Ascolta

The “Departement of Law” [Dipartimento di Giurisprudenza-DiGi] is one of the twenty Departments of the University of Palermo. Its main functions relate to the following areas:
a) Scientific research;
b) the coordination of teaching activities, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level;
c) the planning of cultural initiatives.

a) For what concerns the first area of work of the department, DiGi groups approximately 120 associate researchers, whose subjects of expertise include the full range of law studies (internal, compared, supranational, and international; public and private; substantial and procedural; positive, philosophical, historical), also including bordering areas of research (e.g. political economics, sociology) which are relevant to the legal sphere.

The research conducted within the DiGi is of outstanding level, recognized both nationally and internationally. Over the years, researchers who worked within the department have covered prestigious roles at different levels (e.g. Judges of the Constitutional Court, presidents and members of commissions for legislative reforms, presidents and members of public authorities, members of the Superior Council of the Magistrature, the current President of the Italian republic).

Professors emeritus are also part of the department, as well as members of renowned scientific academies such as the Accademia dei Lincei.

DiGi has been managing in the course of its history projects of scientific research both at the national (several Prin) and international level (e.g. among the most recent cases: “The Global Dynamics of Extortion Racket Systems GLODERS (VII PQ)” and “Illegal Flow Observation- IFO, il progetto Menu For Justice Towards An European Curriculum Studiorum On Judicial Studies”; “Security right and european insolvency regulation”).

DiGi offers its researchers (including visiting researchers) an ideal environment for the conduction of their research activities. Its library holds thousands of volumes and journals, and continuous efforts are made to ensure the presence of both national and international volumes and journals.

Many researchers in DiGi have been and still are, with different titles, visiting fellows at foreign Universities (e.g. Oxford, Columbia University, Berlin, Toronto, Bejing) and international research institues (e.g. Max Planck Institut für Internationales und Auslandisches Strafrechts di Freiburg i.B.; European Institute of Florence).

b) For what concerns teaching activities, DiGi organizes study courses aimed at both undergraduate and postgraduate students.

b.1) For undergraduates, DiGi manages the coordination of the BA in Law, offered in three different locations in Sicily (Palermo, Agrigento, Trapani), and of the BA in Legal consultant for business companies, which will officially begin in Trapani in the academic year 2016/17. DiGi professors further give their contribution to other academic courses such as Social Services (offered in Palermo and Agrigento) or Economics.

b.2) The academic offer for postgraduates consists of two PhD programmes: One in Human Rights, and one in Legal Pluralisms. Both of these programmes have a multidisciplinary and international approach to learning and research (they are in fact international PhD courses).

In addition, DiGi organizes lifelong learning activities for law professionals (e.g. lawyers, judges, employees for the public service), both in the form of institutional collaborations with organizations, and of more specific collaborations aimed at activities of professional update or of study of current topics of particular relevance (e.g. seminars with and for judges, and seminars for lawyers). Examples of such activities include the convention with the Order of Lawyers of Palermo for training activities (2011/2012) to which more than 1400 lawyers took part; the renewal of the convention with the Sicilian Region for activities of training and update aimed at employees of public services (2011/2013) with over 1500 enrollments, with courses offered in Palermo, Agrigento and Trapani; a convention for the training of employees of the Recovery Consortium; training directed at employees of law enforcement agencies (e.g. judges, investigators, police) through a Masters in politics and instruments for the fight against the trafficking of narcotics, as part of the IFO (ILLEGAL FLOW OBSERVATION) project.

b.3) A special mention should be made of the academic Module Jean Monnet on “Mobility, Security and the New Media”, funded by the European Union as part of the Erasmus+ Programme, which represents a central element of the Department. The course will be articulated in three different yearly modules of 12 seminars each, which will be managed and lead by a staff of national and international experts, aimed at students who have reached an advanced stage of their academic career, PhD students, judges, lawyers, and employees of law enforcement agencies.

c) DiGi hosts and promotes cultural initiatives of considerable social impact. These range from the Legal Clinic for Human Rights (CLEDU) to meetings and public events of various kind (e.g. The white night of rights, Agon). The Department strives for the establishment and maintenance of a constructive dialogue with society- going beyond local society- and commits to working as a cultural promoter, in an attempt to contribute to the development of a strong civic conscience and of an increasing awareness of the social importance of law and legality.