lawyer

#Bachelor s degree in Law - Undergraduate Studies - ( UPF )

Why UPF?

• You will be able to identify and analyse social conflicts and means of settling them.
• You will be capable of using critical legal reasoning to argue and negotiate effectively.
• You will become more inclined to use your initiative and take the lead.
• You will develop the ability to use foreign technical language fluently.
• You will assimilate constitutional principles and values in relation to interpreting law and composing reports, legal opinions and other legal documents.
• You will be able to distinguish between different sources of law and use them correctly.
• You will recognize the institutions and guiding principles of public and private law.

Presentation

Objectives

This bachelor's degree programme provides training that enables students to understand the structure and functions of legal systems and their rules, to assimilate basic normative content, and to apply techniques for arguing a case and for interpreting rules of law. The legal training given is complemented by an introduction to other social sciences, such as economics, statistics and political science.

About the programme

The programme's curriculum includes basic subjects (60 credits), compulsory subjects (140 credits) and optional subjects (34 credits), and offers the opportunity to undertake an internship (8 credits). It concludes with a bachelor's degree final project (6 credits), through which students demonstrate their grasp of concepts and knowledge in one or more fields of law and their acquisition of the skills no jurist can do without.

The programme is taught through a combination of lectures and seminars. Lectures are geared to passing on knowledge with a critical outlook and establishing basic concepts. Seminars, which are taught in small groups, encourage active participation, nurture problem-solving abilities and promote the use of the skills that jurists require.

The basic subjects are taught at the beginning of the course with a view to students receiving cross-disciplinary training in social sciences so as to improve their ability to understand legal phenomena. The compulsory subjects provide knowledge and skills essential to any career in the legal arena and for successfully negotiating examinations to become a lawyer or competitive examinations for the practice of other legal professions (after taking the appropriate additional training).

The curriculum also allows for a certain degree of specialization thanks to its seven optional tracks.

This programme can be studied at the same time as UPF's bachelor's degree programmes in Political and Administration Sciences or Labour Relations.

Tracks

• Private Law
• Public Law
• Criminal Law
• Company Law
• Labour and Labour Relations Law
• Financial and Tax Law
• International Studies

A number of cross-disciplinary optional subjects are also available.

Competences to be acquired

UPF's Law graduates acquire general or cross-disciplinary competences that aid their personal development and can be beneficial in professional activity. They notably include identifying and analysing social conflicts and means of settling them; communicating and negotiating; using initiative and taking the lead; interconnecting knowledge and thinking critically; using foreign technical language fluently; working in a team; and being committed to ethical conduct.

Graduates also acquire specific competences useful for activities in the legal arena. The competences in question revolve around distinguishing between different sources of law and using them correctly; recognizing the institutions and guiding principles of public and private law; mastering legal argumentation; assimilating constitutional principles and values in relation to interpreting law; and composing reports, legal opinions and other legal documents.

Internships

External internships are optional. They are worth 8 of the programme's 34 credits corresponding to optional subjects.

Bachelor's degree final project

These projects, through which students demonstrate that they have mastered jurists' competences and skills sufficiently, must include knowledge corresponding to various branches of the legal system and involve document composition. Each student's project will be supervised by an academic tutor. Together, the student and their tutor will establish the form the project to be submitted is to take (a legal opinion; preparation of a case and the corresponding defence; preparation for addressing a moot court; theoretical research).

Periods abroad

Study periods abroad are optional and are undertaken in the third or fourth year. The Faculty of Law promotes student mobility through exchange programmes, offering places at universities in the USA, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and France (including Cornell, Oxford, Regensburg, Bonn, Maastricht, Leuven, Bologna and Paris-Est Cr teil).

Graduate career prospects

Lawyer, solicitor, civil servant, judge, notary public, registrar, public prosecutor, member of academic and research staff, tax inspector, labour inspector, diplomat, international civil servant, legal consultant, legal advisor to NGOs, or bank, financial service or insurance company employee.