The Department of Law is made up of three academic divisions: Civil Law, Criminal Law, and Public Law. The academic program consists of required courses and electives, giving students an early opportunity to begin customizing their legal education. The required subjects are the core areas of civil law, criminal law, and public law, including procedural rights, the basic principles of European law, and fundamental jurisprudential subjects such as the history of law or legal philosophy. Electives include the foundations of law, consumer privacy rights, labor law, business, corporate, and tax law, and criminology. The internationalization of the legal system is an important area of emphasis.

Good Connections around the World

The Department of Law has more than 150 partnerships with leading legal organizations worldwide. Thanks to the department’s global networks, students can gain insights into the legal systems of other countries as well as qualifications for professional activities in the international arena.

Research between Theory and Practice

The development of Europe and global connections are an important part of the legal research conducted at Freie Universität. The research results have an impact on the courts, the legislature, and the executive. The law students and faculty as well as judges, attorneys, and ministerial administrators all benefit from the combination of theory and practice.

Interdisciplinary research groups investigate historical issues such as the Roman Surveying in the Excellence Cluster Topoi (The Formation and Transformation of Space and Knowledge in Ancient Civilizations), consumer protection in the courts of the European Union in the field of civil law, telecommunications, or energy law. The Kolleg-Forschergruppe "The Transformative Power of Europe" takes a closer look at European law.

E-Learning

The e-learning program  of the department has numerous online courses on the core subjects. There is a learning management system with many interactive elements and self-tests. There are also multimedia-based learning modules dealing with learning techniques, exam preparation, and time management.

In addition to the Department of Law, there are eleven other academic departments and four central institutes at Freie Universität:

Academic Departments

• Department of Biology, Chemistry, and Pharmacy
• Department of Earth Sciences
• Department of Education and Psychology
• Department of History and Cultural Studies
• Department of Law
• Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
• Department of Philosophy and Humanities
• Department of Physics
• Department of Political and Social Sciences
• Department of Veterinary Medicine
• School of Business and Economics
• Medical School - Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Central Institutes

• Dahlem School of Education
• Institute for East European Studies
• Institute for Latin American Studies
• John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies