School of Law

The School of Law at ADA University, founded on the premises of the former Law Program of ADA University in 2022, offers the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), an undergraduate degree in law. Since its inauguration in 2018, the Law Program, and presently, the Law School has successfully become one of the fastest growing and leading academic institutions at ADA University, drawing in a large number of the highest caliber students who are dedicated to becoming modern lawyers of the global future.

The necessity for establishing a brand-new School of Law at ADA University, a leading English-speaking academic institution in the country, emanates from certain historical, political, and legal factors, which have been primarily inherited from the Soviet Union. In particular, the comprehensive process of democratic reformation of the Marxist – communist legal system of Azerbaijan, started after regaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, has dictated reshaping the philosophy of public institutions, strengthening respect for fundamental human rights of individuals, providing effective legal protection mechanisms, and establishing fair terms of market competition for private enterprises. Therefore, developing a modern and competitive law school capable of accommodating global legal challenges, while also serving for domestic needs has become a crucial commitment.

Aims and Goals

Following the best international academic standards, incorporated in modern legal education, the Law School is primarily missioned at training a new generation of lawyers, who shall be equipped with the set of necessary knowledge and skills that will assist them to operate in domestic legal markets and to face the challenges of the global legal system. We have a solid perception that this holistic mission may be accomplished by adhering to the main goals of the Law School, which are outlined below:

• Providing excellent legal knowledge – acquiring solid knowledge of content and structural workings of law at national and international levels, as well as studying the link of law with other disciplines (economics, politics, technology, sociology, finance, etc.).
• Developing analytical and critical legal mindset – possessing abilities for offering critical and analytical interpretations of laws, other legal acts, and established judicial practices, including developing capacities for identifying and evaluating legal facts.
• Developing capacities for applying comparative approaches – having solid knowledge of different legal systems and being able to make comparative legal research, having capacities for analytically studying and assessing the relationship among other legal systems
• Having solid professional communication, drafting, and problem-solving skills – being able to exhibit effective communication, strategic leadership and personal management skills as well as to demonstrate rigorous drafting competences both in Azerbaijani and English, including abilities for conducting negotiations and mediations.
• Providing capacities for accommodating legal challenges of the globalizing world – as legal systems are being rapidly integrated, due to economic, social, and political processes, a future lawyer should be equipped to capitalize on advances and implement them in legal practice.
• Developing capacities for solid professional–ethical approaches – possessing and demonstrating capacities for professional-ethical approaches, including abilities to be authentic, transparent, accountable, confidential, socially responsible, respectful, and loyal toward others and themselves.

Structure of Legal Education

The ADA University requires acquiring at least 240 ECTS credits for graduating from an undergraduate program. In this regard, the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) is offered as a full-time undergraduate degree program, and it is partially taught in English (24 courses out of 47 total courses are offered in English). In the last year of legal education, the “specialization” is offered in three directions: "Law and Government", "Law and Business” and "Law and Technology ".

Furthermore, the Law School places a strong emphasis on clinical and practical legal education. It requires students to complete two summer externships (offered in the Courts, the Prosecutor’s Offices, and the Law Firms), a “Legal Clinic” course, and 2 more courses on “Legal Writing and Research”.

The ADA University enjoys wide academic cooperation and student exchange agreements with more than 146 foreign universities from 44 countries. In this regard, the Law School has partnership or exchange agreements with dozens of Law Schools representing different international universities, including American University (USA), University of Glasgow (UK), Tel-Aviv University (Israel), University of Bologna (Italy), University of Geneva (Switzerland), Martin Luther University (Germany), Catholic University of Lille (France), and Mykolas Romeris University (Lithuania).

In the national context, the Law School has already established close cooperation with the main legal actors, namely, the Supreme Court of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Head Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the Bar Association of Lawyers of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

As legal education has been acquiring a transnational character in the modern world, the School of Law offers courses both in Azerbaijani and English. In this regard, while some courses, which are strictly affiliated with national jurisprudence are offered in Azerbaijani (e.g., “Constitutional Law,” “Criminal Law,” “Law of Obligations,” or “Criminal Procedural Law”), other relevant courses with international or theoretical dimensions (e.g., “International Public Law,” “EU Law,” or Jurisprudence) are taught in English.