About :: Department of Law

Professor :: Dr. Taslima Monsoor

Chairman's Message..... Welcome to all prospective students of law. I am pleased to state that the Department of Law of the University of Dhaka has a fascinating more than half-century of history educating the leaders of our legal profession and society. Our graduates are distinguished by the unique advantages our Department has to offer. At the Law Department, students are offered the broadest array of courses offered in Bangladesh, taught by faculty members who have gained recognition for their expertise. And whether it is course work in a classroom setting, our professional-clinical courses and workshops, or individualized learning, our students benefit from our warm, collegial, and picturesque environment. Dhaka University Law provides you with an unusual opportunity. First, we are an outstanding law Department. Our curriculum is designed to ensure that you will have the substantive knowledge, skills, and values essential to practice law in the twenty-first century. We are extremely proud that we train lawyers—lawyers who practice in all areas of the profession, in private firms and public agencies, in Dhaka and throughout Bangladesh. It is no accident that many of our alumni are judges- both of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh and within the subordinate judiciary, and that many of our graduates are business and political leaders. We teach our students to have the skills to succeed in whatever branch of our profession they select. Part of our tradition of education is encouraging students to become agents for positive change in society. This is especially important in a Law Department of a developing country like ours. We are committed to encouraging our students upon becoming lawyers to provide legal assistance in public interest litigation probono. We want to use law as an engine for positive change, as I have mentioned earlier. Even in the context of adversarial relationships and an attorney's obligation to provide zealous representation to clients, lawyers must be skilled and committed to resolving disputes while maintaining respect for opposing parties and counsel. We are blessed with an outstanding faculty. The first prerequisite for our faculty is outstanding teaching. Teaching is not a secondary concern at the Department of Law; it is the primary qualification for hiring, promotion, and tenure of faculty. Law Department and its staff are accessible to students to discuss course material, legal issues, career goals, or personal matters. Our commitment to care for the person is reflected in the way we view students, and how we expect students to view themselves and each other. Our main job is educating you to be highly skilled, highly ethical, and moral lawyers and human beings. That requires that we be available to you in and out of the classroom. The Clinical Legal Education Programme is designed to provide an intensive, active learning experience for every student in the Department to provide them with touch of law practice in that we teach drafting briefs, counseling, advocacy and negotiation. Our resources for this vary from the Supreme Court Judges, Legal Aid workers or high profile practitioners. The challenges facing Bangladesh today: globalization, the information revolution, multiculturalism, the ever-present tensions associated with Bangladesh’s newly gained democracy – each of these represents a legal challenge as well as a social and political one. And each is challenging not only the way in which we think about the law, but also the way in which we at the Department are thinking about legal education – which makes this perhaps the most exciting time in a hundred years to be a law student. Our goal at the Department of Law of the University of Dhaka is to be a truly national law school; a national law school with an international outlook. Our goal is to educate our students in an atmosphere that respects individual needs and the rights of others and that adheres to the highest academic standards, while challenging them to attain personal and academic excellence. As you consider the start of your legal education and career, I hope you share my enthusiasm for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. We, the teachers, cannot go back to being new law students, but we hope to make your legal education, career, as exciting and rewarding as can be.

About Law Department.... Welcome to the web site of the Department of Law at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Since the foundation of the University of Dhaka almost about a century ago in 1921, the study of law has been an integral part of the Department's mission. The Department has since been home to many of the eminent jurists and figure heads of the country including former Presidents, Prime Ministers, Speakers of the Parliament, Chief Justices, Judges of the International Tribunals, Judges of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh etc. The Law Department has the most comprehensive bachelor degree in Law in the country. Today, the Department has more than 30 teaching staff, about 600 undergraduate students, nearly 200 LL.M. students. In all aspects of its teaching, Department of Law has always valued excellence and innovation, allied to a strong taught based programmes, and has consistently maintained small tutorial groups for undergraduate degree students. We are dedicated to teaching our LL.M. courses by seminar method and to the provision of first-class supervision for those engaged in our research programmes. The Department is now widening its research base and undertaking link programmes with overseas universities. We value research not only in contributing to the quality of our teaching and the supervision we give our research students, but also in its contribution to the development of law and its influence on legal practice and public policy. All members of staff are given time to research and encouraged to do so. Indeed, we encourage our students, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, to think in terms of having their various research works published in local and international journals. The selection process in the Department is highly competitive. For the 2003-2004 session, for only 66 places 9500 students took the admission test. Student activities involve participating in the Moot Court Society, Clinical Legal Education, research for the teachers, and law dabates etc. Overall, the Department of Law provides a great educational experience and prepares a student for a successful career - whether in a law firm or as an in-house counsel, an international organization, teaching or practice. Our graduates are much sought after by local employers and are the most successful in the public judicial competitive examinations.