Historically, German law students did not receive any academic degree upon completion of their curriculum.
More recently, however, some universities have begun to award their students a Diplom-Jurist upon passing the First State Examination,[2][3] in order to indicate the equivalence of the education to a master's degree in other disciplines.
The "Diplom-Jurist" does not give the holder the right to work as, for instance, a fully qualified attorney (Rechtsanwalt) or a judge.
The German legal education system requires examinees of the First State Examination to pass a two-year practical training period (Referendariat), at the end of which candidates sit the Second State Examination which, if passed, admits successful participants to the bar.
However, holders of the "Diplom-Jurist" degree may, of course, work as lawyers in unregulated legal professions where admittance to the bar is not required (e.g. in-house counsel).