Griffith FE1 Prep Course

Robbo

Recently, I've been thinking about having a go at the FE1s. Now I don't have a law degee (a primary Computer Science degree as it happens) but in my postgrad I've done a small bit of law (a semester of an intro to business law and a semester of EC Law).

Has anyone else here done the FE1s on the back of the Griffith course with no real law background to speak of? My current plan is to go to Griffith over the winter and have a pop at them next April.

Any comments are welcome on thie as I'm still not sure. I had considered an LLB here in Galway but I really don't want to spend another 2/3 years in college and then have to do the FE1s on top of that.

cramming

I don't know anyone who did the Griffith preparatory course without a background in law - but i do know of people who did the DIT one year intro course and then the FE1's - apparently its very intensive but very good prepeartion for the FE1's!

I would recommend that you check that out as well!

Ava

I did griffith, plenty of people didn't have a law degree and had varied backgrounds such as humanities, finance, accounting, engineering. they all did very well. Fe1's reward hard work, if you put in the work you'll be fine. As a non law graduate work experience would stand to you in your search for an apprenticeship.

Amazotheamazing

A mate of mine did the Griffith course with no law backround, didn't do well first time out but got 5 next time round (when he knew how to write law answers).

Just my opinion but the Llb in Galway is a waste of time, especially if you'll have to do it over a few years. when I did it, it was badly organised and a bit of a shambles.

EC1000

Hi,

I am also thinking of sitting the FE1's having no law background. Did you give them a go Robbo? If so have you any advice for someone in the same boat? I've regitered for Griffith and am wondering if there is anything I can be doing before June in order to give myself a better chance.......?

Tom Young

EC1000

Some suggestions:

1. Go buy a copy of the Irish Constitution or download it. www.oireachtas.ie
2. Familiarise yourself with www.irishstatutebook.ie
3. Familiarise yourself with www.irlii.org and bailii.org
4. Try go to court and watch what goes on.

Some books of use are: Learning the Law by Glanville Williams and ATH Smith (Its a little British but very useful) and there's a book called an Introduction to legal writing.

Other tip, attend all prep course lectures.

dK1NG

I done hte GCD distance course a few yrs ago, at the same time a mate of mine done the course in dublin.

I had a law degree, she didnt. First time she passes 2 out of 4 - which menat that she had to sit them all again. A short few months later she sat all 8 and passed 7, EU being the problem subject. The fact taht you dont have a law degree aint holding you back; obviously law students will have an advantage having studied the material already and knowing how to answer questions, but dont let that stop you.

My mate had considered doing the 2 year postgral LLB in UL, but didnt when she realised that she'd basically be doing the same stuff in the fe1s anyway.

All depends on your own preference - do you want to spend three extra yrs in college?!

johnnyskeleton

EC1000 wrote:

...am wondering if there is anything I can be doing before June in order to give myself a better chance.......?

Follow Tom's advice and you won't go too far wrong - you need to get used to reading cases and statutes, and you also need to learn where to find them. It is also a good idea to know what actually goes on in court so that you can see what you might be getting yourself into.

Purely for the purposes of the exams, if you've never studied law before, buy/borrow copies of the Roundhall Nutshells series. These are short concise books that give you a good overview of each subject without going into the detail that pratitioner texts do. They are great for cramming before exams, but I should say that they aren't really that useful if you want an in-dept understanding of the subjects. And at €20 a pop, they can be great value or a waste of money, depending on your point of view.

Some of the books are:
Law of Tort - Ursula Connolly
Constitutional - Fergus Ryan
Contract - Fergus Ryan
Equity - (I think this is a new one) Karl Dowling
Company Law - Catherine McConville
Criminal - Majella Walsh
Land Law (Real Property) - Ruth Canon
European Union Law - (not sure who does this one)

You can order them online at www.roundhall.thompson.com, get them in most good bookshops (e.g. HF, Waterstones, etc) or in a well stocked legal library. There are other companies doing different variations on the Nutshells range, but I think these are the best.

Tom Young

I'd agree with all of the above.

Evidence - Ross Gorman is a good one also.

Fergus Ryan's exam tips at the back section of the constitutional nutshell are fairly good and practical.

I had problems personally with the Land Nutshell and liked Paul Coughlan's Land Law book for its clarity of explanation.

Keane on Company, most recent edition is also a good book, though compliments Forde well. They are differently written.

EC1000

Thanks for all the advice guys. Seems like there is quite a bit of material there to be going ahead with

johnnyskeleton

Don't forget to read the papers every morning. Examiners love it when you mention recent judgments.

EC1000

FYI - Copy of the constitution available at Easons for 2.54 euro. Not bad value for half the price of a pint!

tombren

i'm in the process of doing the fe-1's with no law degree, have four and waiting results of more. having a law degree helps but i know loads of people with law degrees who are still sitting their first four for a 2nd and third time, so having the law degree is no guarantee of success, in fact it may be a hindrence as at undergrad (as my law degree friends tell me) you get used to answering a certain way, going into detail and doing detailed analysis of cases/law,
these exams bar tort and constitutional are basically memory test, learn the material, spew it out again, you will be asked to critically analyse in some questions so some independent thinking is required but dont get too bogged down in it,
defo do the griffith course, as a non law person it'd nearly be impossible to pass without it, the manuals are great, if a little too detailed at times but the more u study, do sample questions and read examiners reports you'll get a feel for what they're looking for and you can do your own notes accordingly.
in my opinion (again as a non law person) property is tough (coz it's massive) tort is v. difficult (long, he mixes topics and also tries to catch u out, sound!)
constitutional is intimidating but not actually hard, once u get used to what they're looking for its very do-able, eu tough aswell coz massive, company used to b predictable and very do-able but his last 2 papers haven't been easy, he's mixed topics, asked obscure things and his old 'pattern' has gone out the window, the other 3 are all ok,
the person who said about the shallow knowledge is spot on, it's all about having a broad knowledge of everything rather than a really detailed knowledge of say five topics, in the exam they dont wanna know the history of cases and law, gotta get thru the waffle and get to the point
as other people said, get the nutshells books aswell, very helpful to condense info or as a second opinion,
dont wanna slag off what other people said but if u've definetly decided to go down this route and you're sure law's the thing for u, dont bother with going to court (at the moment) or getting books outside your 8 subjects, (the gcd manuals contain enough info to pass the exams) these exams are very difficult and take a massive commitment, u really dont want to be adding to your work load or spending time on things that u cant put down on your paper come oct/march. you really have to be super focused on the job at hand,
probably the most important thing 1 and my fe-1 friends find is getting 5 questions done in the exam, it is vital that u do 5, very difficult to pass on 4 (tho not impossible), dont worry about a sixth, the 3 hours is purposely tight coz most undergrad law do 4 in 3 hours, trying to squeeze is 6th is just crazy.
in summary!, fe-1's are do-able but u gotta work your ass off, i always got thru college and secondary slacking off basically but not with these bad boys, get ready for lot of 10 hour days of solid studying, but put in the work and you'll get thru them,
lastly if you're doin the griffith course, try to talk to people in your class, make friends etc coz it really does help coming up to the exams talking to each other, doing studying groups etc,
sorry this is so long, but fe-1's are and have been my life for awhile now, can't escape!!! anyway hope this helps, feel free to ask anything else

EC1000

Thanks for all the advice tombren. 10 hr days studying, I take it you wouldn't advise working full time aswell then?

kronsington

10 hours a day is a bit excessive, but it does require a lot of work

just keep on top of it from the start, and be ready for some serious cramming by the end, and you'll be amazed bh how much you get done in between exams.

tombren

wouldn't advise working fulltime, i work part-time, half day tues and fri and fullday on saturday and i manage it, but alot dont work
if u do have to work fulltime in order to live etc, i'd recommend taking a month off before the exams and cram your ass off, you'd need to b putting in weekends and obviously evening classes if working, so it's tough going, especially if you've never done law before,
kronsington mentioned the 10 hrs studying, obviously u won't b doing that from day one, but in the 3 or 4 weeks coming up to the exams u will, but as he also said if u keep on top of the workload you'll b ok,
also if u haven't already picked the subjects you're doing, check out the exam timetable on the law scoiety website and try to pick subjects that are well spread out, u dont want to have 3 exams in 5 days, at that stage a day or 2 more of cramming will be vital!

Ashlinggnilsia

Im thinking of doing the same thing!! I had no idea i would like law at all but I have done two modules of it in my business course and I love it though I know little about it and would love to learn more.

My Plan is anyway to finish my course ...only 12 weeks from sept then exams then in feb i have to do work experience which im going to try and get in a solicitors office though i know this is probly next to impossible im still going to send around CVs anyway and see how it goes if worse comes to worse and I cant get any work any where even in normal offices I will probly see if a solicitor will let me go to the office maybe on day a weeks so I get a clue.

I know I know feck all about law so I was hoping if I get paid work experience somewhere that whilst on work experience I would do the GCD Prep course for the FE1s and then In september if i get good enough results in my degree I will apply to WIT for Legal Studies with Business Honours Degree (Its just a one year add on) and try and sit some of the FE1s in Oct and the rest in the Spring.

Would this be a totally ridiculous idea?

shaneybaby

Ashlinggnilsia wrote: »

Im thinking of doing the same thing!! I had no idea i would like law at all but I have done two modules of it in my business course and I love it though I know little about it and would love to learn more.

......
I know I know feck all about law so I was hoping if I get paid work experience somewhere that whilst on work experience I would do the GCD Prep course for the FE1s and then In september if i get good enough results in my degree I will apply to WIT for Legal Studies with Business Honours Degree (Its just a one year add on) and try and sit some of the FE1s in Oct and the rest in the Spring.

Would this be a totally ridiculous idea?

Sounds decenet enough. Would you not end up doing the WIT exams at the same time as your spring exams?

Ashlinggnilsia

shaneybaby wrote: »

Sounds decenet enough. Would you not end up doing the WIT exams at the same time as your spring exams?

Ya i forgot to say that would be the plan at the moment because i know if i was to do the oct exams like next year because i know the course would only be starting off and if I have myself studyin away during the summer i should be fine to sit the oct ones....and then depending one when the spring ones are on and when the exams are scheduled for wit summer exams....

Not 100% sure but the exams for the first semester are before christmas so they would be out of the way and the summer ones are in may. that would be cuttin it fine though!! I would definitly try for the oct ones if everything goes to plan dont no if i would be definitly able to do the spring ones though but shur if i cant i can always do the other half the following oct....

I didnt no GCD did a summer prep course thought it was just spring and oct but they have one on now from summer to sept so would you think it would be better to do the prep course in spring or in the summer so it would be fresh in my head for oct?