The Department operates in the following areas:

·      To carry out fundamental and applied scientific researches in particular areas of Law, including human rights and freedoms, and to prepare scientific and practical recommendations;

·      To participate in the development and improvement of legislation;

·      To participate in the assessment of the impact of normative legal regulation;

·      To participate in the process of raising public legal literacy;

·      To contribute to the development of legal education;

·      To analyse and summarize the decisions and reports of international human rights institutions and international non-governmental organizations related with Azerbaijan.

Department of Legal Studies has 11 employees.

Asif Khanoglan oghlu Gadirov was born in Goychay on 12 March 1971.

He graduated with distinction from the Faculty of Law at Baku State University in 1995. From 1996 to 2008, he held legal positions at various government institutions, serving as a legal adviser and senior legal adviser. 

Since 2008, he has served as an Associate Professor in the Department of Law at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. He also continues his academic work at Garabagh University.

In 2023, he joined the Legal Research Department of the Institute of Law and Human Rights as a legal researcher (senior specialist). He currently serves as Acting Head of the Department.

He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Legal Sciences in 2024.  He has been a member of the Bar Association of the Republic of Azerbaijan since 2012.

He has authored a number of textbooks, monographs and teaching and methodological publications in the field of law. His scholarly articles have been published in Azerbaijan and abroad.

He speaks Russian, English and Turkish. He is married and has three children.