and tax law. Mathematics is not left out: it counts in the EA score and trains logical thinking.
A foreign language is directly needed in international law and in applications abroad.
How international programmes strengthen it
SAT Reading and Writing makes reading and language skills measurable. The Theory of Knowledge course and the Extended Essay at the core of the IB Diploma Programme train reasoned writing in high school. AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics, or IB Economics, lay ground for the areas where law meets economics.
Common mistakes
The first mistake is seeing law as a memorisation subject. Anyone can know an article of the code; the difference lies in applying it to facts and putting that in writing.
The second is assuming a law degree from one country lets you practise in another. Law is national; someone with a foreign degree who wants to practise in Turkey must pass exams in the missing subjects.
The third is leaving writing skills to university. They develop slowly, and starting in high school makes a large difference.