A trainee lawyer need not be admitted to the legal traineeship if there are serious doubts as to their loyalty to the constitution. Owing to the need for further investigations and the uncertain prospects of success in the main proceedings, the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) of Saxony-Anhalt has ruled that postponing the start of the training programme is permissible (Ref.: 3 M 70/26 of 10 September 2026).

The trainee lawyer was accused of numerous past involvement in far-right extremist activities, which is why the Naumburg Higher Regional Court refused to admit him to the legal traineeship. Among other things, he was accused of having attended meetings of former SS officers in Estonia and events organised by a far-right organisation. According to information from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the candidate had also been an official in an organisation classified as definitively far-right, as well as a member of a right-wing student fraternity.

The Higher Administrative Court has now clarified that trainee lawyers must also meet the constitutional minimum requirements regarding loyalty to the constitution. In this regard, it is irrelevant whether they have already committed any criminal offences. In reaching this conclusion, the Higher Administrative Court relied on the case law of the Federal Administrative Court, according to which the requirements for admission to the legal traineeship may be higher than those for admission to the bar.

The Higher Administrative Court also made it clear that there were no fixed time limits within which past anti-constitutional activities would become time-barred for the purposes of admission. In the court’s view, the protection of a properly functioning administration of justice took precedence over the candidate’s educational interests.