FE1 Exam Thread (Mod Warning: NO ADS)

fitzer1982

Similar to a few people here, Considering doing the Griffith course in the winter and then doing 4 or 5 exams in Marc. I come from a non legal background, thats why I'll deffiently be doing the Griffith course. Anyway can anyone recomend a combination of subjects I should do. probably do EU cause I've covered a lot with work and maybe criminal, most interested in.

stepinnman

It would depend on how you want to approach the exams - If you want to do 4 and 4 i.e. two sittings then I would recommend you do Contract, Criminal, Equity and perhaps EU or Property as they are definitley the easiest, or the most straight-forward at least. I realise this leave the "harder" exams to the second sitting but it at least means you should be able to get a score on the board as it where the first time round and gives you a bit of momentum.

Coming from a non-legal background can actually be an advantage on some of the subjects, particularly Constitutional Law, as many Legal Students develop emnities against certain subjects in College and find it hard to get past that mental block.

Good Luck anyway

fitzer1982

Sounds like good advice, I agree with trying to get a few on under my belt. Not getting too ahead of myself but a quick question about fees when you go to start your 2 year training. The fee's are fairly high, does the solicitor's/company your doing the training with in anyway help out with fee's?

stepinnman

I think when I did it PPC1 was about €8500 and PPC2 is around €4500. Whether or not the firm will help out with your fees depends usually on the size of the firm. Generally the smaller they are the less likely they are to pay your fees or make a contribution. All of the large firms would pay their trainees fees and pay a salary during the courses.

A lot of people end up takign out Loans for both courses - if you're over 23 and living away from home you might qualify for the Higher Education Grant which you get through your Local Authority - i think it's something in the region of €3000 - €4000 so it's well worth looking into. It's very very important though that you do it before PPC1 as you can't apply for it retrospectively. For the purposes of the Grant both courses are treated as one so if you miss applying for it for PPC1 you can't get it for PPC2

fitzer1982

Thanks for all the info, exactly what I needed to know. I have always had a great interest in law, being 25 now has given me the motivation. Is there anywhere else that FE-1's are being discussed that I might find some more information?

Thanks again for all the help.

hada

fitze69 wrote: »

Thanks for all the info, exactly what I needed to know. I have always had a great interest in law, being 25 now has given me the motivation. Is there anywhere else that FE-1's are being discussed that I might find some more information?

Thanks again for all the help.

try this place mate: http://groups.google.com/group/FE-1-Study-Group

Dennis the Stone

anybody with up to date manuals for equity, criminal, contract for sale please pm me

pampers1

I have been planning on doing the FE1's a while now but I only applied for them last Wednesday. Does anyone know how long it takes for the Law Soc to get back to you in relation to your application?

StudentEmeritus

Application says:

'You will be sent a letter acknowledging receipt of your application within three weeks of the closing date.

Due to the volume of applications it will not be possible to acknowledge receipt of applications by telephone or email.

Should we require any further details, we will write requesting same.'

pampers1

Must have missed that one!!! Apologies! :rolleyes:

StudentEmeritus

Not at all! I haven't even applied myself yet!

pampers1

StudentEmeritus wrote: »

Not at all! I haven't even applied myself yet!

Closing date is next week isn't it?? Are you not afraid you'll miss out or they'll reject your application or something. My nerves are gone over the whole situation to be honest.

StudentEmeritus

It's not till next week! Chill. I don't mean to sound harsh but if you can't handle it now, you'll be a wreck before the exam. Why would they reject my application? I'm money to them. That's all they want.

pampers1

I would just be afraid that they'd say there's too many people applying and its closed now or something. I'm just a little nervous. One person is telling me they're grand and I'll fly through them and then someone else is telling me I'm crazy to even think about doing them!!!

StudentEmeritus

First things first. It's completely ok to be nervous. But it's not ok to be totally irrational about the situation. You will be fine if you do the work. Don't listen to anyone else. You work at your own speed. Stay calm and keep your head down. Try to get Independent/Griffith manuals if you aren't already in classes. PM me if you need a chat, we're all in it together. I'm doing 4 this time, Tort, Land, Constitutional and Contract.

pampers1

This is my first time to do them. I'm doing Company, Contract, Criminal and Equity. I have completed the BA in DIT last year so this is the next step. I work full time in a large lawfirm which is a good thing too because then i can ask any questions and I have access to brilliant books too so its not too bad. Keep me up to date on how the studying is going etc.

Punchesnpeaches

Is there anything at all that we can leave out for Constitutional? It's my favourite subject but there is absolutely no way that I can cover everything. Arghh. I know that with FE-1's the rule of thumb tends to be breadth of knowledge rather than depth, but the constitutional examiner appears to require both.

pampers1

What's the plan for Traineeships. Do people normally apply before they have all of their FE-1's or do you apply when you have them all? Can someone help me on this one please.

hada

Punchesnpeaches wrote: »

Is there anything at all that we can leave out for Constitutional? It's my favourite subject but there is absolutely no way that I can cover everything. Arghh. I know that with FE-1's the rule of thumb tends to be breadth of knowledge rather than depth, but the constitutional examiner appears to require both.

not leaving out much at the moment.

pretty much covering everything with the help of griffith notes and fergus ryan's nutshells.

maybe someone else has advice on this?

Punchesnpeaches

pampers1 wrote: »

What's the plan for Traineeships. Do people normally apply before they have all of their FE-1's or do you apply when you have them all? Can someone help me on this one please.

People apply at all stages, before, during and after having done all FE-1's. It depends on the size of firm. For smaller firms, it would probably be necessary to have all FE-1's done. The bigger firms take on people with no FE-1's. But I would imagine that if you had some or all of them done you might be more likely to et an interview.

moonbee72

Hi, would anyone who has sat and passed property, company, and/or contract have any legislation they want to offload???

I'm looking for the companies acts 1963 and 1990, the succession act 1965, and the sale of goods act

i need them for the exams but am trying to see if i can save a little - they really make you pay to be a solicitor!! (oh, and obviously they need to be unmarked so no cheat notes in the margins)

i'm willing to pay a reasonable amount and, if for whatever reason you want them back, i'm happy to borrow them off someone until after the exams (or rent them, although that's a strange idea...)

anyway, any tips, help or offers would be much appreciated.

Helen21

Hi,
I have equity, company and property from the last FE1 sitting for sale, including past exam papers and examiners reports.

PM me if interested!

Punchesnpeaches

moonbee72 wrote: »

Hi, would anyone who has sat and passed property, company, and/or contract have any legislation they want to offload???

I'm looking for the companies acts 1963 and 1990, the succession act 1965, and the sale of goods act

i need them for the exams but am trying to see if i can save a little - they really make you pay to be a solicitor!! (oh, and obviously they need to be unmarked so no cheat notes in the margins)

i'm willing to pay a reasonable amount and, if for whatever reason you want them back, i'm happy to borrow them off someone until after the exams (or rent them, although that's a strange idea...)

anyway, any tips, help or offers would be much appreciated.

Both the Succession Act and the Sale of Goods Act are quite cheap. Probably less than a tenner.

moonbee72

oh, ok thanks, that's great - i obviously should look into these things before posting!

McCrack

moonbee72 wrote: »

oh, ok thanks, that's great - i obviously should look into these things before posting!

You can buy hard copies of the Acts in Government Publications Office Molesworth St. A tenner max. You should still have some change for the bus left.

fe1head

Hey,

I was wondering if anyone has a constitutional manual from Independent for sale? Im finding constitutional very difficult with so many topics!:eek:

Thanks,

FE1Student

Does anyone know if you should study any material besides that in the griffith packs and also is there anywhere to find exam summaries on the internet

tombren

FE1Student wrote: »

Does anyone know if you should study any material besides that in the griffith packs and also is there anywhere to find exam summaries on the internet

there should be enough in the manuals, in some instances there's actually too much. the nutshell books can provide a good, concise campanion to the manuals.
not exactly sure what you mean by exam summaries but examiner reports can be ordered from the law society website but if you go to griffith, you probably already have them

Shellyr80

Hi all,
I know alot of ppl are competing about getting manuals, I have Griffith's recent Tort, Equity, Property and Constitutional. I'm using them but am looking to get Contract and Company, if anyone in the Dublin area would be interested they could photocopy any of my manuals in exchange for allowing me to photocopy theirs. A friend of mine did it in Reads on Nassau st and it ends up costing about 25euro, which is alot cheaper than what some ppl are asking to buy the manual second hand.

rorybbellows

FE1Student wrote: »

Does anyone know if you should study any material besides that in the griffith packs and also is there anywhere to find exam summaries on the internet

I always found it helpful to get your hands on a few textbooks as well if at all possible. If you look back at some of the more recent exam papers (I'm thinking tort here in particular) there isn't really enough in the notes alone to answer some of the questions. No disrespect to the griffith notes but it really helps to have a textbook handy to flesh out your own notes and to gain a greater understanding of some topics. Anyway, what I did for the FE1s was use a combination of griffith notes and textbooks and made up my own "exam notes". I felt it gave me a proper understanding of the stuff instead of trying to just memorise things and hoping that a q in the format I wanted came up. Got through them all grand.

If I were you, I'd try and get (borrow if at all possible obviously):

Tort: McMahon and Binchy's Law of Torts Or Eoin Quills' book (the latter is more accessable IMO)

Company: Courtney's book (he is the examiner after all)

Land: Lyall's book (some of this stuff is now out of date but things like succession are still v relevant)

Equity: Delaney's book (I found it great for undergrad but there may be too much for FE1s)

E.U.: Craig and Deburca (it is VERY detailed but I found it great for the free movement stuff; it has loads of cases that mightn't be in the notes)

Constitutional: Casey's book (now getting a bit dated but I thought it was good; if you look at the last few constitutional papers there are lots of essay-type qs where the examiner is looking for an argument/opinion. Use Casey's he has loads of them!!)

Contract: Mcdermott's book or Clark's book (but maybe not necessary cos there should be plenty in the notes as contract is a short course)

Criminal: Mcauley and MuCutchen Criminal Liability (there's not all that much LAW in this in the sense of reeling off statutory provisions, its brilliant for any essay-type qs though-I'm thinking the defences here-because its full of argument and opinion. Also McAuley is now the extern examiner, quoting him a few times can't do you any harm...)

Best of luck.