About us
The Department of Law is truly a “global” school with strong connections to the International legal and educational communities.
The international activities of the department include visiting professorships, publications in foreign journals and participation in international symposia and conferences.
The essential mission of the department is to help students meet the demands of a rapidly changing legal and professional environment. The department is a center of legal scholarship, whose members work to enlarge society's understanding of law as well as its underlying policies, legal institutions, and legal processes.
The department shared the school’s Administration policy--- to have a faculty composed of specialists with a broad range of professional experience and wide academic interests while sharing the commitment to teach. The knowledge and experience of the department's faculty afford students the opportunity to examine the law in its broadest context and provide them with specialized courses in various areas of law.
Most members of the faculty are involved in certain activities abroad, are experienced in private practice and work as consultants and advisers to governmental and non-governmental agencies. Faculty involvement in such complement and enrich their instruction and contribute to realizing a practical orientated legal education.
The teaching staff of the department develops its skills by participating in various seminars and conferences both in and outside the country. In all the courses, a strong emphasis is placed on the development of skills, whether academic, e.g. those required by legal research or "life skills", e.g. effective oral and written communication in a professional setting. A comparative analysis approach is another method used by the teaching staff, which considers the rich experience of various legal systems and analyzes them during the teaching process.
Distinguished visitors from foreign countries and local specialists who are reputable experts in different areas of law contribute to the development of the department.
It is the department's philosophy that the proper education should help the student make the most of his/her capacity for a full life in the field of law:
1. The legal education offered by the department emphasizes the acquisition of broad and basic knowledge of the law as well as the concentration of a certain area of law.
2. The legal education offered by the department pays primary attention to the development of intellectual and analytical abilities. The Department encourages independence and diversity of thought, seeking to educate graduates in using reasoning processes, communicating and defending his/her ideas on the basis of evidence.
3. The education includes teaching the techniques of the profession and equipping graduates with skills necessary to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their professional activity.
The research programs of the department include International Law, Human Rights, Comparative Constitutional Law, Business Law and Civil and Criminal Procedures.
The department was the first law institution in Azerbaijan to seek innovative solutions to challenges in areas such as Advocacy, Human Rights, Patent Law, Contract Law, International Humanitarian Law, Business Law, Corporate Governance, etc. At present, more than 20 courses are offered by the department.
The Department of Law is very active in organizing various seminars, summer and winter schools as well as implementing projects on a law.
In its activities the Department of Law cooperates with a number of local and international NGOs, especially with Advocate-Service, the Young Lawyers Association of Azerbaijan, the Association of Women-Lawyers of Azerbaijan, the Society of Legal Education in Azerbaijan, the American Bar Association (ABA), Ombudsman office and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The first Moot Court in Azerbaijan was established at the School of Law with support from the American Bar Association, Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative (ABA-CEELI). The court has proven to give students hands-on experience in many areas of law.