Law enforcement competence of a future lawyer: concept, structure, and composition

Statement of the problem. The current stage of the development of higher education in the Russian Federation is inextricably linked with the systematic renewal of all elements of the education system, which is based on innovative pedagogical technologies that reflect the changes taking place in the fields of culture, economics, law, science, and technology. Innovative processes in the life of the state and society impose new requirements on the legal community as one of the foundations of a democratic rule of law state, as well as on educational institutions implementing professional educational programs of higher legal education. Therefore, there is a need to update the content of the professional competence of a lawyer, which should be formed among students as a result of mastering the educational program. A graduate of a law institute at the beginning of his professional activity should be ready to solve various legal situations, usually related to the application and implementation of legal norms. However, often in the process of studying at a university with a significant amount of professional knowledge taught, due attention is not paid to the development and consolidation of professional skills, primary experience of professional activity, including the field of law enforcement. The lack of research in pedagogical science, the object of which would be the law enforcement competence of a future lawyer as an integral part of professional competence, determined the relevance of this study. The purpose of the article is to determine the essence and structure of law enforcement competence, as well as its place in the professional activity of a lawyer. The article analyzes the correlation of the concepts of “professional” and “law enforcement” competence of a lawyer from the positions of various approaches, justifies the expediency of allocating the law enforcement competence of a future lawyer as an integral part of professional competence according to the Federal Educational Standard 40.03.01 Jurisprudence. Methodology (materials and methods). Analysis of the works of Russian and foreign researchers on the problem of training specialists in the field of jurisprudence; analysis of normative legal acts regulating the field of education, analysis and synthesis of the authors' experience in training students of the appropriate specialization, as well as a survey of employers as representatives of the labor market made it possible to determine the special place of law enforcement as a type of activity in the structure of professional competence of a lawyer, as well as the component composition of law enforcement competence. Research results. The article provides an analysis of educational standards in the field of jurisprudence, substantiates the expediency of distinguishing law enforcement competence as an integral part of the professional competence of a lawyer, suggests the authors' formulation of the concept of “law enforcement competence of a future lawyer”, and also defines its component composition. Law enforcement competence is characterized as a necessary type of activity aimed at forming the professional competence of a lawyer. Based on the general characteristics of modern professional tasks and related labor functions, which a future lawyer should be ready to perform, it is concluded that it is necessary to create special conditions aimed at forming the law enforcement competence of a future lawyer. Conclusion. At present, there is statistical processing of data obtained during a pedagogical experiment on the implementation of organizational and pedagogical conditions for the formation of law enforcement competence among future lawyers studying at a university. This experiment was conducted in the Law Institute of the Krasnoyarsk State Agrarian University.