St Petersburg University to train lawyers for legal support of multinational companies

‘The authors of the programme set their sights on designing a curriculum in which practical training would be a priority,’ said Elena Sychenko, the programme director and associate professor at St Petersburg University. To achieve this, St Petersburg University assembled a team of teaching staff from practitioners working in international companies such as Dentons and DLA Piper. The staff also includes acknowledged scholars with experience in lecturing at the best world’s universities: the University of Tokyo; National Taiwan University; and the University of Padua.

Training in the master’s programme traditionally take two years. The curriculum consists of three units: law courses; management courses; and elective courses in foreign languages. In addition to English, students will be offered to study Chinese or Spanish. Among the law courses taught by practitioners are: Resolution of International Disputes; Data Privacy Regulations; Investment Law; and Antimonopoly Compliance. Among the courses from the management unit is a very interesting course ‘Human Resource Management’. It is taught by lecturers from the Graduate School of Management of St Petersburg University.

The combination of these courses will make it possible to develop multidisciplinary professional competencies and meet the contemporary challenges of the labour market.

Elena Sychenko, the programme director and associate professor at St Petersburg University

According to the authors of the programme, during the training, students will learn to develop and make managerial decisions while applying Russian, international and foreign laws. The main competencies that graduates of the ‘Transnational Legal Practice’ programme will acquire are: the ability to assess the legal risks associated with the implementation of managerial decisions in different countries; and the ability to participate in determining global concepts for the development of transnational enterprises. The lecturers of the programme are convinced that a St Petersburg University graduate with such a set of practical skills will be able to work in any country throughout the world.

It is important that the programme in Transnational Legal Practice may be of interest not only to lawyers, but also to specialists without any legal education. For example, this University programme may be useful to employees of legal departments of multinational companies, and to managers responsible for making managerial decisions in international business. To be enrolled on the master’s programme, there is no need to pass entrance examinations in the field of study – admissions are organised according to the results of the competitive selection of portfolios.

St Petersburg University admits applications for programmes taught in a foreign language. This approach not only encourages entrants to improve significantly the level of their language proficiency, but also makes it possible for future graduates to enter the international labour market. Two such bachelor's programmes, 19 master's programmes and one doctoral programme are available for applicants in 2020. Also, in 2020, the University admits applications for 12 double-degree programmes with foreign partner universities and more than 50 programmes with a ‘foreign component’. They provide students with the study of courses in: language; culture; and socio-economic systems of foreign countries. Among them are: ‘Jurisprudence (with an In-Depth Study of the Chinese Language and Legal System)’; and  ‘Jurisprudence (with an In-Depth Study of the Japanese Language and Legal System)’.