In the article the author reflects on the differences between the Russian and American traditions of the professional legal education, paying attention to the question of availability of some universal bases connected with the essence of being the lawyer. In the work a number of features of a legal profession allocated in the scientific literature are analyzed, however most of them are descriptive and cannot apply for a role of system quality, not dependent on a particular specialty of the lawyer or national legal system to which he belongs.

 In opinion of the author, two features can act as such system quality. The first and the basic one is availability of professional legal thinking, which operates with special logic patterns — legal constructions and is based on specific value orientations — legal axioms. The creation of such thinking during legal training causes internal readiness of the graduate for professional career. In addition to this internal basis of the profession, the external basis is necessary. This basis is juridical technique — practical methods and means of professional activities. It holds not only the features of the national law, but also the high proportion of universal technologies of lawers activity.

 The author comes to the conclusion, that training of the lawyer looks like his training in the field of juridical technique (the American legal education is more technological, but Russia is moving in the same direction). Thus, despite of the specific forms, methods, the technologies of such training accepted by different legal systems, the definitive features of the legal profession always determine its final purpose — the creation of professional legal thinking.