Education and legal training

Section A — before university

Abitur and civilian service

Bilger passed the Abitur, Germany's university-entrance examination, at the Max-Born-Gymnasium in Backnang in 1998.

Before he could begin his degree he completed his Zivildienst, the civilian service performed by young men who declined military service while conscription was in force. He served in 1998–1999 at the Backnang branch of the Erlacher Höhe, a social welfare organisation supporting people affected by homelessness, poverty and unemployment. The early life page explains the Zivildienst in more detail. He began his law studies in 1999.

Section B — the university

Law at the University of Tübingen, 1999–2004

Bilger studied law (Rechtswissenschaften) at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, founded in 1477 and one of the oldest universities in Germany. In the German system law is an undergraduate subject entered directly from school. The course is built around the compulsory core of civil, criminal and public law, to which students add a chosen area of specialisation.

His studies ended in 2004 with the First State Examination in law, which both the Bundestag biography and his own website record. The sources do not name his area of specialisation, his examination results or any thesis, and none are given here. Neither do they mention membership of student associations or university political groups; his recorded political activity in these years was in the Junge Union and the Schüler Union, described on political beginnings.

Section C — practical training

The Referendariat at the Stuttgart Regional Court

After the first examination, a German law graduate is not yet a lawyer. The second phase is the Vorbereitungsdienst, usually called the Referendariat: a two-year traineeship in which the trainee (Rechtsreferendar) is employed by the state and rotates through compulsory placements. Under section 5b of the Judiciary Act these are a civil court, a public prosecutor's office or criminal court, an administrative authority and a law office, followed by one or more elective placements. The law-office placement lasts at least nine months, the others at least three.

Bilger did his Referendariat at the Landgericht (Regional Court) Stuttgart. His website dates it to 2004–2006. The record does not identify his individual placements.

Section D — qualification

The Second State Examination

The traineeship ends with the Second State Examination, set by the Land, not by a university. Passing it confers the Befähigung zum Richteramt, the qualification to hold judicial office. Everyone who reaches this point holds the same qualification whether they later become a judge, a prosecutor, a civil servant, an in-house counsel or a lawyer in private practice. Germans call such a person a Volljurist, a “fully qualified lawyer”.

Bilger passed the Second State Examination. The federal transport ministry's biography places it in 2006, which matches the end date of the traineeship on his website. The Bundestag biography gives no year.

Section E — into practice

From examination to admission

Under the Federal Lawyers' Act, admission to the bar as a Rechtsanwalt requires the qualification to hold judicial office. Bilger was admitted in 2007. Before that, from 2006, he had already joined the strategy department of MVV Energiedienstleistungen GmbH in Mannheim. That career is described on the legal career page.