The Message of Prof. Çiğdem KIRCA, the Dean of the Faculty of Law

Law is the corpus of systematical principles and rules which are in existence since the dawn of societies (ubi sociatas, ubi ius) and which are backed with sanctions imposed by the approved authority of the society in the face of non-compliance. Law regulates not only the relationships between the members of the society, but also the relationship between the state and the individual. Moreover, there are legal rules which regulate the relationships between states, and between states and international organizations. In the lack of laws, disturbances would arise within the society, precluding the individual’s life, existence, and self-development in an environment of trust, stability, and peace, as well as her contributions to the rest of the society. Law professionals investigate why and how existing rules of law came to be, as well as their functions and application, not to mention the ideal rules to ensure order and justice in the society.

TOBB ETÜ School of Law aims to train law professionals who have insights into and analyze all aspects of Turkish legal system, who can make comparisons starting with one’s grasp of the fundamental principles of the global systems of law, and who are specialized in their applicable fields. In line with this objective, the curriculum of the Faculty contains basic courses to lay down the foundations, extended with the international law, economics law, and public law modules which allow specialization in a field even during one’s undergraduate studies.

The main pillars of law in Turkish legal system are borrowed from the Continental European law, which, in turn, is built on Roman traditions of law. Therefore, it is of utmost importance for a law professional to speak not only English –the lingua franca– but also German, French, or Italian as a second foreign language. The offering of courses on a second foreign language, on top of the mandatory English Language Preparatory Program is among the most important strengths of our university in terms of the training of law professionals. 30% of the courses at our faculty are offered in English.

Implementing a joint training policy in line with the university’s “learn by doing” philosophy, our Faculty of Law has agreements with the high courts of Turkey such as the Constitutional Court, Court of Appeals, and the Council of State, as well as with law offices and corporations, not to mention law offices and other universities in other countries, and finally international organizations, to facilitate joint training of its students.

The young and dynamic academic staff of our faculty have their master’s or Ph.D. degrees from leading faculties of law in Turkey, had engaged in research in European universities, offer courses employing active methods, and reinforce knowledge with fictional hearing classes and contests. Given the facts that the faculty ranks on the top of the list of the law schools which admit the smallest number of students in Turkey, and that we have a dynamic academic staff implementing a program that facilitates specialization and applied practice, we are able to instill analytical thought and legal analysis skills when examining the concrete case in terms of application of the legal norm, as well as a holistic perspective on legal systems, among our students.