Questions & Answers

All your education questions answered by Brian Mooney

My daughter is attending the local convent school in Mullingar, Co Westmeath and is sitting her Leaving Certificate in next June. She seems to have a growing interested in studying law. Having spoken to a number of university representatives at the Higher Options Conference in the RDS in September, she discovered that there are a number of different ways you can qualify as a lawyer in Ireland, and is wondering how long this process takes, and how to go about it?

There are two branches of legal practise in Ireland - involving solicitors or barristers. Both sectors provide postgraduates courses leading to a professional qualification in law. The Law Society is responsible for providing these courses to trainee solicitors, while the Kings Inns is responsible for barristers.

Solicitors are responsible for engaging directly with their clients and preparing a case for court if this is necessary. They also do a lot of work unconnected with litigation such as the drafting of wills or dealing with the conveyancing (ie the transfer of ownership) of a piece of property. Many solicitors will also argue their client's case in the District Court. A barrister is, however, a specialist in courtroom advocacy and will be engaged by a solicitor to argue cases in the Circuit Court, High Court and Supreme Court.

The Law Society course mixes periods of academic study with periods spent working in a solicitor's office and takes about two-and-a-half years. Currently, there are two requirements for admittance to the Law Society. First, a student must secure an apprenticeship with a practising solicitor, who will undertake to pay and train the student for the duration of that apprenticeship. Secondly, he or she must also pass the First Entrance Examination (FE 1) of the Law Society, which consists of exams in eight legal subjects. A graduate of any discipline is entitled to sit the exams. Realistically, however, a student will have to have studied law to quite an advanced level to have a chance of passing.

The Kings Inns provides a two-year diploma in legal studies and a one-year professional course leading to the award of a barrister-at-law degree. Barristers undergo a one- or two-year period of apprenticeship after they have qualified. Graduates who do not hold an Irish law degree must take the two-year diploma prior to sitting an entrance examination for entry to the one-year professional programme. However, if a student holds a law degree approved by the society, they can skip the first two years and apply immediately to sit this exam.

Many of the students who go on to become solicitors and barristers will hold undergraduate degrees in law. Many colleges in the CAO system provide law programmes, and you will find them all listed under CAO Courses on www.qualifax.ie.

The choice that your daughter is facing is whether she wishes to study law as a stand-alone degree or with another subject. Joint honours degrees in law are becoming far more popular. While it is not essential to study law as an undergraduate degree in order to become a solicitor or barrister, a law graduate does have an advantage over a graduate of a non-relevant degree, as they can qualify more quickly.

As you are living in Mullingar, you might note that NUI Maynooth is launching undergraduate courses in law in the next academic year. These courses will be geared towards preparing students for entry to the legal profession. They are planning to offer two courses, Law and Arts (BCL) and Law and Business (BBL). Both programmes will run over three years and offer students a chance to take another subject with law, either from the range of courses available in the liberal arts or with a broad range of business subjects.