Emerging areas of law?

Schnork

Hi all,

I'm not sure if anyone will be able to help with my rather vague question, but please have a look and give me any advice or thoughts you have!

I have completed my FE1's and a PG Dip in Law, but due to ill health, am unable to search for a traineeship with a solicitor at present (not that there are any traineeships out there at the moment!)

In the meantime, I am thinking of undertaking an M.A. by research, so that I will have done something productive during my convalescence.
As the legal field has seen major changes with the decline of the property market, I would like to research an important emerging area of law, so as to hopefully make my CV stand out and offer something different. I would really appreciate some of your opinions as to the best areas of law to be focusing on to give myself a head start once I'm back on my feet and job-hunting. I have been considering the following;

-Medical law; I have an interest in medical negligence and think that knowledge of the area will be increasingly important in coming years.
-Criminal justice; especially looking at areas of reform and socio-economic issues surrounding the criminal justice system. I am mostly considering this area as I loved criminal law at college and it represents a solid area for employment
-Intellectual Property
-Employment
-Family
-Human Rights; I have thought about focusing on the latter 4 areas purely because they seem interesting areas to study and either appear to be emerging areas, or are particularly important in practice at present.

I should perhaps mention that I don't really see myself working at a large corporate firm but would rather have the opportunity to work on many different areas of law in a small/medium sized firm. I mention this because even though I am very interested in medical law issues, I feel that this area of law would arise more often in large corporate firms. The same could probably be said for intellectual property.

Another area that has occurred to me is that of alternative dispute resolutions such as mediation, as moves have been made over the last few years to make legal redress more accessible and affordable.

I would really appreciate any comments or input as to the best areas to be studying at the moment, in light of the changes the profession is undergoing at present!

Many thanks,
Regards,
Mar.

M007

i suggest environmental law given all the eu regulations etc

Schnork

Thanks very much for your input, M007! Environmental Law could indeed be a good option, food for thought!

Cheers,
M.

Tom Young

Any of your above list has Regulatory angles! That's an area I'd do research into.

Tom

Victor

1. What about the security industry? From the PSA to military contractors. On a day-to-day level you have things like clamping on private property, citizen's arrest and the rarer defamation accusations to the increasingly common personal bodyguard and private investigators to the not very common here "lethal force in the defence of post"-type killings in places like Iraq.

2. Children's rights. Child v State. Family v State. Ireland v third world v best practice.

3. The Statute Law Revision Project and Restatements http://www.attorneygeneral.ie/slru/slru.html

enry

HI Schnork,

You mentioned alternative dispute resolutions which is a big part of commercial Litigation since the introduction of the commercial court in 2004.

It’s my opinion that an M.A. is not really up to much especially if you want to become a solicitor, however since you have completed your FE-1s you would be eligible to do a law society diploma. I know there is one being held at the min on commercial litigation.

There are a number of dip courses offered by the law society and they are all well recognized.

The dip courses being offered by the law society are on their web site. the main advantage with these courses is that they are practical i.e. show you how to apply for discovery, do up summons and affidavits etc..