Defensor Legis law journal
– down-to-earth justice
Defensor Legis – law journal
Defensor Legis is a law journal published by the Finnish Bar Association since 1920. “Deffari” turned a respectable 100 in 2020 and is the oldest attorney publication in the Nordic Countries.
Defensor Legis includes practical articles from various fields of law, along with selected legal cases. The publication is intended for legal experts and everyone interested in the development of the judiciary.
Defensor Legis is published four times a year, with a circulation of roughly 2,600. A third of the publication’s readership consists of non-attorneys.
Contact details
Author’s guidelines for Defensor Legis
Please, note that articles are published in Finnish or Swedish.
Optional referee procedure
The authors of longer articles can request the evaluation of their articles by an external scientific expert according to the referee procedure. Referee articles should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief approximately 6 weeks before the actual submission deadline.
Submission deadlines and publication dates in 2023
| No. | Referee articles | Other articles | Publication date |
| 1/2023 | 1.12.2022 | 16.1.2023 | 8.3.2023 |
| 2/2023 | 13.3.2023 | 26.4.2023 | 14.6.2023 |
| 3/2023 | 5.6.2023 | 16.8.2023 | 4.10.2023 |
| 4/2023 | 4.9.2023 | 17.10.2023 | 13.12.2023 |
Subscribe to the electronic edition of Defensor Legis
– A free benefit to all members of the Finnish Bar Association
The online Defensor Legis service is provided by the Finnish Bar Association in partnership with Edita. Edilex Lakikirjasto (Edilex Legal Library) contains all issues of Defensor Legis from issue 4/2003, along with most articles published after 2000.
The material is published in Edilex simultaneously with the paper version of the journal (see dates above). Newer issues are available in Edilex as both complete PDF files and individual articles.
What are the benefits of using the online publication?
- Diverse search functions by article name, author or keyword
- Constant access to the professional journal
- The service serves as an electronic archive of the publication’s articles
The up-to-date legislation section of Edilex, which requires a separate subscription, also features links to Defensor Legis articles. This is a real benefit, as it links the texts of statutes and their commentaries to each other.
Attorney, activate your licence and register!
How to subscribe to the “E-Deffari”: https://www.edilex.fi/defensor_legis/tietoa
NOTE: The free licence provided to attorneys-at-law and law offices does not require subscribing to any other Edilex service.
Attorneys-at-law who no longer need the paper version of the journal can notify the Finnish Bar Association office of this: info@asianajajaliitto.fi.