Law

Postgraduate study in law

Job prospects

A postgraduate law degree gives you more expertise in a specialised area of law, which is useful for a legal career but also respected by employers in many other areas. If you want to pursue a career as a solicitor or barrister, there are specific entry routes involving further vocational study, on-the-job training and professional examinations (see gradireland Law for more information). 

Several colleges in the Republic of Ireland offer preparatory courses to help you get through the Law Society entrance exams (known as FE-1), needed to train as a solicitor, or the King’s Inns Entrance exams needed to train as a barrister. These are useful even if you already have a law degree.

The options

 Specialist law degrees range from diplomas to PhDs.  The Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree is typically (despite its name) a postgraduate degree, usually lasting one year. Most students continue from the LLB degree into the legal profession or to the more specialised LLM programmes. The Master of Laws (LLM) can be done purely by research or by course work and minor thesis. It offers a wide choice of specialisms from criminal law to intellectual property law. You can find more information at www.llm-guide.

For admission to an LLB or LLM degree course, candidates must normally hold a second-class honours BCL (Bachelor of Civil Laws) degree or have other third-level qualifications or relevant professional experience. The LLM tends to have higher entry requirements than the LLB. For entry to diploma or conversion to law courses, a background in law is usually preferred but some courses may be open to people with other qualifications or relevant experience.

Issues to consider

There are three different legal systems in the UK, with Northern Ireland and Scotland having separate systems from England and Wales. This results in different postgraduate training systems but typically an Irish BCL will suffice for entry if the relevant subject modules have been chosen. For those who wish to practise as Attorneys-at-Law, there are opportunities to study for the New York or California Bar. Irish law graduates are eligible to apply to sit for the New York Bar exam and qualified lawyers who do not possess a law degree can apply to take the California Bar.