Which master's degree leads to the ENM?

Every year, the École nationale de la magistrature (ENM) trains the future magistrates of the French justice system. Future judges and deputy public prosecutors spend 31 months at the school in Bordeaux with the status of auditeur de justice (trainee magistrate).

The entrance exams of the École nationale de la magistrature

Exam tracks

Candidates can enter this prestigious school through one of three exams, depending on whether they are students (first exam), civil servants (second exam) or private-sector employees (third exam). The exam is considered one of the most selective in the French civil service, alongside the INSP and the Cadres d'Orient.

In 2023, 287 candidates were admitted through the first exam, the main route into the judiciary, 51 through the second and 15 through the third, for a total of 353.

Preparing for the exam

The first ENM exam requires four years of higher education in any field, and candidates usually follow a dedicated preparation. Several options exist:

• The ENM's Prépas Talents classes, run by the ENM itself, are entirely free and come with scholarships. Students must sit the exam but do not have to pass it to receive the ENM institutional diploma "Culture juridique et pratiques judiciaires". The classes are held in Besançon, Bordeaux, Douai, Limoges, Lyon, Orléans and Paris;

• Public preparation courses accredited by the ENM, run jointly by regional courts of appeal, universities and the ENM:

  • The Université de Bretagne Occidentale, the Université de Nantes and the Université de Rennes 1 work with the Rennes court of appeal and award a Master 2 Justice, procès et procédures, "Magistrature" track, as the setting for this preparation

  • The Université de Lorraine and Sciences Po Aix run Prep'ENM courses with the courts of appeal of Metz and Nancy and with the Aix-en-Provence court of appeal respectively

• Other preparation courses:

  • Instituts d'études judiciaires (IEJ): the IEJ de la Sorbonne (Université Panthéon-Sorbonne), the IEJ Pierre Raynaud (Université Panthéon-Assas) and the IEJ de Bordeaux (Université de Bordeaux)

  • Sciences Po runs a preparatory class for the ENM exam

  • Private providers also offer ENM preparation: Mission Magistrat (CFJ), Prépa ISP, Horizon Droit, L'Autre prépa and Zêta Fonction Publique

The Sciences Po preparatory class and the ENM's Prépas Talents classes placed the most students, with 112 and 83 admitted respectively, close to 68% of all successful candidates

Backgrounds of the 2023 ENM intake

The future magistrates come from varied academic backgrounds, even though nearly all of them studied law.

More than 70% of the students admitted to the ENM began their studies at a law faculty, 10% of them on a selective program such as a double bachelor's degree or a Collège de Droit, the Collège de Droit d'Assas being the most represented in this group. 20% began at an institut d'études politiques (11% at Sciences Po Paris). Most of the rest attended an ENS D1 preparatory class or a khâgne, which led them to university programs at an IEP or at the ENS de Rennes.

The Université Panthéon-Assas and Sciences Po are the most common institutions at bachelor's level, yet they account for only a quarter of the admitted candidates. Where students start does not seem to decide their chances: former bachelor's students from 54 institutions were admitted to the ENM in 2023.

At master's level, however, students gather in a few law faculties, mainly the Université Panthéon-Assas, the Université Paris Nanterre and the Université de Bordeaux, which gain 9, 4 and 3 percentage points of the students respectively. These faculties offer many courses in criminal law and justice.

Some master's programs stand out in preparing for the ENM. In order, the masters in "justice, procès et procédures", "droit pénal et sciences criminelles" and "droit privé" account for 88% of the admitted candidates, not counting IEP degrees, whose specializations are mostly close to these three fields.

A few master's programs clearly lead the way in preparing students for the ENM.

This list is not a ranking of the best master's programs: it does not account for the number of students enrolled in each, which ranges from about ten to more than 50. The analysis also covers only 211 of the 287 candidates admitted through the first exam.