Group of people studying together at a table in the Faculty of Law

Faculty of Law

The Faculty of Law at Maastricht University is a top-quality provider of challenging and rewarding Dutch and European legal education at bachelor’s, master’s and PhD-level. A true pioneer in small-scale teaching and teaching of skills aimed at a broad range of future legal professionals.
 
The clear focus in research on European and international aspects of the law, Law and tech, and the empirical setting in which the law operates, provides an exceptionally stimulating environment for both students and staff. The Faculty greatly values its open, diverse and inclusive community that makes it a pleasant and rewarding place to work and study. 

The UM Faculty of Law offers a wide range of bachelor's and master's programmes. Would you like to know more about our programmes? Download the brochure for more information on the courses, career perspectives and admission requirements of our programmes.

News

BlueLab: preparing law students for responsible AI use

  • Researchers
Dr. Rohan Nanda and Dr. Henrique Marcos received a Comenius Teaching Fellows ho 2026 grant for their project ‘AI Due Diligence lab for the Blue Economy (BlueLab)’.
combined portrait photos of rohan nanda (left) and henrique marcos (right)

'Dutch Compulsory Education Act conflicts with children's rights'

The current Dutch Compulsory Education Act ( leerplichtwet) allows for exceptions that raise questions in practice. Assistant Professor Marieke Hopman believes the legislation regarding the child's right to education conflicts with children's rights.
chair and tables in a classroom

Femicide in Dutch legal practice: towards a clear definition and consistent approach

The Research and Data Centre (WODC) has published a research report on femicide in Dutch legal practice.
Red women's shoes on a square as a protest against femicide

Publication of the Report by the Legal Expert Group (LEG) on the Right to Demonstrate at Universities

A group of legal experts from the Faculty of Law has provided advice on the exercise of the right to demonstrate at Maastricht University (UM).
hand holding documents

Paula Lozada named Face of Science

As one of the Faces of Science, Paula will communicate her research and her work as a scientist to society in various ways.
Portrait of Paula Lozada

Faculty in Focus

Our faculty is always buzzing with ideas, discussions, and events! Across the past period, our students, researchers, and staff have been involved in an impressive range of activities, from helping solve cold cases to organising events on children’s rights, and from exploring legal questions in popular culture to rethinking how we teach law.

This series brings together some of the most remarkable and inspiring stories. Whether in the classroom or outside the faculty's walls — one thing is clear: our community continues to explore, innovate, and make an impact.

 Read our Faculty in Focus series

Faculty in Focus logo

Agenda / events

1 Sep
31 Dec
Law & Popular Culture Lecture series
14 Oct
CIROC Seminar
14 Nov
Bachelor's Open Day
4 Dec
31 Dec
Graduation Ceremonies Bachelors
30 Dec
31 Dec
Conversations on Alternative Legal Education

Blogs

From Social Washing to Enhanced Due Diligence

  • Law

Forced labour remains difficult to detect in garment supply chains, despite the increasing legal weight of companies’ responsibilities to do so. There is a need for novel ways of identifying risks of exploitation. Banks and their data could provide one such avenue.

Person sewing fabric with sewing machine

Images and Books of Law: A Plea for Visuals in Legal Education

  • Law

Legal education can be enhanced by activating all senses. Object-based learning and problem-based learning proved to be instrumental in that path towards active transfer and creation of knowledge. The inclusion of relevant visuals in books of law can be likewise of help. Readers can benefit, for example, from the inclusion of portraits of legal actors, of images of seminal volumes, of sketches representing juridical acts, and of maps of specific locations. Legal literature–whenever possible–must outreach more to visual supports that enrich the contents and that enhance readability and academic dialogue.

flat lay of diverse books laying open on a flat surface

AI-Generated Representations of Architectural Works and Limits of Architectural Copyright

  • Law

Copyright lawsuits in the US brought by groups of writers, artists, and musicians against AI developers have mainly focused on the AI training stage rather than the output stage. One of the reasons for this focus is that claimants often struggle to demonstrate that AI outputs are copies of original works. Architecture is different: where general-purpose AI models like GhatGPT reproduce copyright-protected architectural designs, the similarity is remarkable and therefore it becomes easier to demonstrate copying. While we have not seen lawsuits from architects yet, they are likely to be unsuccessful nevertheless. Why?

an architect's working table with drawings

Developing Agnostic Network AI Models for Financial Crime Detection

  • Law

Can we trust AI with our financial integrity? With financial crime, the stakes aren't just monetary—they involve the rule of law and the health of our democracy. But in the COMCRIM AI PhD project, we are facing a unique challenge: How do you train a machine to find a needle in a haystack when that 'needle' is constantly changing its position? Trying to answer this question, we provide an overview of how AI can support the detection of financial crimes that threaten the rule of law and democracy.

risk meter

Does the ban on designer drugs in the Netherlands work?

  • Law

On Thursday, January 22, 2026, the Research and Data Centre (WODC) and the Trimbos Institute jointly organised the annual symposium of the National Drug Monitor (NDM). During the meeting, the latest figures and trends were presented: who uses drugs, and what developments are visible? What stood out? The rise of the new psychoactive substance (NPS) 3MMC, best known by the name MIAUW.

Uitwisseling van drugs voor geld

Interactive Campus Tour

Watch the interactive video and take a tour of our faculty. Our student Niklas will tell you all about the faculty's facilities, study areas, historical buildings and teaching spaces and more. Choose your own path and find out whether studying at Maastricht University is right for you.

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