Whats Law like in college?

Fuascailt

I'm planning on doing straight law in UCC next year, and I'm starting to get scared that I won't like it. I like History and English in school, and have a good interest in current affairs, would that be a good indicator? I like public speaking and would be thinking of going the barrister route. What kind of work is in first year law? Also are there advantages in doing straight law vs. law with irish etc?

Thanks

EdgarAllenPoo

That depends on you, you can spend every free minute in the library in first year or you can mess about for a few weeks and then spend two weeks before the exams cramming.

Day to day there isn't a lot of prssure put on you to do anything but if you don't keep on top of your reading it can come back to bite you in the arse when you've an assigment or exam coming up.

Being good in leaving cert history and english is a bit of an indicator, it means you can handle a large volume of material, ow you retain and apply that information is a question only you can answer. Being a good public speaker will mean that you are ahead of a good portion of your class if you have to a make a presentation in which you get marks for how well you speak and put your point across.

Advantages of sraight law over law with Irish? Smaller work load plus if current plans actually come to pass the need for Irish in the legal profession in this country will be minimal by the time you come to sit exams in the Law Society or Kings Inns.

Fuascailt

Thanks, thats really helpful.

EdgarAllenPoo

No problem, any other questions, just ask away.

NoQuarter

dont listen to him, we've 4 assignments to do this month, my heads wrecked haha

CantGetNoSleep

The only advantage of having Irish i've experienced so far is that you can get a job as a translator in the European Commission / Parliament / ECJ. (not saying that is the only advantage)

However Irish will restrict your subject choices, almost confining you to the subjects necessary to go to Kings Inns / Blackhall Place, and in many cases preventing you from choosing subjects you may have an interest in, eg. Human Rights Law, Medical Law etc.

In First Year, you have some people who are in the library all day from the first month. Most however just keep up with the work, do their assignments, go to most lectures and the odd tutorial, and study for the month before the exams (UCC have a break for around a month for Easter and exams almost directly after, cue panic central) They get by fine like this, often getting 2:1s and the odd first.

The workload is fairly handy, you get a couple of assignments each term (but less than other courses such as Arts and maybe Commerce), and exams are at the end of the year only. You will never have more than 12 or so lecture and tutorial hours a week, so you have plenty of time to do other things if you're finding college a bit sh*t

EdgarAllenPoo

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

(UCC have a break for around a month for Easter and exams almost directly after, cue panic central)

You lucky whore;), we got one bloody week and had three assignements to do, we also only get two study weeks before summer exams.

Tom Young

Fuascailt wrote: »

I'm planning on doing straight law in UCC next year, and I'm starting to get scared that I won't like it. I like History and English in school, and have a good interest in current affairs, would that be a good indicator? I like public speaking and would be thinking of going the barrister route. What kind of work is in first year law? Also are there advantages in doing straight law vs. law with irish etc?

Thanks

It's great fun. You seem to have some of the ancillary skills necessary for the task. Socially, law is also cracking fun in college. I'd scope out the professional bodies also like the Law Society and King's Inns just so you're not unaware of their requirements, even at this stage.

Tom

BanzaiBk

UCC LawSoc ftw:pac:

I'd a great time in college doing my degree, did Law and French in UCC. I was one of those people who lived in the library and it worked out fine in the end. Keeping up with reading etc is fairly important if you don't want nasty surprises:p

Planxty

How did you have a great time when you lived in the library?? That doesn't sound like a great college experience..

BanzaiBk

Lawsoc debates, talks, guest speakers, philosoph, Thursday nights in Cubins Work hard, play at a moderate level until you achieve a comfortable status at which point you can party like Hugh Heffner. Fantastic college experience for me.

johnnyskeleton

Planxty wrote: »

How did you have a great time when you lived in the library?? That doesn't sound like a great college experience..

She made a bench out of the Irish reports, rolled up the pages of journals to make a wig, and spent the rest of the year passing sentence on the engineering students. Didn't you do that?

Tom Young

Johnny, didn't you forget the Kangaroo Court at 6:30 pm Friday's, while rest of colleagues drinking Dutch Gold and Heino on the local grassy knoll/verge!

Fuascailt

king-stew wrote: »

dont listen to him, we've 4 assignments to do this month, my heads wrecked haha

Hey, it cant be as bad as leaving cert...:D

dazzle_dust_xx

I know you said you want to do it in UCC, but just in case you didn't know, you can do History as an elective (and a European language) if you do Law and European Studies or Law Plus in UL. It's a great course and gives you the option of keeoing on your history

hada

Just studying for my finals now and after 3 years studying law can be summarised as follows: easy peasy to get a 2:1, hard to get a 1:1.

oh and not to hijack the thread, but I absolutely hate people saying law is an avenue to nothing and there's too many lawyers in Ireland, etc etc.. Law isn't static, it changes with the needs and requirements of society, therefore there's always jobs somewhere to suit you in some field... be it IP, housing policy, or just plain general practice!

So basically, go for it! I've never once regretted studying law at college (doing/nearly finished the BCL) and with a bit of balance in your life, you shouldn't either!

AceofSpades001

Doing law in UCC myself, should be studying now but whatever.:D I'm telling you that straight law is a sinch, we have 4 assignments for the year, 1 assignment for Constitution and Contract each term and you have about a month to do them so there's no pressure. Hell you can even hand them in 2 weeks late for only a ten percent deduction (but I've never done that...:D). So long as you do the reading for tutorials and go to lectures, not that much extra is required. (a load of recommended reading is listed in lecture handouts, but nobody except those that live in the library do them). The month off at Easter is when everybody does their study. And best of all is a day off on Friday to sleep off Thursday nights hangover. Besides only Third Year results count towards your degree. But if you want to do the Clinical Law option, then extra work and good assignment results will definitely be required, if not, party on.:D

hada

Oh and just to let you know the BCL in NUIG offers placement in final year for one semester. Ranges from local firms, to research projects with the rape crisis centre, to work on and travel (all paid for) to brussels and attend draftings of european disability law, etc etc... oh and first year BCLs also have to do family law as one of the core subjects, and have continuous assesment via legal methods & research whereby you have mock trials (moot court) and presentations and are marked/taught how to do these accordingly...

just thought i'd let you know there are differences in BCL degrees among different colleges!

timmywex

Ah, im confused weather i want to do law ow, was in the mock trial competition in the four courts today and it strengthed me towards it! (and yes i do know what i saw is generally for the higher up people in it but it gavce me some kinda insight)

Rossibaby

what you not like about it?

proletarian

Law and a Language is a much MUCH bigger undertaking than straight, doing Law Language in UCC and while it's a great break from Law (which I personally find a bit of a slog, not because it's difficult but it's quite dry in some modules) it's alot more hours, more work, and takes away hugely from your time to study Law.

It does, of course, set you apart from your other 140-odd straight law counterparts, and different opportunities are open to you, such as working in the EU etc. (Problem is that the EU conducts business in French, and if you want to work as a translator, it might come in handy to have some) It's a good idea if you are not sure whether you want to pursue a career as a solicitor/barrister, but are still interested in studying Law. HUGE bonus is the year abroad (or in Law Irish case, year in the Gaeltacht). It's an extra year, but amazing opportunity.

But if you wanted to be a solicitor/barrister since you were 12 and such, I wouldn't bother with the Irish, kid, it limits your subject choices, and I'm not sure what the case is for the Irish lads and lasses, but for French and German just to get the amount of modules you need to qualify for Blackhall or King's Inns you have to do Jurisprudence en francais or auf deutsch. That's not good.

And don't be a library bunny, everyone hates those people. They make us feel inadequate.

Player_86

Think about Business and Law in UCD if you've any interest in the business end of things.

I'm currently in third year, and am having a great time. Constitutional, Tort and Contract in first year; Company, Criminal and EU in second year; obviously along with three business subjects per year also; and then pick what you want in third and fourth year.

Some of the business subjects are very interesting e.g. Economics, while some are extremely easy and boost your GPA. It is not particularly difficult to get a 1.1, and the big commercial law firms (if you have any interest in that) are extremely keen to get their hands on 1.1 B+Lers.

Very fit women in the course as well.

hada

Player_86 wrote: »

Think about Business and Law in UCD if you've any interest in the business end of things.

I'm currently in third year, and am having a great time. Constitutional, Tort and Contract in first year; Company, Criminal and EU in second year; obviously along with three business subjects per year also; and then pick what you want in third and fourth year.

Some of the business subjects are very interesting e.g. Economics, while some are extremely easy and boost your GPA. It is not particularly difficult to get a 1.1, and the big commercial law firms (if you have any interest in that) are extremely keen to get their hands on 1.1 B+Lers.

Very fit women in the course as well.

As a BCL from outside the UCD/TCD axis, I kind say (with a rather heavy heart) it is kind of true that the big five-20 law firms (most, if not all are situated in Dublin) do have a preference for B&L UCD heads or bcivils from tcd over those from nuig, ucc, ul etc etc...

This isn't to say that the other degrees are in some way inferior, just the majority of partners at the dublin firms studied at the aforementioned universities, hence, like most people would faced with the same circumstances, hold them (even subconsciously) as a preference.

Now not to down the route of college bashing, but in saying that, I still would not swop my 3 years at NUIG for the chance to study at TCD/UCD - and it still is open game for anyone to make what they want of their law degree. But just note, there are so many options to take into account what type of law degree you want to have, be it mixed with a language, business subjects, taken as half of a degree such as BA Legal Science or just a plain old "boring" law degree like myself

copperdaz

im now in 3rd year law with one year to go. 1st year law the subjects form the back bone of everything that comes after that. your subjects will include comstitutional, legal systems ect. Dont go into the course thinking it will make you a barrister or solicitor, its great that you have an idea what you want to do when you finish your degree you will know better after 1st year when you start picking you subjects. there is one person who is a mate in my class, he wanted to be a barrister when he started....now he is going to join a navy as an officer. the point is that you opinion on what you want to do after your studies may change as you pass through. as for me i have one year to go and i think i too will do the kings inns. what ever you go with its a great degree and i have enjoyed it to date.