Law

The Legal Education Center was established with the support of Azerbaijan Lawyers Confederation and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) within the “Azerbaijan Rights Consortium” project in January 2013.

The purpose of the Azerbaijan Rights Consortium Project (ARC) is to increase the effectiveness of civil society and legal professionals to better defend the rights and interests of citizens and to improve the rule of law. This will be reached through the achievement of two interdependent outcomes as summarized below:

1. Development of broader-based Azerbaijani constituencies more actively promoting reforms that safeguard citizens’ rights
2. Improved capacity of legal professionals to better apply laws and assist their clients

At present, in Azerbaijan, the training of most young lawyers is almost entirely academic and in the future, they lack social and "lawyering" skills when they embark on their careers. With this in mind, ARC established the Legal Education Center at Khazar University. The center conducts regular, high-quality curriculum-based trainings and develops legal publications covering a broad range of legal areas (see below). To ensure reputability and high quality of its services, the center attracts outstanding legal professionals and practitioners to develop the curricula and teach the courses. It is also envisioned that young lawyers and law students will be accompanying professional lawyers during strategic litigations, court hearings, rendering legal advice and consultations. The center plans to provide high-quality curriculum-based training courses to at least 20 law students per year and annually help 6-7candidates for membership to Collegiums of Attorneys (Azerbaijan Bar Association) prepare for Bar exams and pass them successfully.

 

The objectives of the Center include the following: 

• Increasing awareness and information in the area of human rights and freedoms, promotion of constitutional values in the society;
• Organizing preparatory courses for young lawyers who wish to participate in bar admission exams.
• Providing legal assistance free of charge for population groups with limited income;
• Organizing regular courses aimed at capacity building for representatives and members of entities engaged in defense of human rights in national and international mechanisms;
• Organizing meetings among national and international experts, young lawyers and law students from universities in Azerbaijan;
• Preparing practical guidelines, manuals and teaching materials for advocates, lawyers engaged in practical work, judges, entities, and persons engaged in defense of human rights, and organizing the sale of such materials through regular fairs;

Based on the needs identified, the consortium works with international and local experts to develop a continuing education course curricula and materials. The courses provide in-depth coverage of a wide range of topics which include, but are not limited to, Administrative law, Criminal Law, Review of existing laws and updates on new laws being passed by Parliament, Bar exam preparation, European Court of the Human Rights case law, Family Law, Labor Law, Legal Drafting, etc.