LAJ: the first examination of the open-access round will be held on 22 November at the Autonomous University of Madrid

Examining board number one of the selection process for admission to the Corps of Letrados de la Administración de Justicia (LAJ, formerly known as secretarios judiciales) has called all candidates admitted through the open-access round to sit the first examination of the opposition phase: it will take place on 22 November 2026, at 10:00, in Madrid, in the Law and Legal, Political and Economic Sciences buildings of the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Madrid, at 1 Kelsen Street (Fuencarral-El Pardo).

The ruling, adopted on 13 October and published on 26 October in the Official State Gazette (BOE-A-2026-22341), marks the effective start of the examination phase of the call opened by Order PJC/144/2026, of 24 February, one of the most closely followed of Spain's legal public examinations.

Single call and automatic exclusion

The examination will be held in a single call: all candidates admitted through open access will sit it at the same time and in the same venue. The ruling expressly warns that candidates who fail to appear will be excluded from the selection process, so attendance is not a formality but a requirement to remain in the process.

The board's instructions are equally specific: candidates must come provided with a blue or black pen and present, for identification, their national identity document or passport, in force. It is worth checking the document's validity well in advance to avoid an irreparable setback on the morning of the exam.

What the 22 November exam looks like

The first examination is theoretical, written and eliminatory. It will consist of answering a multiple-choice questionnaire on the subjects of the first part of the open-access syllabus: 100 questions with four alternative answers and only one correct, plus four reserve questions that would replace any the board annuls after the exam. The time allowed is 120 minutes.

The score ranges from 0 to 20 points: each correct answer adds 0.2 points, each error deducts 0.066 points - one third of the value of a correct answer - and blank questions do not score. Marking is anonymous, and the board will publish the answer templates on the Ministry of Justice website (mjusticia.gob.es) within a maximum of two working days from the end of the examination. There is no pre-set pass mark: the board, in view of the number and level of candidates who sit the exam and before knowing their identity, will set the minimum score required and make it public.

The first part of the syllabus examined by this test covers seven major blocks: constitutional and European Union law; organisation and structure of the Administration of Justice; criminal law; commercial law; administrative and contentious-administrative law; labour and social security law and social procedure; and the Civil Registry.

The call: 179 posts at stake

The process is governed by Order PJC/144/2026, of 24 February (BOE of 28 February 2026), corresponding to the 2025 public employment offer, which calls 179 posts in the Corps of Letrados de la Administración de Justicia: 119 through open access - 12 of them reserved for persons with disabilities - and 60 through internal promotion, with 6 in the disability quota. The final list of admitted candidates was published by Order PJC/660/2026, of 25 June, and the ruling published on 26 October 2026 relies on base 8.6 of the call to set the date of the first examination. The open-access round is resolved after the internal promotion round.

Examining board number one, chaired by María Arántzazu de los Reyes Delgado, is in charge of this first phase of the process.

From passing to appointment: the selective course and the final score

Passing the three exercises does not make anyone a Letrado de la Administración de Justicia: it opens the door to the selective course at the Centre for Legal Studies. Once it is verified that those who passed the exercises meet the requirements of base 4, the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes issues the appointment order as trainee civil servants, and the course must begin within a maximum of two months from that appointment. It consists of a theoretical-practical phase of no less than two months at the Centre and a subsequent phase of tutored practice in the judicial offices of no less than four months, with a teaching plan that includes the subject of equality between women and men, forms of non-discrimination and gender violence.

The course is also selective: whoever fails it may join the immediately following one with the score of the last candidate who passed the exercises, but a second failure extinguishes all rights to appointment. Anyone unable to take it for duly justified force majeure may do so in the next course of the same kind, only once. The final score of the open-access process is the sum of the scores of the three exercises and the selective course, and it orders the choice of destinations.

The participation requirements of base 4 - which must be met when the application period ends and maintained until taking office - include being of legal age without having reached compulsory retirement age, Spanish nationality, a law degree (or the homologation credentials for foreign qualifications), not having been convicted or prosecuted for an intentional offence unless a final dismissal order was issued or the criminal record was cancelled, full exercise of civil rights, and not having been separated from service or disqualified from public employment.

Why this call matters beyond the candidates

The Corps of Letrados de la Administración de Justicia performs essential functions in managing the judicial office, in procedural activity and in judicial public faith. Every call is therefore a first-order matter for the system's functioning: the vacancies accumulated in courts across Spain turn each selection process into a piece of the structural response to the judicial organs' workload.

Subsequent exercises and calendar

After the test, the second exercise is oral and eliminatory: candidates develop four topics from six drawn by lot, with a maximum score of 40 points. The third exercise is a written practical case with ten questions in 60 minutes, worth up to 20 points. Passing these exercises is followed by the selective training course. Between completion of one exercise and the start of the next, the call provides a minimum of 72 hours and a maximum of 45 working days. The call must be implemented within two years of publication, with the opposition phases within one year unless a justified reason applies. The tribunal publishes an indicative timetable on the Ministry website. Vacancies in the general internal-promotion system are added to open-access places before the selective course.

Documents and timetable

Candidates should retain the tribunal agreement and the order containing the selection rules, check subsequent Ministry instructions and verify their inclusion on the definitive admission list. The examination date does not replace that individual admission check. The tribunal agreement, not a private job advertisement, establishes the time, place and identification requirements.

Challenges to questions and the answer key

Annex I of the order provides a specific period for challenging test questions or the agreement publishing the correct answers: five working days from the day following publication of that agreement. This is a different period from the two-working-day deadline for the tribunal to publish its answer key. Candidates should therefore retain the publication date and distinguish the tribunal's duty to publish from their own period for submitting a challenge. The order also requires assessment, correction and pass criteria not already specified in the call to be published before the examination. These rules concern this selection process, not a general timetable for all public examinations.

Related public-sector recruitment updates are collected in our legal jobs section. This examination is a public recruitment process, not a job offer from a law firm.

Frequently asked questions

When is the first LAJ open-access examination? On Sunday 22 November 2026, at 10:00, in a single call.

Where is it held? At the Faculty of Law of the Autonomous University of Madrid (Law and Legal, Political and Economic Sciences buildings), 1 Kelsen Street, Fuencarral-El Pardo, Madrid.

How many posts are called in total? 179 posts in the LAJ Corps: 119 through open access (12 reserved for persons with disabilities) and 60 through internal promotion (6 in the quota).

What happens if a candidate does not appear? They will be excluded from the selection process, as the board's ruling expressly warns.

What documentation must be brought? A blue or black pen and a valid national identity document or passport for identification. Checking the document's validity in advance is advisable.

Where are the answer templates published? On the Ministry of Justice website (mjusticia.gob.es), within a maximum of two working days from the end of the exam.