Rhineland-Palatinate: First Fully Digital Second State Examination in Law in Germany
The Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Justice reports: Rhineland-Palatinate is the first German state to hold the Second State Examination in Law entirely digitally – for the first time also with digital statutes and commentaries. IQUL was responsible for the technical exam infrastructure.
Over the past two weeks, around 200 trainee lawyers wrote five-hour exams on eight exam days at the locations Mainz, Trier and Frankenthal. Until now, they had to bring numerous statute books and commentaries to every exam day. Now the permitted aids are available to them in an electronic library on a second screen.
The digital literature comes from the beck-eExamensbibliothek by C.H.BECK. IQUL is responsible for the technical exam infrastructure and the secure integration of the digital aids into the exam.
Candidates in Rhineland-Palatinate have been able to write their exams on a laptop since October 2021, and marking and file inspection have been electronic for years. With the digital aids, the entire written procedure is now digital. The trainee lawyers have been using the library since the start of their preparatory service in May 2025, and a mock exam in May 2026 tested the process. More on this in the article Rhineland-Palatinate is piloting Germany's first fully digital bar exam.
Minister of Justice Dr. Helmut Martin emphasises that digital exams reflect how lawyers work today. In addition, candidates no longer have to buy or rent current editions, which strengthens equal opportunities. Birgit Nennstiel, President of the State Examination Office for Lawyers, makes it clear that the aim is a more realistic exam, not an easier one. The exam environment deliberately contains no AI functions.
beck-aktuell also reports (in German): Zweites Examen in Rheinland-Pfalz: Erstmals digitale Kommentare beim Juraexamen.
An overview of all reports is available in the media coverage of the fully digital Second State Examination.
Read the full press release (in German) from the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Justice: Rheinland-Pfalz: bundesweit erstmals Zweites Juristisches Staatsexamen volldigital