Resulting from the aggregation of four units (the Faculty of Law, the Advanced School of Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators, the Department of Legal Studies and the Department of Language, Interpreting and Translation Studies), the Department is today organized into two Study Sections sharing initiatives and interests in both teaching and research.

The Legal Studies Section is formed from the former Faculty of Law, responsible for teaching, and the Department of Legal Studies, responsible for research.

The Faculty of Law was founded in the academic year 1938-1939, during the Vice-Chancellorship of Manlio Udina, a leading scholar of International Law. In 1949 the Faculty moved to the new University building in Piazzale Europa where, over the following decades, it considerably expanded the contents of its library. The library today holds over 150,000 volumes, hundreds of journals and a significant historical collection that is partially catalogued in the national university museum network. Many distinguished scholars have taught at the Faculty of Law since its foundation, some of them later reaching the highest offices within the Italian legal system. These include: Virgilio Andreoli, Professor of Civil Law Procedure and later Vice-President of Italy’s Constitutional Court; Vittorio Bachelet, Professor of Administrative Law and later Vice-President of the Upper Council of Judges;  Giuseppe Branca, Professor of Roman Law and later President of the Constitutional Court; Vezio Crisafulli, Professor of Constitutional Law, later appointed as a member of the Constitutional Court;  Livio Paladin, Professor of Constitutional Law and later President of the Constitutional Court and Government Minister; and finally Luigi Mengoni, Professor of Civil Law and later Vice-President of the Constitutional Court.

Legal studies at the University of Trieste initially excelled in the fields of International law, Comparative Law, Commercial Law and Insurance Law. Over time, this extended to other areas such as Civil Law, Criminal Law and Constitutional Law, and to trial procedures, labour matters, transport, legal history and Roman Law.

The Section of Legal Studies can today count on a significant network of International relations, including an institutional agreement with the University of Regensburg in Germany and research collaboration with universities in France, the Anglo-Saxon world, Eastern Europe and South America. Erasmus agreements for the exchange of students have been established with universities in Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Poland, Slovenia and Spain.

At postgraduate level the Section of Legal Studies organizes a short master programme in Labour and Social Security Law and doctoral research programmes in European Union Law and Criminal Law (doctoral programmes now forming part of the inter-university Doctoral Programme in Legal Studies with the University of Udine). Since 2000 the Section of Legal Studies has also been among the joint organizers of a postgraduate Specialization School for the Legal Professions which, together with the Universities of Padova, Ferrara and Venezia-Ca’ Foscari, provides specific preparation for careers in the judiciary as judges, lawyers and solicitors.

The Section of Studies in Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators (SSLMIT) originates from a former Faculty (the Advanced School of Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators), responsible for teaching, and the former Language, Interpreting and Translation Department, in charge of research. Today’s SSLMIT is the culmination of a process which began on 11th January 1954 with the creation of the Institute for Modern Languages within the Faculty of Economics, then led by Pierpaolo Luzzatto Fegiz as Dean. In 1962 the Institute was turned into a School of Modern Languages for Translators and Conference Interpreters, which awarded recognized diplomas. The School was directed by Claudio Calzolari, Dean of the Faculty of Economics, from 1962 to 1978, in which year it was converted into a separate, autonomous Faculty of the University of Trieste. Ever since its foundation, the SSLMIT has been characterized by a truly international outlook, due to the nature of its curricula and its international staff. The SSLMIT has particularly strong ties with a number of international institutions, including the UN and the EU, to which it has provided a significant numbers of translators and interpreters over the decades. The SSLMIT is one of the founding members of CIUTI (Conférence Internationale Permanente d’Instituts Universitaires de Traducteurs et Interprètes) which, established in 1961, is the world’s most prestigious international association of university institutes with translation and interpreting programmes. Other international affiliations of the SSLMIT are with the European Master’s in Translation (EMT), the European Masters in Conference Interpreting (EMCI) and the European Language Council.

The SSLMIT today offers courses in the following languages: Arabic, Croatian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Slovene and Spanish (plus a number of modules in Italian Sign Language). Over the years, the SSLMIT has agreed Double Degree programmes with the Universitiy of Regensburg (Germany), KU Leuven (Belgium) and Monash University (Australia). A doctoral research programme in Interpreting and Translation Studies (Doctor Europeus) was in place between 2009 and 2013 and is now part of the inter-university programme with the University of Udine’s department of Language and Literary Studies. A short master programme in Legal Translation was launched in 2012. Research at the SSLMIT concentrates on the theory and practice of translation and interpreting. Specific areas of interest include subtitling, audio-description and translation and interpreting quality. SSLMIT researchers have launched or participated in various large-scale projects receiving European, national or local funding. The aggregation with the former Faculty of Law and the Department of Legal Studies has given a new boost to research on legal translation and interpreting.