APPLICATIONS OPEN! Lawyer-Linguists | EPSO Exams

EPSO (European Personnel Selection Office) opened applications on 14 September 2023, calling for lawyer-linguists. The aim of this EPSO competition is to select permanent officials to be put on a reserve list to be then recruited by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) based in Luxembourg.

Co-founder of EU Training and a former lawyer-linguist himself, Andras Baneth will host a live webcast to inform and inspire potential candidates by summarizing the details provided in EPSO's Notice of Competition. You can register for EU Training's free event here, just click on the link: 

These are the six languages covered in this current lawyer-linguist competition:

• Spanish (ES)
• Lithuanian (LT)
• Dutch (NL) 
• Portuguese (PT) 
• Slovak (SK) 
• English (EN) 

Below we explore the specifics of this competition and the selection process that you will need to undertake.

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COMPETITION SNAPSHOT

• Open for Applications: 14 September 2023
• Application Deadline: 24 October 2023 (12 noon / Brussels time zone)
• Grades: AD7
• This competition covers six profiles - you may only apply to one
• Posts will be based in Luxembourg (Luxembourg)

Under this competition, the following reserve lists have been advertised, from which the Court of Justice may recruit:

As a lawyer-linguist, you will revise EU legal texts in the language of the competition from at least two other languages and provide advice on legislative drafting. Your main tasks will be to follow the legislative procedures throughout the process and act as advisers, checking the quality of drafting and compliance with the formal rules on the presentation of legislative texts. The work of a lawyer-linguist involves frequent contact with the various participants in the legislative procedure.

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ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

GENERAL criteria:

• Have EU citizenship
• Fulfilled any military service requirements
• Meet the character requirements for the duties concerned

SPECIFIC criteria:

• Have knowledge of at least THREE official EU languages:
  • Language 1: Have perfect knowledge (C2 level - mother tongue or equivalent) of the language of the competition (Spanish, Lithuanian, Dutch, Portuguese, Slovak, English) - will be defined as your Language 1.
  • Language 2: French: Minimum C1, at least in reading level - will be defined as your Language 2.
  • Language 3: Have a thorough knowledge (minimum C1 level) of one of the 24 official EU languages and MUST BE different to your Language 1 and Language 2 - will be defined as your Language 3. 
• Qualifications & Work Experience
  • Have a level of education that corresponds to completed university studies, attested by qualifications required for the specific language profile you are applying for.
  • Please consult section 3.3 of the Notice of Competition for the specific qualifications sought for each competition listed in this notice.  
  • No professional experience is required, unless the candidate only has a three-year university diploma. This is detailed in the same section linked above.

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SELECTION PROCESS

Competition Phases

1. APPLICATION

Candidates applying to this competition must submit their application online through the EPSO website by 24 October 2023 at 12:00 noon / Luxembourg time. The application can be submitted in any official EU language, although the NoC states that using Language 1 for the application is highly recommended.

Then, the next step is for candidates to upload, through their EPSO accounts, scanned copies of documents that support the declarations made in their applications. This has to be done latest by 14 December 2023 at 12:00 noon / Luxembourg time.

2. TESTS

All EPSO candidates who submit and validate their applications by the due date will be invited to sit a series of tests:

a) REASONING TESTS

The EPSO CBT must be done in your Language 1. These are multiple-choice tests that assess your logical reasoning skills. The CBT is pass/fail and does not count towards your final score.

b) Translation Tests

To evaluate candidate's language skills, they may need to pass one or more of the following language knowledge tests. Candidates must complete these translation tests without the use of a dictionary or other resources.

3. ELIGIBILITY CHECK

A candidate will only have their eligibility checked if they have reached the pass mark on the EPSO computer-based tests (reasoning skills). The Selection Board will then determine a candidate's eligibility by comparing the declarations made by the candidate in the application with the supporting documents uploaded by the candidate to their EPSO account. 

If a candidate is deemed eligible the ranking is established as follows:

• Translation Test 1 will be scored
• If the pass mark was reached in Translation Test 1, then Translation Test 2 is also scored.
• Candidates who reach the pass mark in both translation tests will then have their scores added up for a final overall score out of 160.
• 160 is the sum of the highest possible scores for the two translation tests

4. RESERVE LIST

After checking candidates’ supporting documents, the EPSO Selection Board will draw up the Reserve Lists of eligible candidates for each profile, in descending order of highest overal scores, until the number of places sought is reached. The candidates who made it onto the Reserve List will be notified directly by EPSO. The Reserve Lists will then be made available to recruiting services of the Court of Justice.

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HOW CAN YOU APPLY?

ALWAYS double-check the official EPSO Notice of Competition to comprehend in its entirety the rules related to your specific competition. For more information on the EPSO selection procedure read the official Notice of Competition and the General Rules Governing Open Competitions to be sure you have the required qualifications and satisfy the eligibility criteria before submitting your application.

The first step is always to create an EPSO account if you haven't yet!

The link to apply is on your chosen profile's page:

• EPSO/AD/405/23 - ES
• EPSO/AD/406/23 - LT
• EPSO/AD/407/23 - NL
• EPSO/AD/408/23 - PT
• EPSO/AD/409/23 - SK
• EPSO/AD/404/23 - EN

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GOOD LUCK ON YOUR EPSO EXAMS!

The EU Training Customer Service Team is at your service: contact us for more information on how to prepare for this EPSO competition.

Want to join the conversation and talk to other candidates about this competition? 

Join the EPSO Lawyer-Linguists Facebook group

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