The article deals with a number of topical issues of training lawyers in Russia that meet modern realities. Special attention is paid to the problems of the correlation between the mandatory all-Russian standard and university autonomy, general cultural and special education, in-depth study of the theory and practice of pre-revolutionary Russia, the formation of a modern scientific and cultural worldview, including knowledge in both the socio-humanitarian and natural science spheres, the legitimization of legal education, the separation of university and specialized higher legal education, the levels of higher legal education, the training of lawyers in commercial universities, relations of higher education with science , etc.