About us
Mission
The mission of the Faculty of Law is to continue the tradition of liberal studies of its Alma Mater through the support of collegial atmosphere and through the openness to innovation. The focus of the Faculty of Law is to train lawyers who are capable of adapting interdisciplinary skills creatively and purposefully. The goal of the Faculty of Law is to nurture the advancement of legal thought and legal profession taking into consideration the professional challenges that arise in Lithuania and the world.
About us
Legal studies at Vytautas Magnus University have been designed following the western legal education tradition. This conscious choice has been dictated by life where the need for highly qualified lawyers in Lithuania and abroad is increasing. Nowadays it is expected of lawyers to interact in fluent English and possess in-depth, wide and liberal knowledge in the field of law.
The faculty offers integrated legal studies that include bachelor’s and master’s degrees, bachelor degree programme Law and Finances and master degree programme International Business and Technology Law and master degree programme Criminal and Business Law.
About the integrated legal studies:
Quite a big number of legal study subjects offered by the faculty of law are taught by law professionals from different countries such as the USA, UK, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland and other.
Much attention is being devoted towards the advancement of English language skills. This focus on the foreign language proficiency ensures that the graduates of the faculty of law can analyze legal documents in the English language and compete with the best legal professionals from Western Europe and the rest of the world; they can also participate in competition for workplaces in European and international institutions and companies.
The Faculty of Law at Vytautas Magnus University is distinct from similar institutions due to its unique teaching method. The pattern when a teacher speaks and a student takes notes has been abandoned to the Socratic method of teaching. Discussions, practice activities, analysis of cases, application of laws and provisions, conflict resolution tasks, all of these activities are being handled in question and answer form between a teacher and a student. Many experts agree that such teaching method ensures the best preparation for the legal profession, especially advocacy.
Students are offered opportunities to participate in overseas study programs such as one semester studies in LLP/Erasmus programs.
After graduation, students are conferred an integrated studies master’s degree graduation diploma in law.
About the bachelor degree programme Law and Finances:
The programme was accredited and registered in 2014. The special feature of this programme is that it is interdisciplinary and is carried out in close cooperation with the Faculty of Economics and Management.
The objectives of the study programme are: to prepare qualified lawyers or legal specialists who are well versed in the essential elements of Lithuanian law and the country’s financial system and have knowledge of international and European Union law, are able to effectively and ethically represent and advise clients, resolve disputes, make decisions and implement them, easily adapt to work in the systems and traditions of the European Union, continental and common law, in transnational organizations and in companies of the financial system.
During the studies, students’ abilities in the application of general legal norms or legal principles to facts, skills in the use of modern legal databases and preparation of procedural documents are developed, students master the legal English language. The program is aimed at the active participation of students in the study process: the lecture aims to create a discussion environment, promotes dialogue between the teacher and the student, avoiding the purely monological nature of teaching, and the teaching focuses on the student’s ability to apply the principles to the facts. It forms students’ skills of creative and critical thinking, develops their abilities to analyze legal problems and discuss legal topics.
About the master degree programme International Business and Technology Law:
This program is offered in response to the challenges posed by rapid digitalization and robotics to business law by combining relevant aspects of two branches/institutes of law – business and technology law.
The aim of the master’s study program is to prepare highly qualified masters of law who know the specifics of international business and technology law institutes and their interaction, are able to independently and critically analyze problems of the synergy of international business and technology law in the contexts of the development of artificial intelligence, changes in relevant legal science, globalization of business and legal environment (integrating articulation at the international, EU and national levels), to find and propose concrete solutions to complex international business situations, taking into account the latest theories of legal science and the requirements of professional legal ethics.
The programme focuses on three closely interlinked elements: business, digital technologies (including artificial intelligence) and the connecting link – law. The interdisciplinary legal aspects related to the use of digital technologies, data protection and artificial intelligence in business provided for in the program expand the possibilities for students to apply the acquired knowledge from an interdisciplinary perspective in Lithuania and abroad. The teaching methods applied in the program of international business and technology law, which develop critical thinking, the practical application of theoretical knowledge and the skills of independent work, are focused on the training of a modern lawyer.
Studies last 1,5 years: in the first two semesters, master’s students study compulsory and elective subjects, write coursework, and in the third semester they prepare a final master’s thesis.
About the master degree programme Criminal and Business Law:
The purpose of Criminal and Business Law is to prepare masters of law in the interdisciplinary field of business and criminal law, who are acquainted with the specifics of the Lithuanian and European Union institutes of criminal law and criminal procedure law in the field of crime in modern business, who are able to independently and critically analyze the problems of crime in modern business, in the context of legal science, international, EU and national law, and to apply their knowledge, skills and insights critically in practice, to be able to find and propose specific solutions in difficult situations, in the context of the latest theories of legal science and professional ethics of lawyers.
Studies last 1,5 years: in the first two semesters, master’s students study compulsory and elective subjects, write coursework, and in the third semester they prepare a final master’s thesis.