Sciences of Legal Services

General guidelines

The main goal of the study programme is to provide students with a solid baseline education in the law before selecting one of four pre-professional tracks in their third year. The last year, in fact, will be dedicated to gaining more specialised knowledge in those topics of study tackled during the prior two years in a professional vein, as well as through hands-on experience, through a professional internship, where they will apply the knowledge from the first two years of study.

Corporate legal-affairs expert

Role in the workforce:
The corporate legal-affairs curriculum is aimed at providing legal and professional training in the various components of business administration, with particular reference to the financial markets, and the leading industries interacting with the same (banks, insurance companies, financial intermediaries) for the purpose of moulding professionals with specific legal and business acumen. Graduates will be called upon to provide legal assistance and consultancy, whether general or specific to the corporate setting, in developing solutions to legal and corporate problems, as well as the coordination of management and organisation either as an in-house or external expert for the same.

Skills associated with this role:
The study plan contemplated for this particular track allows for the acquisition of specific law-related and professional skills, especially in the fields of banking, finance, and insurance law, through a specific focus on the business and corporate milieu. These areas of law are always in flux, marked by an increasing focus on both in-court and out-of-court resolutions (including the more recent ABF and ACF dispute-resolution methods).

Professional opportunities:
A natural career choice for graduates is to work in banking, insurance, finance, and more generally in investing and brokering. Potential fields include compliance, contract management, and working with clients to avoid litigation (dispute resolution), amongst other things. The skills students acquire will also open the door to entrepreneurship and solo practice in the fields of insurance and financial intermediation (agent, broker, consultant, etc.).

Public-Administration legal-affairs expert

Role in the workforce:
The Public-Administration legal-affairs curriculum, predicated on coursework providing training in the key issues of public law, and methods for generating and interpreting official acts and documents of the Public Administration, intends to train professionals able to carry out a variety of functions within public agencies and entities by the current social and economic context. The relevant activities would include managing the region and its cultural heritage, protecting the environment and public health, managing and distributing public services, and calling public tenders and awarding the related contracts. Within this context, and in addition to other fundamental duties, graduates of this track would have the skills needed to fill roles within a public agency or entity, and to conduct the administration of the same. More specifically, they might be called upon to gather data and information, handle institutional relations, provide support for administrative proceedings, and generate the related administrative orders.

Skills associated with this role:
In order to carry out the aforementioned functions, the Public-Administration legal-affairs expert must have a solid understanding of public law and regulations ' specifically, skills relating to the organisational structure and workings of the public authorities, as well as those concerning the administrative activities carried out by the same. To that end, in addition to a solid understanding of the most relevant of the foundations of administrative law, the expert must have specific skills in terms of the special regulations applicable to the workings of the Public Administration. Additionally, students must develop more general acumen in the area of civil law, as entities of Public Administration also handle instruments of private law, such as contracts and corporate forms. The aforementioned legal knowledge likewise requires complete understanding of the legal implications of harmonising Italian and EU law.

Professional opportunities:
The Public-Administration legal-affairs graduate would find a natural entry into various careers in the Public Administration. These would include state, regional, and local administration, as well as public holdings, independent authorities and the administrative entities working in the areas of environmental protection, cultural property, and immigration. The public-sector law track further allows students to access a multitude of careers in the private sector which, in a variety of roles, work in public contracts, public services, the environment, in the field of cultural heritage and urban development.

HR legal-affairs expert

Role in the workforce:
The objective for the curriculum is to train experts in labour law who, through their specialised and general coursework, become trained professionals in the area of HR administration and management, experts in union relations and collective bargaining, social and corporate welfare. Moreover, HR legal-affairs experts will develop the skill set needed for managing individual and collective-bargaining agreements, and allow them to assist in setting quantitative and qualitative standards for new hires; generate job descriptions; conduct personnel searches and attend technical/specialised in-person interview to provide support to the department heads during hiring. They will be able to handle union disputes, negotiating agreements with workers' representatives, and provide support to generating and developing plans for on boarding new employees. Finally, they may be called upon to set compensation policies, and develop health and safety-related programming for the workplace.

Skills associated with this role:
In order to carry out the above-mentioned tasks, HR legal-affairs experts must have a solid, general understanding of labour law, and the functioning of company organisations. Additionally, skills in the area of bookkeeping, tax consultancy, and tracking regulatory changes and contract support are required. Likewise important are effective communication skills, including active listening, negotiating techniques, and team work, as well as problem-setting and problem-solving attitude. Additionally, computer and electronic skills, along with English-language proficiency, are imperative. With respect to the development of these skills, in addition to passing their exams, students must complete a for-credit internship through an HR consultancy firm, or through the HR or legal affairs office within a private company, industry association, union organisation, public entity or related institution. This component will be integral to their course of study.

Professional opportunities:
HR legal-affairs experts will find opportunities for professional employment in the fields of HR management or HR consultancy through a firm (completion of the study programme allows students to sit for the HR consultancy state exam). They will also have an entrée into personnel management and HR departments in the private sector, or in departments handling union and industrial relations. These graduates may also find employment as staff for industry or special-interest groups, union organisations, and bilateral entities; with temporary-work agencies, hiring firms, and placement/outplacement entities; as a functionary in public agencies handling work-placement services. They may be involved in making policy decisions relating to labour / education / social-welfare / insurance / benefits; they may also find employment with benefits agencies and supervisory authorities; or as experts in workplace safety, privacy, data processing, and corporate compliance; finally, as researchers and/or instructors for research centres, or professional training centres focused on labour and union-relationship issues.

Non-profit legal-affairs expert

Role in the workforce:
According to the most recent (2018) ISTAT (Italian National Statistics Institute) statistics, the non-profit and charity segment is thriving in Italy, on both a national and regional level. In Lombardy, there are over 57,710 non-profit entities, providing employment to over a million people, serving in a variety of roles.
Within this context, the non-profit legal affairs track aims to train junior jurists able to work within NGOs, social associations and cooperatives, bringing to bear those relevant skills needed to provide an effective response to the legal issues the non-profit sector is called upon to answer, including in light of recent reforms.

Skills associated with this role:
The study plan intends to provide a training programme aimed at developing a specific skill set regarding the issues relating to the evolution and legal governance of the non-profit and charitable sector under Italian law. The training programme focusses on the application of human-rights protection, social policy in the Italian welfare system, and the organisation and administration of religious entities and non-profits, from a public-sector perspective. The study plan also contemplates the possibility of honing skills relating to the rights of one or more socially disadvantaged categories (persons with disabilities, minors, prisoners, immigrants) whose protection, in most cases, forms the mission of the non-profit sector. Within the educational programme, students can complete internships and other work experience through public institutions, religious entities, and private businesses operating in the field.

Professional opportunities:
The non-profit legal-affairs expert's job opportunities include activities relating to generating and completing development projects in the field of human rights, within national/international NGOs, institutions, and associations; employment in monitoring, research, analysis, and development activities in advocacy organizations and Italian / European / international agencies operating in the field of human rights; civil servants at a local, regional, or national level in the field of social services and welfare; anti-discrimination instructor; employment in non-profit and charitable companies, cooperatives, and associations, with management and administrative roles..

Employment statistics (Almalaurea)