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IRELAND

1. University College Dublin, Faculty of Law

1. University College Dublin (UCD), Faculty of Law
Roebuck Castle, Dublin 4, Ireland
Phone: 353 1 716 8342; Fax: 353 1 269 2655;
Email: karen.smith@ucd.ie

• Awarded degrees are: Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) – 3 years; Bachelor of Civil Law (International) – 4 years; Bachelor of Civil Law (European) – 4 years; Bachelor of Civil Law (Law with French Law) – 4 years; Bachelor of Business and Legal Studies (BBLS) – 4 years;
• Postgraduate programs: LL.M. in Commercial, LL.M. in European Law
• Diploma programs: Diploma in Employment Law, Diploma in Arbitration, Diploma in the European Convention on Human Rights.
• The University does not have a clinical program.
• The admission is based on a student’s performance in the State’s Leaving Certificate Examination. This is a final examination, which students must take in high school. The level of performance in this examination is determined on the basis of the number of points a student obtains. The maximum score is 600 points (only a handful obtain this).
• The number of points for entry into the Faculty’s various degree programs is determined essentially on the basis of the demand for places. Any score in excess of 500 points is considered a very high result.The minimum points for entry into the Faculty’s degrees are very high (e.g. in the incoming academic year a student needed 525 points to be guaranteed a place in BCL. The BCL (Law with French Law) 535 required points. The average points for the BBLS is 515).
• The Faculty draws its students directly from high school. There are no interviews involved for places nor are there any aptitude tests.
• The number of admitted students is BCL programs-125 and BBLS program-140 each year.
• The number of graduate students is around 230-240 each year.
• The University does not charge tuition fees to students. Fees are paid at postgraduate level by students.
• The number of full-time faculty – 27
• The number of part-time faculty – 5
• The faculty has a small adjunct faculty comprising 5 members.
• The University has a separate law library, with approx. 100.000 volumes, which is located in a section of the main library, which houses collections pertaining to other disciplines.
• The library provides approx. 250 computer terminals for students.

Process from Law School to practice:

The legal profession in Ireland is bifurcated and divided into solicitors and barristers. The possession of a law degree from a university in Ireland does not entitle one to practice law. In order to practice law one must qualify either as a solicitor or barrister. The solicitors’ profession in Ireland is regulated by the Law Society of Ireland. The barristers’ profession is regulated by the members of the Bar.

In order to qualify as a solicitor one must sit an entrance examination in eight subjects for admission to the Law Society. On passing this examination (and provided that one is ‘apprenticed’ to a lawyer) one is admitted as a student to the Law Society.

On completing the courses provided by the Society and passing the relevant examinations a student obtains his or her parchment, which entitles that person to practice as a solicitor.

In order to practice as a barrister one must, again, sit and pass an entrance examination (only introduced this year) for admission to the Honourable Society of King’s Inns to do the Barrister-at-Law Degree. This takes two years to complete at present. However, it is a part-time course with lectures being given between 4-6 pm. When a student passes the final Bar exams that student is than called to the Bar. It is the case that would-be barrister “devils’ or does a pupilage with an established barrister for one year. Thereafter, the barrister is on his or her own and must rely on the solicitors’ profession (or government agencies) in order to be briefed. The barrister is thus a self-employed person.