Welcome to the Faculty of Law

The study of law in Zimbabwe can be traced to the inception of the University of Zimbabwe in 1957. The Department of Law was established in March 1965 in the Faculty of Social Studies . Initially it offered a 3 year Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree which was granted by the University of London with which the University of Zimbabwe was then associated. In 1969 the Department introduced the one year postgraduate Diploma In Law. In 1973, after the termination of the association with the University of London, the LLB was renamed the Bachelor of Law (BL) and the Diploma in Law, the LLB.

By 1970 it was evident that staff and students of Law in the main had a different outlook from that of members of some of the departments now included in Social Studies. There was much greater common interest and some similarity of outlook between Law and Commerce(in particular Accountancy) and Public Administration. This led to the establishment of the Faculty of Commerce and Law in January1980.

The department was finally granted Faculty status in January 1988. It now has five teaching and two non-teaching departments, Private Law, Public Law, Procedural Law, SEARCWL-UZ and Commercial Law Institute. The non-teaching departments are the Legal Aid Clinic and the Herbert Chitepo Professorial Chair. Its current LLB (Hons) degree allows the automatic right to practice as a Legal practitioner, Conveyancer and Notary Public as long as one registers but a student must pass courses in Conveyancing and Notarial Practice before he or she can practice as a Conveyancer and Notary Public.

The Faculty has currently a student enrolment in excess of 800 students. The Law Faculty is currently the major institution that award legal degrees in Zimbabwe; hence its strategic importance.