The University of Gdańsk's Faculty of Law and Administration hosted the National Meeting of Deans of Law Faculties, whose participants included deans and vice-deans of law faculties at universities and leading private universities. In addition to representatives of the academic world, the event was also attended by representatives of local authorities and law corporations.
The congress took place on October 12-14 this year. The event aimed to discuss current issues in legal science and education, from a summary of the past to a vision for the education of future lawyers. The various panels of the convention dealt with: the evaluation of scientific disciplines, the structure and competencies of university bodies, in particular law faculties, as well as the challenges of student education and the choice of professional path for graduates.
The proceedings began with a panel discussion on the rule of law crisis entitled: 'How to rebuild the rule of law. Reflections in the context of legal education'. Prof. dr hab. Ewa Łętowska spoke, as well as dr hab. Adam Bodnar, prof. SWPS. The panel was moderated by prof. dr hab. Jerzy Zajadło. During the discussion with the audience, the panellists pointed out that in times when the implementation of the rule of law is under threat, law faculties have an even greater responsibility regarding the education of young law students. At the end of the first day of proceedings, the congress participants were invited to a gala dinner at the Olivia Business Centre.
The second day of the session began with a panel discussion on the evaluation of scientific activity for the years 2017-2021 (panel title: 'Evaluation - course, results, de lege ferend remarks'). The panel was attended by prof. dr hab. Hubert Izdebski, dr hab. Piotr Stec, prof. UO, dr hab. Piotr Uziębło, prof. UG, and moderated by the Dean of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Gdańsk, dr hab. Wojciech Zalewski, prof. UG. During the discussion, the need for a far-reaching reform related to the necessity of improving the method of assessing the scientific activity of universities was noted, primarily by creating clear and constant criteria for such assessment, as well as objectivise the allocation of scores to scientific journals.
The third panel concerned the structure of law faculties after the reform related to the so-called 'Law 2.0' (panel title: 'The structure of law faculties after the reform. Functionality and rationality?'). The panel was attended by representatives of universities where the most far-reaching changes to faculty structures were made: dr hab. Ewelina Cała-Wacinkiewicz, prof. UŚ, dr hab. Witold Kurowski, prof. UŚ, and dr hab. Sabina Grabowska, prof. UR. The panel was moderated by dr hab. Piotr Uziębło, prof. UG. The panellists shared their experiences of the reforms carried out at their faculties.
The proceedings on the second day of the Convention of Deans of Law Faculties were concluded with an expert debate devoted to answering the question 'is it worth studying law today?'. The panel was attended by mgr Katarzyna Gruszecka-Spychała, Vice-President of Gdynia for Economic Affairs, att. Włodzimierz Chróścik, President of the National Council of Legal Advisers, att. Przemysław Rosati, President of the Supreme Bar Council and dr hab. Bartosz Wojciechowski, prof. UŁ, Judge of the Supreme Administrative Court. The panel was moderated by dr hab. Marcin Michał Wiszowaty, prof. UG. The panellists shared the view that despite the challenges posed by the contemporary legal services market, it is still worth studying law. The debate was listened to by students of the Faculty of Law and Administration of the University of Gdańsk, who also had the opportunity to take the floor and present their expectations from law studies.
The panel part of the debate was followed by a meeting of the Council of Deans of Law Faculties, during which a resolution was adopted on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland.
For more information, visit the UG Faculty of Law website.
