Admission to the exam: BCU clarified the status of intellectual property diplomas

A master's degree in intellectual property may be an appropriate document to confirm a complete higher legal education for the purpose of obtaining the right to practice law, if it corresponds to specialty 081 «Law» (D8 «Law»).

This clarification was provided by the Bar Council of Ukraine in response to a lawyer's request by decision No. 144 of 13 December 2025.

The Bar Council of Ukraine reminded that, in accordance with part one of Article 8 of the Law «On the advocacy and the practice of law», a person who has expressed a desire to become an advocate and meets the requirements (in particular, has a full higher legal education), has the right to apply to the Qualification and Disciplinary Commission of the Advocacy with a request to be admitted to the qualification exam.

The BCU reminded that, in accordance with Part 1 of Article 8 of the Law «On the advocacy and the practice of law», a person who meets the established requirements has the right to apply to the QDC with a request to be admitted to the qualification exam. The admission procedure, in particular the list of documents, is determined by the Procedure approved by the BCU decision No. 270 of 17 December 2013. Among other things, the applicant submits a state-approved document (original and notarized copy) and attachments thereto confirming that they have obtained a full higher legal education, not lower than a master's (specialist) degree - second (master's) level, specialization – «law», «jurisprudence», «law enforcement», «international law».

Separately, the BCU drew attention to the change in approaches to the state classification of specializations. Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 787 of 27 August 2010, which classified «Intellectual Property» (8.18010011) as a «Specific Category» field of knowledge, was repealed by Resolution No. 266 of 29 April 2015. And in accordance with the latter resolution, Order No. 1151 of the Ministry of Education and Science dated November 6, 2015, approved tables of correspondence between the old fields/specialties and the new list of fields of knowledge and specialties.

According to these tables, specialty 7.18010011 (8.18010011) «Intellectual Property» corresponds, in particular, to specialty 081 «Law» (as well as 076 «Entrepreneurship, Trade and Stock Exchange Activities»). This correspondence was additionally confirmed by the Directorate of Higher Education and Adult Education of the Ministry of Education and Science in letter No. 3/9031-25 dated 17.10.2025 (in response to the request of the UNBA dated 06.10.2025 No. 1668/0/2-25). The current correspondence of specialties according to the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine dated 29.04.2015 No. 266 (as amended by the resolution dated 30.08.2024 No. 1021) and the order of the Ministry of Education and Science dated 19.11.2024 No. 1625 is as follows: specialty 081 «Law» corresponds to specialty D8 «Law» in the field of knowledge D «Business, Administration and Law».

Taking this into account, the BCU concluded that a master's degree in the specialty «Intellectual Property», which corresponds to specialty 081 «Law» - specialty D8 Law in the field of knowledge D «Business, Administration and Law», is a valid document confirming that the person has obtained a complete higher legal education.