Curriculum

The aim of the Department of Law is not only to train lawyers. Our goal is to cultivate a legal mindset in our students. This refers to the ability to analyze social phenomena from a legal perspective, which is a necessary skill in judicial, governmental, and business settings, as well as in everyday life. The Department of Law’s curriculum is designed to provide students with a rigorous foundation of knowledge by familiarizing them first with constitutional, civil, and criminal law before they move on to core and advanced subjects to deepen their expertise in accordance with their interests. Jurisprudence is by no means a field that only a handful of experts can understand. It is a means through which we can solve individual problems and design what human society should look like.

Major subjects in law are available to students starting in their first year, immediately after enrollment. The program is structured to allow for gradual progression, beginning with introductory subjects and advancing to more highly specialized subjects.

A wide variety of major subjects in law are offered in order to respond to diverse societal needs and to accommodate a wide range of career paths after graduation. Students can design and carry out their own personalized plans for studying law as required subjects are kept to a minimum in order to maximize flexibility in subject selection.

For students aspiring to enter the legal profession, the Legal Profession Track is available. This track offers a pathway that allows students to graduate early from the undergraduate program in three years and then advance to a two-year law school program.

Students have the opportunity to study a wide range of academic fields, including the humanities, natural sciences, and foreign languages. The aim is to cultivate individuals who are not only specialists with a high level of legal expertise, but also well-rounded generalists with broad intellectual foundations.

As subjects are generally offered on a semester basis, students can build on their academic achievements each semester rather than over a full academic year. This also makes it easier to study abroad.

The major subjects at the Department of Law begin with introductory subjects, followed by core subjects that deal with the fundamental laws at the heart of legal studies to solidify students' basic knowledge. Based on this foundation, students select and take advanced subjects, which include various seminar classes, applied legal fields, and subjects in fundamental legal studies, according to their interests and future career paths. Seminars (known as zemi) are held in students’ third and fourth years.

In the first year, students take "Law" as a compulsory subject, introductory subjects from their first to second year, foundational subjects from their first to third year, and advanced subjects from their first to fourth year. In addition, from their first to third years, students may take seminar subjects, which are small-group, interactive classes, as well as legal practice seminar classes, which are unique to the Legal Track.