Single-cycle degree in Law (LMG-01)

Single-cycle degree in Law – programme overview

The single cycle degree in Law is designed to ensure that students receive a high-level course of study that prepares them for the legal profession itself or for positions of responsibility in various social, economic and political sectors, both public and private. The degree program in Law offers structured core materials, useful for providing the student with solid historical, legal and economic training acquiring an in-depth knowledge of the elements of the basic legal culture (national, European and international) as well as the mastery of related technical case studies and research tools for the understanding and the evaluation of the principles and legal institutes of positive contemporary law.

The course meets the educational objectives:

1. to pursue an in-depth historical knowledge enabling the students to assess the contemporary legal institutes of the positive law in the perspective of their historical evolution;
2. to acquire the ability to plan and draft legal texts (law, regulations and other legal rules; private contracts or agreements; procedural documents; business documents) adequately argued, produced by IT tools;
3. to acquire interpretative skills for the analysis of case studies, legal characterisation, understanding, representation, evaluation and awareness to address issues of interpretation and application of the positive law, also in the economic field.

Online degree

The Single-cycle degree in Law (online) is designed for those who are unable to attend a traditional education programme due to distance or professional commitments.

Through Unicusano e-learning platform, it is possible to attend the Law degree classes online, to study using computer storage media at home, at your own pace and take the exam at the nearest exam centre. Thanks to the teaching quality and to the broad number of authorised exams centres spread across Italy, Unicusano is today the best choice for students willing to earn an online degree in Law.

Job profiles

The Single-cycle degree in Law is a necessary prerequisite to gain access to the competitions provided for magistrates, lawyers and notaries. The course offers a complete preparation also for other careers requiring sound knowledge of law and its interpretative techniques (for instance training legal experts in companies; performing different activities in a social, economic and political field, at a national and international level, with a high legal preparation; applying for competitions in the diplomatic career, or for top management positions in Italian, European and international public and private sectors.

Acquired competences

The skills developed during the single-cycle degree programme in Law allow the graduate to work autonomously in the industry and solve legal and organisational problems.

The Degree programme in Law allows the graduate to apply for public examinations (judges, notaries, lawyers), according to the current legislation.

Career opportunities

The career opportunities include the traditional legal professions (public or private lawyer, Notary, judge, as well as the public and private companies’ lawyer.

The industry is related to private companies, organisations and public administrations, consultancy, company planning, defense in court, assistance in the correct application of laws and regulations, studies and management of legal problems of personnel and work organisation.

A Single-cycle degree in Law prepares students to the following careers (ISTAT DATA):

1. Lawyers (2.5.2.1.0);
2. Legal experts in companies (2.5.2.2.1);
3. Legal experts in public bodies (2.5.2.2.2);
4. Notaries (2.5.2.3.0);
5. Magistrates (2.5.2.4.0).

Entry requirements
Entry requirements for the Master’s Degree in Law: secondary school diploma or similar qualification obtained abroad (see art. 6.3 of the D.M. n. 270 of 22 October 2004 and art. 5 of the D.M. 25 November 2005). Good command of Italian language is required as well as skills in History and general Culture, as well as specific legal vocabulary.

The background will be assessed according to the Regulations of the Degree Course. The regulation establishes the skills to be assessed in order to obtain an unconditional offer (English skills are required – level B1).

Applications

Entry requirements for the Master’s Degree in Law: secondary school diploma or similar qualification obtained abroad (see art. 6.3 of the D.M. n. 270 of 22 October 2004 and art. 5 of the D.M. 25 November 2005). Good command of Italian language is required as well as skills in History and general Culture, as well as specific legal vocabulary.

The background will be assessed according to the Regulations of the Degree Course. The regulation establishes the skills to be assessed in order to obtain an unconditional offer (English skills are required – level B1).

In particular, the skills are assessed thorugh an entry test to be delivered on-line on the UNICUSANO platform that the student must access according to the Academic Regulations. This Regulation explains in detail the methods of the test and its evaluation criteria. In case of negative result, any deficiencies are communicated to the students as well as the necessity to fulfil new requirements in terms of ECTS.

Educational aims and course plan outline

The aim of the course is to prepare graduates who:

• are able to apply the basic knowledge of national and international law to contemporary situations;
• have a good historical knowledge which allows a proper evaluation of the institutions of modern positive law, also in the perspective of its historical evolution;
• are able to draft clear, relevant and effective legal texts (regulatory, contractual or procedural) in relation to employment contexts, using IT tools;
• manage the acquired skills in order to critically evaluate and interpret real cases;
• are able to update their knowledge.

Graduates can work in institutions, public administrations, in private companies, in trade unions, in the field of information technology law, in the field of comparative law, international and community law (European jurist), as well as in international organisations where the analytical skills of evaluation and decision of the jurist prove fruitful even outside the sectoral content knowledge.

Students can benefit from an interactive academic support throughout the entire course, consisting of digital tools and resources, social interaction and tutoring.

The distance learning method has a different way to assess students’ preparation: midterm tests, written or oral examination and a final exam.

The possibility to choose from additional modules is provided to students to allow them to expand their educational curriculum.

The hourly commitment expected from students for individual study is determined to a minimum of 50% of the whole study commitment.

Supplementary activities belonging to disciplinary scientific sectors that characterise core modules have been included in order to offer specific in-depth analysis in relation to certain disciplines as specified below:

• particular importance is given to constitutional disciplines, as Constitutional (Ius/08) and Administrative Law (Ius/10);
• as for company lawyers, areas as Trading (Ius/04) or Procedural (Ius/15) are particularly important.

Expected learning outcomes

The aims of the course are to develop students’ ability to analyse and interpret rules of law and to construct lines of reasoning and argument, in both oral and written form, necessary for a practical approach to general and special legal issues (art. 3, co. 7, D.M. 16 March 2007)

Ability to apply knowledge and comprehension skills

Graduates must be able, through work (drafting of deed, etc.), to apply the knowledge acquired to face the legal issues they cope with during their career development, within the administrations or the private sector. Graduates are asked, in these contexts, to be able to independently tackle problematic situations.

Making judgements

Graduates should mature their own independence of judgment and develop critical skills to evaluate cases, through an interdisciplinary approach.

Graduates must proficiently collect and interpret legal data, maturing their own independence of judgment to understand and interpret sources, legislation, practice, ethical rules and any other legal. In particular, they must not only develop their own capacity to collect and process any data of legal relevance (sources, scientific literature, exegetical guidelines of jurisprudential matrix), offering, where required, a critical evaluation, but also possessing the ability to integrate the data and to arrive, albeit in the presence of incomplete or limited evaluation elements, to critical analysis and to the formulation of judgments involving, where necessary, the extra-juridical sphere of ethical evaluations or social solidarity.

Communication skills

Graduates must possess communication skills that are an expression of the acquisition of the specialized legal language to the exercise the legal professions that allow them to relate with adequacy, professionalism and competence, clearly and without ambiguity, as much to a not-specialised audience or specialists.

Communication skills, also writing skills, enhanced by the knowledge of a foreign language and IT skills, must be assessed not only in the conclusions or legal reflection, but also the argumentative path and the ratio that leads to them.

Learning skills

Graduates develop adequate learning skills so as to improve their attitude toward specialised studies. Such expected learning outcomes are assessed through exams, interviews, written papers and discussions in classroom.

Career opportunities

The career opportunities include the traditional legal professions (public or private lawyer, Notary, judge, as well as the public and private companies’ lawyer.

The industry is related to private companies, organisations and public administrations, consultancy, company planning, defense in court, assistance in the correct application of laws and regulations, studies and management of legal problems of personnel and work organisation.

Knowledge required for access

The possession of a secondary school diploma or similar qualification obtained abroad recognized as eligible pursuant to art. 6.3 of the D.M. n. 270 of 22 October 2004 and of art. 5 of the D.M. November 25, 2005 is required to access the course. A good knowledge of Italian is essential as well as historical knowledge and general knowledge for an appropriate use of the specific disciplinary vocabulary and the development of logical and argumentative skills in the legal field.

The initial preparation will be verified with the modalities provided for by the Teaching Regulations of the Degree Course, which will also establish the modalities for filling any formative obligations deriving from deficiencies within the first year of the Course. For access the single-cycle degree programme, a B1 level of English language is also required.

Reasons for inclusion in related and supplementary activities of sectors envisaged by the class (Ministerial Decree of 26 July 2007, point 2.1.)

The insertion in related and integrative activities of disciplinary scientific sectors already included in the basic and characterizing training activities is correlated with the different contexts in which the Master’s Degree in Law operates and responds to the need to offer specific in-depth information on certain disciplines as specified below:

in the particular public sphere, the declinations of the constitutional disciplines take on particular importance, with particular attention to constitutional justice (IUS / 08) and administrative law (IUS / 10) in consideration of the changed distribution of competences in the exercise of public functions and their impact on planning the use of resources (territory, environment, cultural heritage);
as part of the training of the company lawyer important importance assume the marketing disciplines (IUS / 04) and processualcivilistiche (IUS / 15) with particular reference to bankruptcy proceedings.

Expected learning results
Knowledge and understanding ability

Graduates must obtain extensive knowledge and understanding of topics, concepts and legal concepts functional to the future inclusion in the professional working environments of a lawyer who carries out his activity in the legal-administrative field, with regard to the exercise of professional activity in the proper sense (lawyers, notaries, magistrates) as well as in relation to the activity carried out within the administrations or business activity. The level of knowledge achieved must in any case allow graduates in Law to mature processes of elaboration and development of original ideas.

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding

Graduates in Law must be able to face with professionalism and autonomy all the legal issues. Law graduates are asked to be able to independently deal with problematic profiles that may arise in the examination of innovative themes not yet adequately treated by scientific literature.

Judgment autonomy – making judgements

Graduates in Law must have the ability to collect and interpret legal data, maturing their own independence of judgment of understanding and interpreting sources, legislation, practice, ethical rules and any other legal material. In particular, they must not only develop their own capacity to collect and process any data of legal relevance, offering a critical evaluation, but also possessing the ability to integrate data and arrive, even in the presence of incomplete or limited assessment elements, critical analysis and the formulation of judgments involving, where necessary, the extra-judicial sphere of ethical evaluations or social solidarity.

Communication skills

Graduates in the degree course in Law must possess communication skills that are an expression of the acquisition of the specialized legal language functional to the exercise of legal professions and that allow them to relate with adequacy, professionalism and competence, clearly and without ambiguity, as much to an undifferentiated public (constituted, for example, by the professional clientele or by the parts of the process) as to specialists in the field of law (lawyers, notaries, magistrates) or in related sectors (chartered accountants, operators in the world of work). Communication skills, also expressed in written form, enhanced by the knowledge of a foreign language and the ability to relate to the outside world also through information technology and telematics, must be able to represent not only the conclusions, as the point of arrival of legal reflection, but also the argumentative path and the ratio that leads to them.

Learning skills

Graduates in Law will have to develop adequate skills for learning and self-elaboration of legal reflection which will enable them to develop the aptitude for continuing their studies in order to achieve specialization objectives, with particular regard to the development of professional or professional practice. enrollment in Specialization schools (Forensic schools, Notary schools, Schools of preparation for the examination in the magistrature). These expected learning outcomes are ascertained by means of exam interviews, written papers, observations rediscussed in the classroom or carried out in the services where the internship is being provided.

Final exam  (D.M. 270/04, art 11, comma 3 d)

The degree in Law is earned after passing a final exam.
The student must write and discuss a thesis in original form, under the guidance of a supervisor.
The final dissertation should include one or more different aspects:

1. case-law research and/or application practices;
2. analysis and interpretation of legislative texts;
3. development of a topic through a historical or a legal theory perspective.

The dissertation is worth 15 credits.