Dr. Erasma Demeris Rutechura
Dean, Law School
UTAMU Law School was established in 2022 to provide unparalleled opportunities to study law in a rigorous, vibrant, and collaborative environment. The school is mandated to undertake legal research and innovation.
The school is in the process of establishing its maiden Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree programme which is set to be launched in May 2023.
The school is premised on the notion that theory cannot be separated from practice. Our curriculum integrates practical experience, professional responsibility, and lawyering skills with doctrinal study at every level. What forms the core of our lawyering curriculum are the skills recognized by the legal profession as essential to successful law practice: problem solving, legal analysis and reasoning, legal research, factual investigation, communication (legal writing, oral argument), counseling, negotiation, litigation and alternative dispute-resolution, culturally competent practice protocols, organization and management of legal work, and recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas.
We believe that studying law at the UTAMU Law School will go beyond choosing one of the most prestigious and comprehensive legal educations in Uganda.
Administrative Organizational Structure
| KEY | |
|---|---|
| AA | Assistant Accountant |
| AL | Assistant Librarian |
| AQAO | Assistant Quality Assurance Officer |
| AR | Academic Registrar |
| AS | Academic Staff |
| DCEL | Department of Commercial and Economic Law |
| DENRLC | Director Environmental and Natural Resources Law Centre |
| DICTLC | Director ICT and Law Centre |
| DIRIL | Department, Department of International and Regional Integration Law |
| DJPCL | Department, Department of Jurisprudence, Procedural and Comparative Law |
| DMCC | Director Moot Court Centre |
| DPPL | Department of Public and Private Law |
| HOD | Head of Department |
| HRO | Human Resource Officer |
| LS | Law School |
| OASA | Office Assistant in charge of Student Affairs |
| SL | Senior Librarian |
| SOA | Secretary / Office Assistant |
| SR | Senior Registrar |
| ROA | Receptionist / Office Assistant |
There are four (4) departments under the Law School, namely: Department of Commercial and Economic Law, Department of Public Law, Department of Private Law, and Department of Jurisprudence, Procedural and Comparative Law. Each department shall be responsible for teaching, learning, research, innovation and community engagement under its mandate.
The Law School will initially have three (3) centres, namely: The Moot Court Centre, The ICT and Law Centre and the Environmental and Natural Resources Law Centre. Other centres will be established as the need arises.
Moot Court Centre
Moot Court is the special practical centre to impart practical training on the application of the law. The Director of the centre will ensure this unique aspect of the LLB Degree programme is well covered. Further, the director of the centre will also ensure that the Law School participates in numerous moot completions at national, regional and international level.
Among the Moots competitions will be the African Human Rights Moot Court Competition which is the largest gathering of students, academics and judges around the theme of human rights in Africa. This annual event brings together all law faculties/schools in Africa, whose top students argue a hypothetical human rights case as if they were before the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The Competition continuously prepares new generations of lawyers to argue cases of alleged human rights violations before the African Court. Since its creation, 175 universities from 50 African countries have taken part in this permanent fixture on the Africa legal education calendar. The Moot has been a catalyst for the establishment of the leading programmes in the field of human rights teaching and research in Africa
Moots competitions have over the years been an invaluable human rights platform for thousands of law students, academics and human rights activists across the continent. The competitions have fostered lasting relationships and networks that have shaped the regional legal community.
The Law School via this unit will participate and attain outstanding performance in the following moot court competitions:
- All African Human rights Moot Court Competitions
- Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition
- Save the children Moot Court Competition
ICT and Law Centre
This centre will be responsible for imparting ICT skills on the students and staff in the law school. It will also be responsible for undertaking research in ICT law and teaching courses at the interface of ICT and law. The ICT laws will include domestic and international laws that regulate electronic transactions and activity in digital space. The centre will also offer continuous legal education on the use of ICT legal systems that support electronic case hearings, electronic filing, delivery of electronic judgements, and electronic libraries, electronic supervision, and access to e-resources among others. It will also support electronic learning for law students in the UTAMU e-learning platform.
Environmental and Natural Resources Law Centre
The Environmental and Natural Resources Center is committed to innovation in environmental and natural resources legal education. It will be responsible for courses and research in in public interest environmental law, and plans to put in place an environmental and natural resources law clinic.
The Bachelor of Laws will prepare our students for the practice of law immediately upon graduation by fusing the theory of law to the practice of law through skill development exercises.
It will provide a challenging and broad-based education designed to stimulate intellectual inquiry of the highest order, and to foster in each student a deep sense of professional responsibility and personal integrity so as to produce competent and socially responsible members of the legal profession.
LLB first-year curriculum will entirely be prescribed to ensure a foundation for study in the upper years. The first-year curriculum is mandatory for all students. In addition to core law courses (Contract Law, Criminal Law, Torts, Property Law, Constitutional Law, Legal Research and Writing), every student will have mandatory Indigenous Law courses in both their first and second year.
Students will experience our innovative study curriculum designed to prepare them for all types of legal roles. We support our students to become thoughtful and effective lawyers in all environments.
Upper-year electives cover a broad spectrum of interests. Law electives will be selected from a variety of courses such as Commercial Law, Insurance Law, International Law, Critical Race Theory, Labor and Employment, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Insolvency law, Tax Law, Banking law, Environmental Law, and many other topics.
| Name | Qualification |
|---|---|
| Dr. Erasma Demeris Rutechura | Dean, Law School |
| Dr. Ernest Katwesigye | Masters in Business Administration (General Management), Diploma in Legal Practice (Post-Graduate bar Course, Bachelor of Laws |
UTAMU Law Society will be a society of law students at UTAMU but is not part of the administrative structure of the Law School. This Society is the major channel to enhance extra curriculum activities allied with the Law School. The society will be governed by the President who will be elected by all students registered under the Law School. The society leadership will highly participate in preparation and administration of the Law School’s internal projects including legal aid services, UTAMU community day, and the School outreach and community services programmes.
Contact details are as below;
Email: deanlaw@utamu.ac.ug; info@utamu.ac.ug
Tel: +256 780 249942; +256 702 646093; +256 750 599736