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Law in UCD

fionnghuala

I finished filling out the CAO over Christmas but due to being sick for the past week I've had some time to think. I put law in UCD as my first choice.
I was at the open evening for Law but didn't get a chance to talk to the students afterwards.I have plenty of information on course content but what I really want is a students honest opinion on the course. I'd like to know what UCD law student's opinions are on their course, the college itself and getting to know people etc.
Thanks for any help!

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errlloyd

Welcome to boards. Probably a good idea to post here.

I'm Chris, third year law. I personally love it. Its not that difficult to understand or get your head around, the exams are relatively straightforward so passing isn't stressful. Getting a good grade however is quite challenging.

There are only 12 hours a week, typically 6 classes each 2 hours in length. Each class will be a different subject, in first year usually you study, Contract Law, Constitutional Law, Tort Law, General introduction to Legal Studies, Introduction to Criminal Law and Introduction to Common Law.

Each class only runs for one semester, which is 12 weeks. Which means each exam is only examinable on 24 hours worth of class time, so if you have good notes and a half decent memory studying and learning the subject is quite easy.

Some bits of law are quite boring and others quite interesting, they'll change from person to person. You have relatively small choice, so you'll end up doing pretty much everything by fourth year. Its only then you have to actually choose what sort of lawyer you'd like to be, and go on to postgrad or masters.

There are plenty of non legal career options. Lawsoc host an alternative career fair, where businesses look for law grads to do non law work. Its a good base degree for all that. I'd say if you like history, english or politics you might also like law. But there is no set rule for that.

Any questions just ask.

fionnghuala

Thanks for that reply-really informative!

Another question-what are the class sizes like? I won't know anyone going to UCD to study law!

errlloyd

Class sizes are quite large in first year.

Contract Law, Tort Law and Constitutional Law are all taught with both Law and B&L, which means there'll be about 300 people in those lectures. The other three introduction subjects will have more like 90-100 in each lecture.

However in terms of making friends you have two other avenues. Firstly you have your peer mentor group. Your peer mentor is a second year student who gives you tours, tries to broker book sales between years and is a general go-to person for all situations. You'll share him with 8 or 9 other people.

Secondly you'll have tutorials in first and second year. Starting from week three, every second week you'll have a one hour class in each of the 3 core modules. Class size for that will be about 15 - 20.

Even if both of those two fail there are many societies on campus, and actually a lot of them are relatively dominated by law students.

For instance 3 of the 5 Students union officers are Law or BnL students.

Lawsoc is obviously Law's own society, its always looking for people to get involved (if you end up in Law, PM me, seriously).

The Literary and Historical society might be Lawsoc's rival, but it too is mainly comprised of Law students.

The Student Legal service is a society that aims to help provide free legal aid, and of course thats mainly law students.

There are plenty of ways to make friends within your course in UCD Law.

Keep asking questions.

fionnghuala

If I end up in Law, I'll definitely join those. I know people who will be going to ucd for other courses but I want to get to know people in my own course as well. I've heard that people sometimes stay with their old group from secondary school and don't get me wrong, I love my friends, but I don't want to go through college and say that I stayed with the same people from secondary school and never got to know others.
You mentioned that Law soc host the alternative careers fair. When I tell people that I want to do Law they always say “oh will you be barrister or solicitor?” Obviously I don't know yet, but what are the other options?
Another thing, do you know what some of the opinions are regarding Law with politics/history/philosophy?

errlloyd

Lawyers work in a lot of fields, many become academics, political advisors or journalists. Many get work in a humanitarian or human rights organisations. Generally we have a good ability to speak and write as well as a good general understanding of how the world works. (What is law other then the rules by which the world works).

We kinda do arguey type things that aren't national law but specific types of law. For instance if a rugby player is facing a match ban for kicking someone else in the face, it'll usually be a lawyer who represents his case to the International Rugby Board.

And I think a fair few laywers become involved in Media for example Gerry Ryan studied Law.

In terms of Law with, you have a few things. Firstly its important to distinguish Law with from Business and Law. B&L students get a different degree, Law with Students still receive a normal BCL degree, with the option of doing a 5th year and getting a BA as well. Class sizes are much lower, 10 or 12 people, they also do tutorials together. They seem to gel into their owns groups pretty quickly.

I personally think they have a higher workload in terms of essays and stuff, but the statistics would suggest they get easier exams. Thats a bit contentious so I'll leave it there.

Below are quoted two Law with students opinions.

Quotes from EmilyO and Four Percent from a different thread. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056458041.

Well I'm only 3 months into first year, but it's pretty good so far! You do history with the arts people, it's actually quite separate and distinct from law.

You do two modules in semester 1; Rome to Renaissance (reeeeallly boring) and Modern Europe (a bit better), and two modules in semester 2; Ireland 1691-1891 and Ireland in the 20th century (which I've not done yet).

In the European ones they give you set reading to do before your seminar and that's usually quite manageable. The Rome to Renaissance is terribly dull for me anyway, but it's only on until Christmas. The Modern Europe one tends to cover things you do in secondary school; like Columbus, the Industrial Revolution and the World Wars. There's an essay in each module due in October, but nothing too taxing.

I can't speak for the Irish modules yet I'm afraid, but there's info in the link I provided for the OP above

There is no choice in first year unfortunately, but I think it gets more flexible after that.

Law and History do fewer Law modules than pure Law, to balance out the workload we get from History. But it's totally manageable, especially if you're diligent in getting the set reading done.

So yeah, do Law and History! Having a small class is amazeballs too (like 14 people), you don't get that in pure Law

This was in response to three questions about Law with Politics
1: Is it better
2: Does the politics interest you / is it worth it if politics generally interests you
3: How does the workload compare.

i) Not really sure what you meant by "better", but I certainly would prefer it to pure law. It's a broader education, blah blah blah, also arts block is closer to the bus stop than the science building or roebuck.

ii) Absolutely, for two reasons. First, the politics modules themselves are really interesting. Second, you go into politics exams with up to 30% sewn up already. In other words, they're a great way to bring your GPA up. Thirdly, if you have a keen interest in politics first year will be a doddle.

iii) You'd think doing law AND politics would be twice the workload, but it's the same as law, if not a little easier. You do 3 law modules and two politics per term, as opposed to 5 law (i think) for pure law. Given that politics is easier than law (easier to grasp or just marked easier, I haven't decided), you actually end up with less to do than the pure laws.
One caveat: the 30% of politics that you go into the exam with doesn't come out your hoop. There are assignments (usually 1500 words) that contribute 10% or so each to your grade, and these are usually done around early november. But they're grand, and judging by the politics facebook group, it's only law with politics that make an effort. So you'll look good.

fionnghuala

Thanks so much for all of this help! It's made the CAO much easier!