Dean's Welcome

Dear Incomings at Lucerne University Faculty of Law

With your admission to our faculty for the spring semester 2018, you will soon be travelling to Lucerne to study in the heart of Switzerland, surrounded by the beautiful Swiss Alps. With this newsletter we inform you about the classes, key semester dates, upcoming events as well as some organisational issues.

I look forward to welcoming you in February. In the meantime, I wish you a wonderful Christmas holiday.

Prof. Dr. iur. Bernhard Rütsche

Dean of the Faculty of Law

Incoming Welcome Event | Monday, 19 February 2018 | 4pm until 7pm

Please reserve Monday, 19 February 2018, in your calendar for the formal meeting of incoming students. The office of student advisors (Ms. Madeleine Stämpfli) will provide you with a wealth of information relevant for your stay in Lucerne from the organisational, academic, and purely practical point of view. The formal part is followed by a social event with food and drinks. Details about the meeting will follow in due course. Attendance at the formal part of the Incoming Welcome Event is mandatory. We kindly ask you to register for the Incoming Welcome Event by e-mail (studienberatung-rf@unilu.ch) at the latest by 15 January 2018.

Start of Courses

Courses (except for certain block courses and guest lecture courses) start on Monday, 19 February 2018 at the Frohburgstrasse 3, next to the central railway station in Lucerne. Lectures customarily begin 15 minutes past the hour; usually 2-hour lectures mean 2 x 45 minutes, with a 15-minute break. 

Course Registration and OLAT

Registration for the courses you wish to take can be done via the online platform OLAT (Online Learning And Training). You will receive your necessary AAI-account with an @stud.unilu.ch email-address in February 2018. Once the registration period is open, we will inform you on how to register for courses. 

Course Offerings Spring Semester 2018

Course descriptions are listed in the course catalogue: https://vv.unilu.ch (you have to select the “Frühjahrssemester 2018” which will be uploaded by 21 December 2017). The descriptions for all law courses in English are separately listed again in this booklet: "Courses in English".

Please note that undergraduate students are also allowed to enrol in master courses. 

Course schedules are available here:  → Bachelor / → Master.

IMPORTANT: There are different deadlines to register for courses. For most courses you can register upon arrival in Lucerne after the Incoming Welcome Event. Exceptions are listed below under "courses with mandatory early sign-up".

Courses exclusively for incoming students

Introduction to Swiss Law

This course gives an overview on the Swiss legal system, the organisation of the Swiss state and the principles of the Swiss political system. Participation is highly recommended. Further details are published in the course catalogue.  

Introduction to Public International Law

This course is designed as a "crash course" in the beginning of the semester and seeks to provide a solid understanding on the nature and functioning of public international law, its legal sources and its subjects. More details on the structure and contents of the course are available in the course catalogue.

Block Course "International Capital Markets"

Please note that the registration deadline for the block course "International Capital Markets" (9–11 April 2018) held by Mr. Mark Brewer, J.D., Ph.D., is 10 January 2018.

If you are interested in participating in this course, we would appreciate your earliest possible registration by e-mail to studienberatung-rf@unilu.ch.

As of 2017, the Faculty of Law in Lucerne proudly offers a new certificate programme "Global Legal Studies: International Economic Law, Human Rights and Sustainability". The programme is specifically designed for incoming students. For more information on the GLS programme, please take a look at the flyer.

The following courses require a registration via e-mail to the office of student advisors (studienberatung-rf@unilu.ch):

Examinations for Master courses in English take place 28 May – 8 June 2018. Examinations for Bachelor courses (including Legal English and Introduction to Anglo-American Legal Thinkung) and Master courses in German take place 11–29 June 2018.

Detailed information regarding the examination application procedure will follow shortly after the start of the semester.

For questions feel free to contact the student advisory team at: studienberatung-rf@unilu.ch