About the European Law School

The European Law School has set itself the goal of offering its students an education that will meet the requirements of a modern legal profession in today's European-influenced legal reality.

The meaning and scope of the European Law are steadily increasing. The application of these modern techniques are covered only adequately in the traditional legal education. Now, the innovative course offered by the European Law School for the first time offers an integrated European law Degree, for a small group of exceptionally talented law students, in particular those of the Humboldt University of Berlin, of King's College London and the Université Panthéon-Assas in Paris.

 Participants in the program initially complete their studies in their native country. After that they will continue on to their specialization for a year in each of the partner countries. For example, a student of King's College will attend the Université Panthéon-Assas in his/her fourth year and will then continue on to the Humboldt Universityin his fifth year. The German students attend the Pantheon first and then go to London.

The curricula at the respective home university primarely includes the traditional law-material learned at a “classical” law school in the country. Parallel to this, it involves a basis education on European contract law, constitutional law and some fewer-member-classes in modern legal skills (negotiation, mediation, legal design). The fewer member classes are mainly in cooperation with experts from leading law firms and leading companies and are carried out at an early stage of the program, to raise awareness of the legal practice. In the two years abroad deepening the European part of the training with an emphasis either in a private law, commercial law, public law or criminal law. Curricula are the common European stock and - if no harmonization - the great solutions in the three major legal systems of Europe. At the same time, the students build in this time on location in London and Paris, their foreign language skills to a level of scientific discourse.

The students apply to their home university for admission into the study program. Once selected, they undergo a unique cross-border training without additional application costs or time delays. Due to the special form of cooperation in the European Law School Network the German students of the European Law School will receive the opportunity to acquire three university degrees: The German State Exam, the British LL.M. and the French master, within five years.

An important component of the program are the summer schools. They bring students from all three countries together, to practice the modern legal abilities, and to think beyond the borders of nations about issues such as what is the function of law in society, and about the spiritual foundations of law in Europe. Not everything is mandatory, by no means. The offer should be kept wide and mostly designed as block courses, so that alumni can also come.

Compared to the traditional law school itself, the "European Lawyer" shows a wider range of courses. The HELS offers a more in depth education in the European content, a better student-teacher ratio, the possibility of subject-specific learning of two languages in the respective host country and the early practice of pivotal modern skills. Excellent communication skills, competent handling even of complex legal issues and creativity distinguish our graduates. Notably, the program enables constant practice of techniques for finding and comparing solutions,  how to act with creativity in law and to not only assess closed cases. Therefore, the graduates are predestined, in particular, for scientific and legislative employment in addition of course, to work in internationally operating law firms and corporations, European or international organizations and institutions, as well as in administration and the high courts.

This is brought to the point, for the most important vocational field, in the following way: In the employment as a Lawyer, or an private law autourney, the work most law students ultimately enter into, the large international law firms and legal departments stand out, clearly visible. The path into these includes an international training and specialist knowledge of foreign languages, which was previously only possible by way of the classical studies which are not coordinated, with regard to content. If one compares the average time a conventional education of an ambitious student who passes the first state examination within the free trial and then goes abroad to acuqire an LLM degree takes, to the European Lawyer, this way is usually one year longer than the studies at the HELS which in turn includes two foreign degrees.

Beyond this, European network formation of the HELS is much more intense than that of in any alternative proposal, as the students go a significant part of their studies together, through the three countries and contact with alumni is manufactured and encouraged.

In this context, The European Law School is brand and programmatic project name. The great reputation of the leading law schools in France (Paris, Panthéon-Assas), the classical colleges in London (King's College) and the Humboldt University guarantees the highest standards and excellence in the education of European lawyers. Therefore it is not only to the first study of law at all, to offer integrated national and European training and thus the European reality, but also a permanent network. One or two top universities from the three partner countries and a few other Member States are to be included in the network.