FE1 Exam Thread (Read 1st post!) NOTICE: YOU MAY SWAP EXAM GRIDS

Tea-a-Maria

Keane91 wrote: »

If you had to choose between Property & Tort to sit in October which would you pick?
I'm working full time and taking one other along with either property or Tort. I also haven't started studying yet.
Thanks

I'd recommend Property.It's one of the easiest FE1s in my opinion.Succession is guaranteed to come up every year and the style of question doesn't change that much.It also crosses over nicely with Equity.What other subject are you sitting?

chops018

Tea-a-Maria wrote: »

I'd recommend Property.It's one of the easiest FE1s in my opinion.Succession is guaranteed to come up every year and the style of question doesn't change that much.It also crosses over nicely with Equity.What other subject are you sitting?

+1 on that.

rocksch2

Sitting my last two exams - Property and EU and looking for any articles that people found interesting and useful that aren't necessarily on the recommended reading list? Particularly looking for EU at the moment as I haven't studied it in almost 3 years so any sort of interesting academic commentary would be greatly appreciated!

Used this tactic with the other 6 and found it works extremely well. Most students just regurgitate the same material so any slight differences is always great.

JCJCJC

rocksch2 wrote: »

Sitting my last two exams - Property and EU and looking for any articles that people found interesting and useful that aren't necessarily on the recommended reading list? Particularly looking for EU at the moment as I haven't studied it in almost 3 years so any sort of interesting academic commentary would be greatly appreciated!

Used this tactic with the other 6 and found it works extremely well. Most students just regurgitate the same material so any slight differences is always great.

There is so much stuff on the EU's own websites that it's hardly necessary to look at journals. Each of the institutions has reams and reams of stuff online that you can access.
If you want a recent quick trawl through settled principles of EU law in Ireland, this Labour Court Judgment really goes through it well. It's a stodgy read, but isn't all EU law tough going.

In property law, there's a running academic debate about acquisition of easements by prescription, and Prof Wylie has pointed out a sort-of lacuna period called 'The Wylie Window'. Mr. Peter Bland SC has written a hard-hitting article criticising the 2009 Act heavily and discussing the Wylie window. Personally I find Peter Bland to be a great writer who manages to be amusing occasionally when writing about the most abstruse topics. You'll get his article on westlaw or something like that. With the 2009 Act now settling in, it's importance in FE1s must be on the rise. I would suggest that you ask practitioners how they find the changes to get a practical opinion.

rocksch2

JCJCJC wrote: »

There is so much stuff on the EU's own websites that it's hardly necessary to look at journals. Each of the institutions has reams and reams of stuff online that you can access.
If you want a recent quick trawl through settled principles of EU law in Ireland, this Labour Court Judgment really goes through it well. It's a stodgy read, but isn't all EU law tough going.

In property law, there's a running academic debate about acquisition of easements by prescription, and Prof Wylie has pointed out a sort-of lacuna period called 'The Wylie Window'. Mr. Peter Bland SC has written a hard-hitting article criticising the 2009 Act heavily and discussing the Wylie window. Personally I find Peter Bland to be a great writer who manages to be amusing occasionally when writing about the most abstruse topics. You'll get his article on westlaw or something like that. With the 2009 Act now settling in, it's importance in FE1s must be on the rise. I would suggest that you ask practitioners how they find the changes to get a practical opinion.

Massive thanks for the EU advice, will have a trawl through some of that Tomorrow!

Sorry for the confusion, lapse in concentration when writing this post and I actually meant to say EU and Constitutional, not Property! Apologies! Thanks anyway though!

JCJCJC

rocksch2 wrote: »

Massive thanks for the EU advice, will have a trawl through some of that Tomorrow!

Sorry for the confusion, lapse in concentration when writing this post and I actually meant to say EU and Constitutional, not Property! Apologies! Thanks anyway though!

Constitutional is a whole new ballgame. Your examiner likes fresh topical case-law and issues, as well as an understanding of the principles in the landmark cases since the 1960's such as Crotty etc. He delivers a seminar each year at which he presents a paper on the ten most important cases of the previous year - putting it mildly, it's useful for FE1 students. I would say that recent important cases include Damache, Fortune No 2, Creighton. There was a seminar in Dublin earlier this week on prison law, and Creighton's case took up most of it. It concerned a guy who was badly injured by another prisoner using a knife, whilst in jail - the litigation centred around the issue of whether there is a duty of care owed by the state to prisoners, if so to what standard and did a breach occur etc. Creighton's case was the first in which a prison expert from the UK was used to say what the standard of a well-run prison should be, and that Mountjoy fell well below that standard...you can work out the rest. It was in the High Court in 2009, then in the Supreme Court, remitted back to the High Court where Creighton was awarded substantial damages, back to the Supreme Court on appeal, BUT - the State withdrew the appeal earlier this week so it's now settled law.
I would expect a rash of litigation in the wake of Creighton, given that a speaker at that seminar said there are on average two serious assaults in Mountjoy alone every month.
It might sound like tort law but the constitutional aspect is whether prisoners retain the right to resort to civil law, and if so, to what extent - if any - are you deprived of constitutional rights when you are deprived of liberty.

Glinda!

Anyone have a Tort exam grid they would be willing to send me? I would really appreciate it! Thanks

Can anyone shed some light on the following:

Deceased made will leaving entire estate to wife. Found out wife was having an affair and told his solicitor to tear up the will and make a new one leaving everything to daughter. Solicitor tore up the will but not in the deceased's presence. New will was drafted as per the deceased's directions but the deceased died before executing the new will.

The new will isn't vaild as it's not executed but would the old one still be vaild due to the fact that the old will wasn't destroyed in the deceased's presence. In the Succession Act is states that it must be destroyed by the testator or another person in his presence. How stringent is the "in his presence bit".

Would the doctrine of dependent relative revocation come into play?

Feeling rather confused!!

Danlaw101

Lawstudent007 wrote: »

I have up to date ones, studying from home myself for my first 4 in October. Which grids you looking for?

Any chance you could send me on those grids too?! I'm in a bit of a bind!!

southcounty

Hi,
Just reading through the threads and saw that you have grids from 2012. I am planning to sit 4 exams in October (equity company property and contract) but have very little study done to date and kind of freaking out about them now!! Would you be able to send me any grids that you might still have? Would really appreciate it!!

Tea-a-Maria

Constitutional law is scary to study!:eek:

Working on unenumerated rights now,does anyone know if the examiner has set questions on specific rights?Is it necessary to be able to discuss all the unenumerated rights in detail?Or would it be enough to just be able to discuss one or two in detail and have a basic knowledge of the rest?

LowKeyReturn

Tea-a-Maria wrote: »

Constitutional law is scary to study!:eek:

Working on unenumerated rights now,does anyone know if the examiner has set questions on specific rights?Is it necessary to be able to discuss all the unenumerated rights in detail?Or would it be enough to just be able to discuss one or two in detail and have a basic knowledge of the rest?

I don't know how theoretical the FE-1s get but it might be worth bearing in mind that due to the nature of UR - not all of them are known...

laman127

Hi all,

Just wondering if anyone is interested in doing a note swap for exams? I'm working off the Independent College Manuals and have notes done on contract, tort and criminal from the manuals. I'm looking for anyone who has constitutional notes done from the IC manuals and will swap anyone of the above three. Also, my notes are from the Kings Inns IC manuals but from what I can tell they're pretty much identical.

I'll send a sample of my notes of course!

Anyone interested, please feel free to PM me!

Thanks

Tea-a-Maria

LowKeyReturn wrote: »

I don't know how theoretical the FE-1s get but it might be worth bearing in mind that due to the nature of UR - not all of them are known...

True. I mean being able to discuss all the ones that have been discovered by the courts so far.There's about 15 or so from what I can see.

JCJCJC

Tea-a-Maria wrote: »

Constitutional law is scary to study!:eek:

Working on unenumerated rights now,does anyone know if the examiner has set questions on specific rights?Is it necessary to be able to discuss all the unenumerated rights in detail?Or would it be enough to just be able to discuss one or two in detail and have a basic knowledge of the rest?

Have you any of the past papers, they'll give you the answer to the first part? He tends to set problems where the scenario throws up a conflict of rights, eg the right to a livelihood v the right to enjoyment of property, the right to freedom of expression v public order and practise of religion etc. In those cases, in my humble, you should initially identify every single right disclosed by the fact pattern, with case-law if you can to support it. With that done, move on to how the courts reconcile conflicting rights.

He likes evolving rights, eg in the past few years the right to fair procedures has evolved into a free-standing right, it used to be the case that it only kicked in when another right was breached. EC's notes on the top ten cases for the past few years show his interest in that area. He is one examiner who really likes up-to-date case law knowledge so keep abreast of the recent constitutional cases.

Remember the FE1 standard is approximately undergraduate law - they want to see that as a solicitor you'll give good sound advice to clients that is well grounded in settled law. From the perspective of a SC with a PhD or two it's as simple as lego, so don't over-complicate things for yourself, concentrate on thorough comprehension of the law and applying it to the facts in a way that couldn't be faulted if you were a junior solicitor.

hopefullegal

Hey guys, studying EU and Constitutional atm. I'm using Oct 2011 IC manuals. Very worried they're too out of date.

In EU outside the fiscal treaty has there been much activity in the last 18 months?

Also I know there's been a lot of new case law in constitutional in the last year and a bit. Any idea of the key cases/where I could find out more myself?

Thanks! Major dose of exam fear

cooper1234

Probably a stupid question but its my first try at the FE1s and was just wondering do people generally just study whats in the manual or would you need to read the recommended books and things too?

JCJCJC

cooper1234 wrote: »

Probably a stupid question but its my first try at the FE1s and was just wondering do people generally just study whats in the manual or would you need to read the recommended books and things too?

If you have very good recall, the manuals alone are fine, but it helps to practise doing past questions in 35 minutes as well. It really depends on your own style and exam technique. You don't say if you're a law graduate - if you are, and if it wasn't all that long ago, the manuals will refresh you adequately. Get the syllabus on the law society website and stay within it.
If you're not a law graduate, you have work to do but it can be done and it has been done - learn those manuals backwards! Some of the books are too big for the available time, eg Courtney on Company law, Wylie/Lyall on Land Law, McMahon & Binchy on Tort and (AAAAaaargh) McCauley & McCutcheon on Criminal Law - you'd be better with smaller more condensed books than those mighty tomes. The GCD one-day revision courses are great, and they leave a bit of time for remedial study between the courses and the exams.

UberStressed

Hey! Hope preparation for Oct is going well... Off topic I know, but is there a thread for those starting Blackhall in Sept?

bobsterlfc

Hi Just wondering if anyone would have a grid for the Crimanal Law FE1 Exams. Can swap for Contract/Company or Equity. Cheers

backformore

Hi all,

I hope the study is going well. I have one remaining exam to complete, Equity. I am wondering whether anyone could offer some advice on this exam, as I have managed to fail it a number of times. So much so, that I took a break from the FE1s for over a year. I hadn’t any major difficulty with the other exams, so this really got to me.

Now I’m back, and going to try sit Equity, again, in October. Would anyone who has passed this have any advice on how to approach this exam successfully? Obviously, my technique has not worked for this exam.

Also, is there a current thread for buying manuals and exam papers?

chops018

backformore wrote: »

Hi all,

I hope the study is going well. I have one remaining exam to complete, Equity. I am wondering whether anyone could offer some advice on this exam, as I have managed to fail it a number of times. So much so, that I took a break from the FE1s for over a year. I hadn’t any major difficulty with the other exams, so this really got to me.

Now I’m back, and going to try sit Equity, again, in October. Would anyone who has passed this have any advice on how to approach this exam successfully? Obviously, my technique has not worked for this exam.

Also, is there a current thread for buying manuals and exam papers?

I found Equity one of the easier FE1's I must say.

I noticed when I went through the sample answers and past papers that you can see a pattern in the questions.

If you look at them you will see that there is only certain types of questions that can be asked for some of the topics, Interlocutory Injunction I remember that the usual question was when will the courts depart from the Cyanamid Principles. Then for Specific Performance you will see that there are only like 3 kinds of question they ask.

I really can't stress how important the sample answers are.....you will see the same kind of answers spurted out and the same cases used over and over for the answers given.

johnjoesim

Does anyone know how long the current examiner for contract, Cliona Kelly has being examining this? Also does anyone have exam papers, solutions and a grid for 2010 to 2013 which I can swap you property for?

Big Mal

Could somebody please tell me what exactly was the privity question (no. 5) on the contract october 2012 paper? Thanks

tm48

UberStressed wrote: »

Hey! Hope preparation for Oct is going well... Off topic I know, but is there a thread for those starting Blackhall in Sept?

Hey, there is a thread here!

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=84718008

backformore

chops018 wrote: »

I found Equity one of the easier FE1's I must say.

I noticed when I went through the sample answers and past papers that you can see a pattern in the questions.

If you look at them you will see that there is only certain types of questions that can be asked for some of the topics, Interlocutory Injunction I remember that the usual question was when will the courts depart from the Cyanamid Principles. Then for Specific Performance you will see that there are only like 3 kinds of question they ask.

I really can't stress how important the sample answers are.....you will see the same kind of answers spurted out and the same cases used over and over for the answers given.

Hi chops,

Thanks for the advice. It's one that a lot of people always told me was one of the easier ones- yet it's the one I seem to have the most trouble with! I think, as you suggest, sample answers and exam technique are something I need to focus on this time.

sally01

Does anyone have a griffith manual for property from 2011-2012 and know why some of it is in square brackets and italics? Has it something to do with the 2009 act? Really confusing me and there doesn't appear to be an explanation in the manual itself.

LostOutForeign

sally01 wrote: »

Does anyone have a griffith manual for property from 2011-2012 and know why some of it is in square brackets and italics? Has it something to do with the 2009 act? Really confusing me and there doesn't appear to be an explanation in the manual itself.

I have the same one, there are a lot of extracts from the Explanatory Memorandum to the 2009 Act in it if that's what you mean? It usually says before or after the extract that that's what it's from though.

sally01

LostOutForeign wrote: »

I have the same one, there are a lot of extracts from the Explanatory Memorandum to the 2009 Act in it if that's what you mean? It usually says before or after the extract that that's what it's from though.

Thanks but there are other sections of text done in the same way. From flicking through the manual yesterday I'm pretty sure it's rules that have been repealed by the 2009 act. Would love to know for definite though, as that's really just an educated guess!

LostOutForeign

sally01 wrote: »

Thanks but there are other sections of text done in the same way. From flicking through the manual yesterday I'm pretty sure it's rules that have been repealed by the 2009 act. Would love to know for definite though, as that's really just an educated guess!

Ah ok, could you maybe give a few page numbers as an example? Just in case I'm reading repealed rules and thinking they're part of the memorandum to the 2009 Act!