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Dean’s Message

 

The Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University established in 1969, by talented legal scholars who immigrated from the US and sought to establish a faculty that lived up to the standards of the institutions where they had studied, such as Harvard, Chicago, and Cornell, the Faculty of Law at Bar-Ilan University has been striving to achieve excellence in both research and teaching.

Members of the faculty’s academic staff are among the senior legal scholars in Israel. Many of them have earned international reputations in their fields. Relationships with leading institutions in the US and Europe have been perpetuated by the new generation of scholars, most of whom are Israeli born but who obtained a significant component of their education abroad, and are often invited to teach and present the results of their research overseas. Graduates of the Bar-Ilan Faculty of Law are leaders in many facets of Israeli life, including the economy, the foremost legal offices, the courts (including the Supreme Court), and the government.

A special place among the activities of the faculty is occupied by Jewish law. Its study and research are a top priority for us. The faculty is now indisputably the leading academic institution in Israel and abroad in this field, both in terms of the size of staff whose research is dedicated to Jewish law, and from the point of view of the educational and research activities it deploys.The Faculty accepts only the most outstanding applicants for undergraduate studies, a small, elite group receiving excellent legal education that is second to none in Israel. Our students demonstrate their excellence year after year, among others at the bar exams, but also in social action and volunteering activities. One notable aspect of the learning experience at the Bar-Ilan Faculty of Law is the collegial atmosphere of mutual help. In our faculty a man is a man to his fellow-man, not a wolf, or in the words of Isaiah 41:6, “Everyone helps his neighbor, and says to his brother, ‘Take courage!’” This applies first and foremost to the relationship between the students themselves, a relationship characterized by shared learning, free sharing of learning materials, cooperation, encouragement, and mutual help. The friendly atmosphere among students is complemented by the warm and personal attention students receive from the dedicated academic and administrative staff.The Faculty opens to students not only its own resources, but also offers various suggestions for integrating their studies with those of other departments in the Social Sciences and the Humanities Faculties of the University, for study abroad, and for direct tracks to masters and doctoral degrees.The graduate programs in the Faculty of Law are unique in Israel, and have achieved outstanding reputation for their specialized tracks that provide advanced education for students who wish to deepen and broaden their knowledge. Programs are in the areas of commercial law, criminal law, and negotiation and mediation, as well as special graduate programs for non-lawyers, attract students from all institutions of higher education in the country.The most outstanding graduates of the Faculty of Law, who want to devote themselves to academic legal research, can attend the prestigious doctoral program of the Faculty. Some are offered generous scholarships that enable them to dedicate their full time to research. Since its inception, the doctoral program has produced some of the senior scholars  in Israeli law, currently active at various academic institutions in Israel and abroad.I wish to welcome the students, researchers, and guests of the Faculty to the Bar-Ilan family. My colleagues and I will do all that is in our power to make you feel that you belong here, and that you get the most out of the high-quality academic activity that is taking place at our Faculty.

                                                                                                         Yours,

 

Professor Arie Reich, Dean