KIU SCHOOL OF LAW (SOL)

The School of Law at KIU accredited by the Uganda Law Council opened in October 2002, with an intake of 65 students from the East African countries of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. This first in-take of students graduated in November 2006 and later joined the Law Development Centre, Kampala for the Post-Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice the same year.

Since inception, the School has remained committed to providing a conducive teaching and learning environment, tailored at producing excellent graduates capable of meeting the needs of the legal job market. The essence is to mold individuals capable of serving in different vocations of the legal profession; legal practitioners (the Bar); judicial officers (the Bench); State Attorneys, law instructors, corporate and tax lawyers, legal advisers, consultants and the academia.

Objectives of the School of Law

• To train persons, with acceptable educational prerequisites, in the field of Law in order that they get to appreciate the nature and essence of Law; legal problems; legal systems, structures, mechanics; and the influences on, and of Law in society, within Uganda, East Africa, and other countries of the world.
• To increase the opportunities available in Uganda and the East African Region for provision of legal training, and contribute to the development of the society in all spheres, through production of competent Law graduates, to add to skilled and professional human power in the different sectors: Legal Practitioners (the Bar); Judicial Officers (the Bench); State Attorneys; Law Instructors; Corporate and Tax Lawyers; Legal Advisers and Consultants.
• To encourage students to use but also apply the law as a tool for change or influencing change in their communities and other spheres of life.
• To provide opportunities for obtaining legal knowledge by persons who require and seek such knowledge, for its own sake to broaden their outlook; self-advancement and capacity enhancement in their various callings; and the harnessing of potential opportunities, within Uganda, and in other countries.
• To live up to the expectations of a University as a foundry of high-level knowledge in the society.

Status of School of Law

The School of Law (SOL) was elevated from Faculty of Law (FOL) to the School of Law with effect from March 2016. The School runs various Law programmes, which are Diploma in Law, Bachelor of Law (LLB), and Master of Laws (LLM). It also has various departments that handle specific fields of specialization. These include:

Departments:

(a) Commercial Law

(b) Public and Comparative Law

(c) Law and Jurisprudence

(d) Diploma in Law and Postgraduate Legal Studies

Programmes in the School of Law:

In KIU School of Law, we run the following programmes at the Undergraduate and Postgraduate categories:

At the Undergraduate level, we have:

• Diploma in Law
• Bachelor of Laws

Under the Postgraduate studies, the LLM programme is offered for two years since 2009 in the following areas:

• Master of Laws in Commercial Law
• Master of Laws in Criminal Law and Criminology
• Master of Laws in Natural Resource Law
• Master of Laws in Public International Law
• Master of Laws câ¬â??  General

Practical Training

1. Moot Court Competitions:

To further enrich studentscâ¬â?c experiences at Law School, mooting (the moot court training and competitions) is an integral part of learning. There is a moot court at the Campus where students are required to participate. The Head of Department in charge of mooting has created a criterion for the practical training to comply with, and this is what is followed in the preparation of the students.

Second-year law students standing outside the moot court after a moot session

The moot sessions are organised at the School of Law level where a moot question is prepared by the Head of Department. Students are given a time frame within which to research on the same and then the inter-class competitions are done.

For more information on the external moot competitions we have participated in click here:

2. KIU Law Clinic:

The KIU law Clinic is a medium of delivering clinical legal education with 2 broad objectives of education and social justice.  KIU Law Clinic assists vulnerable persons, communities in the areas of tenancy eviction, rights of casual and low income workers, refugee rights, child protection and more.

The law clinic is supervised by trained clinicians, qualified lawyers and law lecturers who train students with practical legal skills in dealing with real clients and solving actual problems and for the most part blend legal theory with practice in preparing students for a successful legal career.

At KIU-SOL, we also believe in continuous relationships with our students during and after campus, that is why we have maximized the current technological advancement to keep in touch with our alumni, irrespective of time and space via the social media groups and platform.