Law
Director
Prof. Roberto Pennisi
Department's Office
Via Gallo, 24 |- I-95124 Catania
E-mail: giur@unict.it
Website
Cultural area and aims
The Law School is the oldest one among the twelve Schools of the University of Catania. It was established in the 14th century, and its old-age tradition has been very appreciated up to the present.
The Law School has symbolized, in the past, and it still represents both an important point of reference in a rapidly changing world and a centre of excellence for the island's cultural élite, by promoting and by practicing an ethos where research is encouraged and highly valued.
It is widely recognized that its reputation for teaching and research dealing with a wide range of legal disciplines in many specialist fields has significantly contributed to the distinctive legal culture in Italy, during the last decades and promises to keep on doing so successfully in the future.
A solid legal education, today, opens up more opportunities ranging over and beyond the classic career paths, the judiciary or the legal professions. There are new job opportunities in the business world, in legal firms, in the field of international organizations, in journalism and management, in public authorities and in the private field.
Inside the Department there are the Legal Research Center and a Library with about 300.000 including scientific books, journals and periodicals.
Didactics and research activities
The Department “Seminario Giuridico” offers the "Laurea Magistrale" Degree in Law, which is a one cycle Master Degree (five years) with Local restricted entry.
The course aims at providing the student with the fundamentals for an in-depth understanding of Italian and European legal cultures, both through theoretical study and case law analysis.
This is done in light of the most relevant areas and notions of positive law. Students acquire basic historical knowledge of the context in which the various institutions and legal notions have been created as well as their historical development.
Starting from the academic year 2009-2010, the course includes a number of classes in English. Such an initiative is aimed at offering to both italian and foreign students an opportunity to attend some of the elective courses through classes entirely taught in English and could result in an increasing number of foreign students coming to Catania in the context of exchange programs for short-term or long-term students mobility. A wider English spoken course offer will allow foreign students, whose fluency in Italian can be quite poor, to choose an adequate package of courses and seminars to be attended during their staying in Catania. So far agreements have been made with around 35 Universities from all over Europe including ERASMUS project.
The main issues and concerns about legal education have lead to a 5 year course, "Laurea Magistrale", which offers students the opportunity to further specialize through post-graduate courses (master programs) and doctorate courses, as well as courses devised by the School of Specialization for Legal Professions.
The research activity of the department is mainly targeted on issues fully consistent with the above mentioned course’s contents.
Contacts
Director: Prof. Roberto Pennisi
Phone: (+39) 095 230489
Fax : (+39) 095 230422
E-mail: rpennisi@lex.unict.it
Erasmus and Internationalization Delegate: Prof. Vania Patanè
E-mail: vpatane@lex.unict.it