A German lawyer, fully qualified and practising, may qualify as a specialist and describe himself or herself as Fachanwalt / Fachanwältin für Familienrecht, for example.
Here’s information in German at Juracafe.
This is an additional qualification. These are the types available till now:
* Fachanwalt für Arbeitsrecht: qualified employment law specialist
* Fachanwalt für Familienrecht … family law
* Fachanwalt für Insolvenzrecht … insolvency law
* Fachanwalt für Sozialrecht … social security law
* Fachanwalt für Steuerrecht … tax law
* Fachanwalt für Strafrecht … criminal law
* Fachanwalt für Verwaltungsrecht … administrative law
The following have now been added (see Handakte WebLAWg):
Fachanwalt für Medizinrecht … medical law
Fachanwalt Miet- und Wohnungseigentumsrecht … landlord and tenant law and the law of freehold apartments
Fachanwalt für Verkehrsrecht … road traffic law
Fachanwalt für Bau- und Architektenrecht … construction law and law relating to architects
Fachanwalt für Erbrecht … probate law
Fachanwalt für Transport- und Speditionsrecht … transport and haulage law
The qualification is not that easy to get. You have to go on a special course of at least 120 hours, you have to do and pass written exams. You have to prove that you did a certain number of cases in the field in question in the last three years (between 60 and 120, depending on the subject area), and to keep the qualification you have to go to at least one course of continuing education every year.
David Truex has information on finding specialist family lawyers worldwide.
Interesting info. Overkill quals seem to be needed in DE, no doubt to justify a higher fee under BRAGO.
I’ve sometimes used perückentragender, oft prozeßbevollmächtigter Fachanwalt to describe a Barrister/Scottish Advocate. Fachanwalt, of course, could also perfectly well be a Specialist Solicitor – or Consultant on the firm’s headed notepaper.