University of Namibia : Faculty of Law
About the Faculty
The Faculty of Law consists of three departments namely: Commercial law; Public law and Jurisprudence and Private and Procedural Law. In addition, two centres fall under the Faculty, viz the Human Rights and Documentation Centre (HRDC) and the Justice Training Centre (JTC). As part of its community engagement programme, the Faculty also runs a legal aid clinic which has two important aims, namely to provide clinical or practical legal education to all of our final year LLB students and also to provide legal services to the indigent members of our community. The one year service in the legal aid clinic is compulsory for all our final year students.
The Faculty is staffed by 15 full –time legal academics, the bulk of whom have the minimum qualification of a Masters degree in law. Also many of these staff members have been admitted to practice in the Republic of Namibia and other jurisdictions. The Faculty currently has two full professors and two associate professors. Out of the total academic staff compliment, there are five staff members who have doctoral degrees in law. In addition there is a total number of five academic staff members who are currently pursuing various stages of their doctoral programmes. There are also 5 administrative members of staff
The Faculty has since 2012, embarked on a programme of phasing out its two undergraduate degrees namely the Baccalaureus Juris (B.Juris) and the Bachelor of laws (LL.B). In the same year, the Faculty commenced phasing in the new four year undergraduate LL.B degree. Two undergraduate diploma qualifications namely the Diploma in Arbitration and Dispute Resolution and the Diploma in Para- legal Studies were launched in 2012. The first batch of the two programmes graduated during the May 2014 University graduation ceremony.
The Faculty has also continued to offer two postgraduate qualifications namely Master of laws (LLM) by thesis and Doctor of Philosophy in law.( PHD). There are currently about 14 postgraduate students who are registered for either for their Masters or Doctoral qualifications in the Faculty. At the end of the 2013 academic year, three of the faculty’s research students completed their research projects and submitted their theses/ dissertations for examinations. These included two LLM theses and one PHD dissertation. This is the first time in the history of the Faculty of Law that a doctoral dissertation has been produced for examination purposes. It is hoped that both the numbers of both postgraduate students by research and course work will increase as its supervision capacity increases with the recruitment of more staff with doctoral qualifications in law.
WHY STUDY AT THE FACULTY OF LAW?
The Faculty of Law welcomes and invites you to study at the Faculty as it promises you a unique and worthwhile experience in legal education. The faculty’s programmes offer a very challenging and intellectually stimulating experience. The UNAM Law Faculty treasures excellences and strives to attain this standard in its teaching, research and community areas. Through these activities, it has monumentally contributed to the building of a sound legal system and a constitutional and democratic culture in the Republic of Namibia. Many graduates of the Faculty are to be found in private law firms, the Ministry of Justice and other related ministries parastatal organizations, the Office of the Prosecutor – General, the magistracy etc.
During the 2014 academic year, the Faculty of law produced the second ever Namibian Rhodes scholar who will be proceeding to the University of Oxford to study for his Master’s degree. All parents in the country and within the SADC region who send us their wards for a legal education would have made a very sound decision as they would have assured them a promising future as shown by the broad range of careers which await them.
POSSIBLE CAREERS AFTER GRADUATING FROM THE FACULTY OF LAW
The field of law is very dynamic and covers a wide range of careers options. The LLB is the basic degree for any person who wishes to enter the legal profession in Namibia. If a person wishes to become a legal practitioner in a private law firm then they must attend a qualifying course at the justice training centre at UNAM as well as sit for the accompanying qualifying examination. Alternatively, they can enter the profession by working as a magistrate, public prosecutor, legal aid counsel or a Legal Officer. The Public Service designation for legally qualified staff members in the ministry of justice is referred to as legal officer, but for better understanding of their respective functions, they are also categorized according to their statutory designations and the directorates they are attached to. The following are basic entry level legal careers in the Ministry of Justice:
- Public Prosecutor
- Legal Researcher
- Legal Drafter
- Defense Counsel
- Legal Advisor
- Government Attorney
- Legal Officer