Legal issues increasingly permeate both everyday life and people’s professional lives. The expertise of legal professionals is therefore in high demand. This degree program helps you prepare for a wide range of legal roles in all areas of business and administration.

The Bachelor’s degree program in Applied Law provides a generalist legal education which covers all core areas of Swiss law. Special attention is given to linguistic and methodological competence. This course of study is designed for individuals who wish to assume responsible legal positions in private law, public law, or criminal law.

Talented students can apply to join the ZHAW Law Clinic, where they will offer free legal advice to students at ZHAW and other institutions under the supervision of legal professionals. This enables them to apply the knowledge they acquire in their studies to practical contexts and to gain valuable experience in dealing with real cases.

The International NGO Law and Policy Project (INLPP) provides free legal, policy, research, communications, and advocacy services to NGOs. The INLPP is staffed by students and gives them the opportunity to use their knowledge and skills to solve real world challenges.

The ZHAW enables you to participate in renowned international moot courts. Moot courts are simulated court or arbitration proceedings in which teams of students from different universities compete against each other and represent one of the parties in a dispute.

Graduates of the BSc in Applied Law program can choose between many different legal roles, for example:

• In municipal, cantonal, or federal administrations in Switzerland, such as residents’ register offices, social services, civil register offices, driver and vehicle licensing offices, or areas of immigration or customs;
• In law enforcement agencies, the police, and the penal system;
• In government-related entities at the federal, cantonal, or communal level (e.g., SwissPost, SBB, Swisscom, or utility companies);
• In social insurance or public health, such as health and accident insurance companies, compensation offices, invalidity insurance offices, hospitals, clinics, or care/retirement homes;
• In associations, NGOs, and NPOs, such as trade unions or employers’ associations, trade associations, tenants’ or consumers’ associations, and environmental organizations;
• In companies operating in highly regulated markets and in the agencies regulating these companies, such as in the insurance, financial services, pharmaceutical, energy, or telecommunications sectors.

The Bachelor’s degree program consists of two levels: the first year (“Assessment”) and the main study period (“Hauptstudium”). At both levels of study, professional legal competence accounts for two-thirds of the curriculum, and legal language and methodological competence for the other one-third. As a part-time course of study, the program usually takes eight semesters to complete and allows students to have a part-time job of up to 60% in addition to their studies. The full-time course of study usually takes six semesters to complete.

You may choose between a part-time and a full-time course of study. For part-time students, the program takes eight semesters, and you will have classes on only two days a week. As a full-time student, you will have classes on four or five days a week, and the program will take six semesters to complete.

• Swiss federal commercial vocational baccalaureate: no entrance exam or additional professional experience required

• Swiss federal (non-commercial) vocational baccalaureate: no entrance exam but at least one year of regular work in the commercial field

• Swiss federal baccalaureate: no entrance exam but at least one year of regular work in the commercial field

• No final expulsion received from a university law school

Further details about the admission requirements