Distinguishing Features of the Faculty of Law

The Keio University Faculty of Law is divided into two departments: the Department of Law, which specializes in jurisprudence, and the Department of Political Science, which specializes in politics.

Law and politics work in close coordination to shape society. Students in the Department of Law learn politics alongside their focus on law, and students in the Department of Political Science learn law as they focus on politics. But simply understanding law and politics is not enough to create the rules of society. One needs to study the humanities to comprehend history, nature to understand science and technology, and foreign languages to engage in the world.

By organically linking these subjects, the Faculty of Law trains specialist-generalists who can succeed in the international arena.

A wide array of major subjects is offered to enable students to acquire extensive expertise in law and political science and to explore the structures and phenomena of society from multiple perspectives. The curriculum is highly flexible, allowing students to select subjects according to their interests or post-graduation goals and to independently design their own study programs.

In both departments, education is designed not only to provide specialized knowledge of law and politics, but also to cultivate the essential capacities needed to play an active role in society, including the ability to view issues from a broad perspective, think logically, and develop persuasive arguments. To support this aim, one of the distinguishing features of the Faculty of Law is its extensive use of small-group instruction, which encourages students to think independently, articulate their ideas, and engage actively in discussion. Precisely because law and political science are disciplines that examine society itself, graduates of the Faculty of Law are highly sought after and go on to play active roles across a wide range of fields after graduation. Graduates pursue careers not only in private-sector fields such as finance, technical services, manufacturing, and information and communications, but also in roles that draw directly on their expertise in law and politics, including legal practice, the media, international organizations, and national civil service.

The Legal Track, established in the Department of Law, is an educational program that integrates undergraduate and law school education, enabling students to acquire advanced competencies required to become legal professionals. Students who complete the Legal Track with outstanding academic performance may advance to Graduate School through a special selection process. By utilizing the early graduation system to complete the undergraduate curriculum in three years, students may become legal professionals in as little as six years from university admission.

In the Faculty of Law, students can strengthen their language proficiency by continuously taking foreign language classes from the first through fourth years, tailored to individual proficiency levels. For those who wish to pursue intensive foreign language study, an intensive course is offered, providing advanced language training through small classes held four times a week. In addition, students may choose German, French, Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Korean, or Arabic as a second foreign language, and may also study Italian, Latin, Greek, Portuguese, and other languages as a third foreign language.

Our goal is to foster individuals who are not only specialists with advanced expertise in law and political science, but also generalists equipped with a broad and well-rounded intellectual foundation. A sub-major system is also available, allowing students to study fields within the humanities or natural sciences in parallel with their major in law or political science.