The staff of Department 3.4 draft, review, and negotiate contracts and address legal questions that arise in the day-to-day operations of the university. Another focus is on data protection issues related to university activities.
Department 3.5 is responsible for the administration of the Senate; we organize university elections and exercise legal oversight of the student body.
However, wecannot provide assistance with private matters. This includes, for example, advising students on academic matters or advising employees and doctoral candidates on copyright issues regarding their own publications. Data protection issues related to bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral theses also fall outside our scope of responsibility, unless the work is carried out on behalf of or under the responsibility of the university.
Responsibility for labor and employment law lies with Departments 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3; responsibility for academic and examination law (including examination regulations) lies with Division 4; responsibility for matters related to inventions and intellectual property rights lies with the Transfer, Innovation, and SustainabilityUnit, and responsibility for issues related to AI lies with the Artificial Intelligence Unit.
Section 3.4
Legal Matters
Within the scope of responsibility outlined above, our team serves as the central point of contact for legal questions of all kinds. We provide advice on contract law—particularly research and development contracts involving third-party funding—assist with contract negotiations, and provide sample contracts.
In addition, we assist you with matters related to civil, criminal, administrative, and data protection law, as well as the legal aspects of research projects. We also support the implementation of internal university regulations and are here to advise you with practical solutions.
Please feel free to contact us if you need legal advice.
Section 3.5
Higher Education Law and Elections
We assist the Senate’s executive board and organize university elections. In addition, we provide advice on matters of higher education law and university constitutional law and assist in reviewing statutes and regulations. We also exercise legal oversight over the constituted student bodies. Our responsibilities also include filing criminal complaints in a university context and recognizing student associations.
Please feel free to contact us if you need advice or assistance in these areas.
Note on processing time and submission of requests
In order to ensure a thorough and legally compliant review, please observe the following principles:
For plannable requests (e.g. contract reviews, statute reviews, data protection assessments, legal opinions), a minimum lead time of 3 weeks should be planned.
Inquiries can only be processed if all relevant documents and information are available in full. Therefore, please attach all necessary documents directly. In order to ensure a speedy and appropriate review, we generally require a brief, comprehensible descriptionof the underlying facts and the specific issue- especially in the case of more complex matters. Please avoid sending mere collections of documents without a corresponding explanation. Incomplete requests will lead to delays or cannot be considered.
Short-term inquiries whose urgency is due to delayed internal forwarding cannot be prioritized. In these cases, processing is based on receipt and available capacity; a timely response cannot be guaranteed.
Please involve the legal department in your projects as early as possible in order to avoid time-critical situations.
Please note that the availability of the clerks may vary depending on their working hours. You will find the relevant details in KIS.
Our aim is to provide high-quality and reliable legal support. This requires appropriate planning and cooperation from all parties involved.
Thank you for your understanding.
