The Law Department's field of research concentrates on commercial law, i.e. the part of the legal system concerning issues relevant to the business community. The research is characterised by an approach based on real business problems, often combining the legal and economic points of view.

Legal research is differentiated from economics research in that it is very much bound to the language of the jurisdiction in question. Despite the fact that rules of law in languages other than Danish are increasingly relevant to Danish commercial law, naturally a significant part of commercial law research still concerns the Danish legal system. Nevertheless, there is a clear tendency towards growing international influence on the Danish legal system, especially as a result of the Danish EU membership, which increases the relevance of and interest in publication of research results concerning Danish and comparative law in languages other than Danish.

Highlights of 2004

In 2004, the Department held an international research conference in English on the new EU public procurement directives with the participation of more than 90 representatives of public authorities, enterprises, lawyers and the research community. In continuation of the conference, a book entitled "The New EU Public Procurement Directives", edited by professor, dr. jur. Ruth Nielsen and head of department Steen Treumer, PhD, was published. The book is based on the conference presentations. This publication constitutes one of the first in-depth analyses of the new rules in English.

In November 2004, the Department also held an international conference on the new EU rules on competition in a Nordic perspective with the participation of more than 40 representatives of public authorities, enterprises, lawyers and the research community. Among the presenters were several very important decision-makers in the areas of national and international competition law. A publication edited by professor, dr. jur. Jens Fejø will be issued in continuation of the conference.

CBS' performance in the area of informatics was evaluated in 2004, including IT research at the Law Department. The evaluation of the Department's performance in the area of IT law emphasised that its subjects of research were of current interest and highly relevant to both the research community and practicians. Furthermore, according to the evaluation, the quality of the publications as well as the research productivity in the area was high.

Academic profile

The Department's areas of strength include especially contract law, IT law, competition and market law, law of tendering, law of torts, labour law, tax law, intellectual property law, international private law and law of procedure as well as media law. In addition, a number of researchers study the interplay between law and economics in particular.

In general, the influence of EU law on the Danish legal system is a central area of research in relation to the above-mentioned areas of strength. This is an area of growing significance and it therefore demands special attention. In the field of EU law the Department is among the leading Nordic research institutions, and this position is supported by international publication, international conferences and networking.

Research strategy

The Department's objective is to sustain and develop a high level of research by publishing research results that are among the best both nationally and internationally.

Research results

The total number of publications amounted to 101 in 2004, and the foreign-language publications, most of which are in English, constitute about 25% of the total number of the Department's publications. There has been a slight increase in the total number of publications when adjusted for the fact that publications of researchers who are now attached to the Center for Financial Law (CFL) are no longer included in the publication statistics of the Law Department. This trend is illustrated by the figure below:

In 2004, assistant professor Søren Sandfeld Jakobsen, LAW, was given the PhD degree for his thesis on Media Law in the Information Society – a legal analysis of the fusion of telecommunication, the Internet and radio/TV.

Research relations to practice

Research at the Law Department is characterised by an approach based on real business issues, often combining the legal and economic points of view.

The evaluation of the Department's research performance in the area of informatics mentioned under "Highlights of 2004" confirm the above opinion, emphasising that the subjects of research were of current interest and highly relevant to both the research community and practicians.

As mentioned under "Highlights of 2004", the Department held two international conferences focusing on current changes in the EU rules on public procurement and competition, of decisive importance to both public authorities, enterprises and consultants. The participants in the public procurement conference illustrate the relevance to practice: Five Department staff members were among the presenters, while the audience with a few exceptions was made up of representatives of public authorities and private enterprises, including law firms, regularly dealing with the rules in practice.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that during the course of the year Department researchers participated as presenters at a large number of conferences and seminars aimed at practicians among others, and that several members of the Department staff featured in various media, including the daily press. The figure below illustrates the distribution of research funds to the Department in recent years. The decline from 2003 to 2004 is due to CFL submitting its own report as previously mentioned.