Master of Law: Tomke Wachtendorf - Dream Job: Judge

After graduating from high school, everything went according to plan for Tomke Wachtendorf: The East Frisian received one of the coveted places to study law and was even able to stay in northern Germany. But after two semesters came disillusionment: the university was huge, the lecture halls full and it was difficult to make contacts in the large group of students. "Law is my dream subject and I would like to work at the court, but the path via classical law studies was not the right one for me," explains the 23-year-old. She went looking and came across the dual programme at the Hildesheim University of Applied Sciences for the Administration of Justice. "I was able to gain practical experience in court right away. In the administration of justice, you deal with the preparation of certificates of inheritance or land register entries, for example."

Tomke Wachtendorf graduated in 2022. But she had not quite said goodbye to the classic law degree, because only with the 1st State Examination does she have the opportunity to go into a legal traineeship to learn her dream job: Tomke Wachtendorf wants to become a judge. Again, she set out on her search. Now for a university where learning takes place in small groups and students interact with teachers. "I came across the new Master's programme in Law at Leuphana. The innovative idea convinced me right away. If everything works out, I will graduate with a Master of Laws, but I can also take the 1st State Law Examination afterwards," says the student.

In the meantime, Tomke Wachtendorf has almost completed her second semester in the innovative Master of Laws (LL.M./1st State Law Examination) at the Leuphana Graduate School. "I like the fact that at Leuphana we also look right and left and deal with topics such as law and sustainability. In addition, the lecturers are very supportive." Nevertheless, the student has to spend many hours in the library: "The content is extensive," says Tomke Wachtendorf.

In the Master of Law, students delve into content from civil law, public law and criminal law, which are prerequisites for the state law examination. Innovative teaching and learning concepts and work in small groups ("learning in teams") create the conditions for optimal preparation for the state examination. Exam preparation in the form of revision and in-depth courses is integrated into the two-year programme. With the focus area "Law in Context", the model degree programme goes beyond a classic dogmatic perspective of jurisprudence by preparing the relevant content from civil law, public law and criminal law against the background of current social challenges and transformations.

Tomke Wachtendorf is getting closer and closer to her dream of becoming a judge: "In court, people try to create the best possible legal situation for them. That is a big task."