Options

Kappar

So I collected a form that I have to fill out with my options for next year and I am looking for advice.

I am not sure if I'd like to be a solicitor or a barrister so I want to keep my options open so on the King's Inns' website they say I need to have passed:

- Land Law (Done)
- Equity
- Jurisprudence
- Law of Contract (Done)
- Law of the European Union (Done)

there is also an exam in the following so I should really do the following too:

- Law of Tort (Done)
- Criminal law (Done)
- Company law
- Law of evidence
- Irish constitutional law (Done)

so to be a barrister I need to pick

- Company law
- Law of evidence
- Equity
- Jurisprudence

Now Solicitor there are exams in:

- European Union Law (Done)
- Equity
- Constitutional Law (Done)
- Company Law
- Criminal Law (Done)
- Law of Contract (Done)
- Law of Tort (Done)
- Real Property (Done)

Are you still with me?

So I was thinking to keep my options open over the two years I need to do:

- Company law
- Law of evidence
- Equity
- Jurisprudence

I was think of doing it over the two years like this:

3rd Year:

- Law of Evidence
- Equity
- Intellectual Property
- Human Rights

4th Year

- Company law
- Jurisprudence
- Land Law II
- Tax Law

I'd be interested in anyone's opinions on this. Do you think this is a good order should I swap things around? Did I miss something? .

Have you studied:

- Land Law II
- Tax Law
- Intellectual Property
- Human Rights

what did you think of it? Is there another course that you really liked and would recommend?

Any information would be great.

PS sorry this post is so long.

Sangre

What is land law 2?

Kappar

Sangre wrote:

What is land law 2?

The blurb says that it looks in details at the conveyancing procedure and more detailed and comparative look at Landlord and Tenant Law

http://www.tcd.ie/Law/Courses.html#Sophisters

There are also a few new international law subjects that aren't on the site yet

dermot_sheehan

Kappar wrote:

Have you studied:

- Land Law II
- Tax Law
- Intellectual Property
- Human Rights

what did you think of it? Is there another course that you really liked and would recommend?

.

Ok Land Law II didn't do itwith Ruth Cannon straightforward enough.

Tax Law with Kieran Corrigan I presume, straightforward, some of cases are interesting, but he speaks damn fast without notes, so for a two hour lecture you have the quivalent of 3hrs of notes. His book is comprehensive, retials for €600, he gets it for you for €60.

IP didn't do, but it's with Paul Coughlan, 'nuff said.

HR didn't do.

One subject I did do and found interesting was Comparative Human Rights, also found family law interesting but I believe there is a new lecturer, also environmental law with scanell is great but i think she's retiring this year.

Ian147100

Don't worry about them. My advice is just to pass your degree, pick the subjects that you enjoy most and think that you will pass. Don't worry about FE1's or King's Inn's exams, chance are you will have forgotten most of your undergrad stuff by the time you end up doing them and in any event you'll probably do a preparation course to tell you all you need to know. It's like the Leaving Cert, an A1 in Home Economics is the same as an A1 in Physics.

Nike_Dude

for the love of God don't do Intellectual Property, it would be really interesting but good ol' Paul will screw you for marks. Tax is meant to be really good. definitly do Land 2 with Ruth Cannon, it's kinda boring in places
Environmental is good, but if you don't like disorganisation then don't even consider it. Most people recommend doing equity first then company, but it wouldnt really make much of a difference. Company, evidence and jurisprudence are very heavy work wise so definatly split them up.

If you have any interest in Sport then do sports law, its really really good and Neville Cox is a legend.... also advanced EC is meant to be really good its basically a mixture of contract and tort and is the closest to a consumer's rights class that you can do in trinity. so if you liked tort and contract (despite Dr O' Dell's lectures being hard to follow sometimes) then you should think about this.

Ian147100 is right don't try to pick subjects from the point of view of your future career. Just have a mix between ones you have to do (eg. Equity), ones you think will be most enjoyable and ones that will be relatively easy (eg. land 2)

Johnee

I dont think Corrigan's doing much at the moment after that piece in Phoenix on him being involved in some sort of alleged tax scam. There's other lecturers doing it this year I heard.

Also heard, that there's a new course next year in Corporate Governance? That true? If it is, might be worth a look - it's the Next Big Thing out in the real world, and you'd be at a real job advantage to have it. Trinity's the only place offering it at the moment I think.

Plus it means for the solicitors amongst you that you can do an extra corporate subject to impress in your interviews without having to suffer with that new lecturer in Commercial, who I hear is useless. What's her name, Ahern?

ruth cannon

Hi

Just in response to the query re. Land II, this year it is in three parts:

Part A: Conveyancing (basically a mix of land and contract) which relates to the transfer of land. There are some interesting cases on issues like "subject to contract", "conditional contracts", and the process of investigating title is interesting and gives some much-needed practical focus to the rules covered in Land I. We also go through the Law Society Standard Form Contract and Objections and Requisitions which I agree are a little dry - for me too - hopefully I can come up with some way of presenting these documents in a more interesting way next year)

Conveyancing is useful for both solicitors and barristers - it is one of the few areas at the bar with a shortage of practitioners. It is also a good source of revenue for solicitors, particularly post-PIAB, and the Conveyancing depts in the Big 5 firms are slightly more relaxed than the other departments - people actually get to go home before 6 p.m. in the evening!

Part B: UK Land Law (originally envisaged as being Comparative Land Law and also looking at the proposed Land Bill 2005 which will substantially change the law in this jurisdiction).

Unfortunately there are now problems with the Land Bill 2005 due to a recent decision of the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and it has been put on the back burner temporarily. Because of this I have concentrated exclusively on the UK position for Part B this year. However if the Land Bill 2005 gets up and running next year we will certainly deal with it. The UK material consists of some recent statutory reforms interesting from a comparative and law reform point of view. Again, it would be essential to know this material if you wanted to practice in the UK. It would also be useful if you wanted to work for a solicitor's firm in Ireland which engages in UK property transactions - most of the Big 5 have sections dealing with this issue, and it might be a useful niche area. Again, I will be making efforts to make it more interesting, maybe getting in some guest speakers from UK firms etc.

Part C: Commercial Landlord and Tenant Law
We look at statutory rights under the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act 1980 Act and the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Acts 1967-78. This is quite an easy part of the course, very useful if you want to practise in the future. There is also an interesting constitutional law aspect to ground rents. Human rights is starting to play a role in the development of property law and again this may be something that will be focused on in next year's course.

I'm not sure whether or not I should be pleased or shocked to discover I am perceived as far and away the easiest marker in Law School. I thought I was rather tough on last year's Senior Freshman students, obviously not tough enough!!

This year is the first year of the new revamped Land II course and students next year (who have the benefit of this year's past exam papers) may not receive quite as much guidance in relation to study and exam preparation. However I would not envisage Land II (at least as lectured by me) as being a particularly difficult course, either in 2005/6 or future years, certainly not as much work as the big subjects like company, jurisprudence and environmental law.

For the benefit of Nike Dude, I should add that highlighting important topics covered in the course is not the same as giving out exam questions. Students should make sure to study thoroughly all aspects of any topic they are covering for a Sophister exam and in particular to engage in critical discussion of same since "Write all you know" type questions are a bit too easy at this stage. Be prepared to be challenged in the exam, as part of studying law at Trinity is having the confidence to give your own (hopefully reasoned) opinion rather than reciting verbatim the views of others!!

One question I get asked all the time is how much background knowledge students need to have in relation to Land or Contract Law. Land II is definitely easier than both Land I and Contract Law. Because it deals with the practical application of the somewhat abstract principles learnt in those courses, often students develop a belated enthusiasm for these subjects after studying Land I. If you really hated Land Law, in particular my half of the course, then Land II is probably not a good idea. If, on the other hand, you found Land I challenging and interesting, albeit confusing and frustrating at times, then I would certainly consider Land II.

PS Sorry for butting into your discussion, but when I saw my name featured, I couldn't resist it.

Regards
Ruth Cannon

Kappar

Thanks a lot for the information it is very helpful.

ruth cannon

You're welcome, Kappar. I should say that although I will definitely be teaching the entirety of the Land II course myself in 2006/7 (subject to unforeseen events and provided we get sufficient numbers), I can't give any guarantees re. the following year 2007/2008. The UK aspect of it will probably be on in one form or another, but I may not be teaching all or any of the course that year. Just to let you know in advance.

Regards

Ruth

hullaballoo

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