LLB Electives

sophya

Just wondering can anyone give any information about the electives offered in year two?

I was leaning towards either admin or employment law.

Exclamation Marc

I did employment law when I was in second year in GCD. Think it was mandatory when I did it about 4 years ago. I know the lecturer has changed but it was a really fascinating course, and quite a handy one to bring to later life. I'd highly recommend it.

eagle_&_bear

sophya wrote: »

Just wondering can anyone give any information about the electives offered in year two?

I was leaning towards either admin or employment law.

hi sophya,

your electives will determine where you go after the LLB. If you want to go to the Kings Inns and train/qualify as a barrister, you must MUST take evidence and administrative law/judicial review. If you do not pass these exams, you are ineligable to sit the KI entrance exams.

pretty plain really.

that being said, if you wanted to do criminology and employment you could elect and pay to do seperate courses over the summer in evidence and admin law. But, and theres always a but, these are quite expensive. The Inns do an admin course for something like 700-800 including the exams. I havent seen a college offer evidence as a stand alone topic but you could check with them. I know NUIG wanted 2,250 last year to teach admin for 1 semester so be mindful of the costs and the time requirements etc.


an overview of the electives

Evidence: deals with both civil and criminal aspects of the law. The typical topics you would cover are: basic concepts, functions of the jury and judge, burdens of proof, illegally and unconstitutionally obtained evidence, powers of search and seizure, fair procedures (arrest, charge and trial), witnesses (competence and compellability), corroboration evidence, visual identification evidence, hearsay and rule against narrative, opinion evidence, similar fact evidence, cross examination (and the rules therein), privilege, right to silence and confession evidence

basically you will cover everything from the moment (as counsel) you'd receive a brief to the judge ruling on a case. pretty darn important in the life of a barrister!

Employment: deals with contracts of employment, statutory rights ( part time work act, fixed term work act, organisation of working time act, parental leave, maternity protection, national minimum wage act, insolvency acts, health and safety acts), employment equality acts (discrimination and the breaches therein), termination of employment( unfair dismissal and wrongful dismissal), industrial relations issues and, bullying/stress in the work force.

You have an option here... You can also do this topic (as an elective in semester 3 of the kings inns year) if you get in. So you could forego it in GCD and do evidence and still get to do employment in the inns. so you get both done in a systematic way!?!

Admin/Judicial Review: deals with fair procedures and requirements to a fair hearing, issues of bias, issues of jurisdiction/ legality and errors of law (where the judge does something s/he is not permitted to do, or where there is an inaccurate interpretation of the law), unreasonableness and remedies, procedures in applying for judicial review, running an application in the High Court and the impact of the commercial court on JR applications.

As before this is now an absolute requirement of the Inns. There is so much work coming from this avenue at the moment it is crucial. This is also taught in the inns as a mandatory topic but you do need a good grounding in it.

Criminology: deals with theories of crime, classifications of crime, how crime is reported in the media, some elements of comparative criminal justice and minor elements of cultural criminology and the legal constructions therein.

Hope this helps in some form. The question you now, in 2nd year NEED to ask yourself is, what do I want to be: academic, barrister or solicitor?

If you're choosing solicitor: then employment is a very good option. You should also check out if there are any other entry requirements. I can only speak of the Kings Inns. If you choose Barrister - then your course is predetermined and you MUST choose Evidence & Admin Law (unless you are able to do them over the summer in a recognised school pursuant to the Kings Inns list of acknowledged teaching institutions etc). If you choose academic, the world is your oyster. Criminology is a very good general topic. You can go do LLM in criminal justice in UCD (1 yr) or MA in Criminology in DIT (part time over 1yr) - both are 6hrs contact time per week. or any other topic which takes your fancy basically.

If you want any other info, please dont hesitate to contact me on this. I'd be only too willing to help

Regards

John