What degree for law?

red herring

I'm planning to do law at kings inns after my primary degree. I'm starting a primary (non-law) degree next year and need advice on what degree would be of benefit to me for law later on. People have suggested English, Philosophy, Sociology, or History. What degrees could aid me in specialising in certain areas of law? Eg doing geography and then proceeding to specialize in enviromental law.
All suggestions are greatly appreciated!:)

jacko1

you should really do a law degree, it just makes everything easier afterwards but if you want to stat on the non law route then I'd suggest history and economics

eagle_&_bear

red herring wrote: »

I'm planning to do law at kings inns after my primary degree. I'm starting a primary (non-law) degree next year and need advice on what degree would be of benefit to me for law later on. People have suggested English, Philosophy, Sociology, or History. What degrees could aid me in specialising in certain areas of law? Eg doing geography and then proceeding to specialize in enviromental law.
All suggestions are greatly appreciated!:)

When you say you're planning to do law at Kings Inns - do you mean the Diploma in Legal Studies or do you mean the Barrister-at-Law programme?

If you mean the Barrister programme, then you must do an approved law degree. Assuming that is what you mean, then there's a whole host of courses open to you. Some are 3yr, some are 4yr, some have language options, some have research options so its really what options you want to do.
You will do the core essentials (tort contract, constitutional, legal research,writing & communications, criminal, equity & trusts, land/property, administrative law, evidence, EU law, Jurisprudence, Company law and then usually elective such as medical law, family law, intellectual property, human rights etc) the list of electives is almost endless.

you will, or you should, cover the same law in all the colleges so all depends if you want a 3 or 4 yr degree course, if you want to do it at night time (which might allow you work) or whether you feel better doing the day course and whether you want to go to a private college or UCD/TCD/DCU or places like UCC/UCG/UL etc if you're not Dublin based. The courses will all cover the same material so the options are upto you. Just make sure what ever degree you do, that it is on the KI's approved list of degrees or you're in trouble

http://www.kingsinns.ie/website/prospective_students/degree/schedule.htm

eagle_&_bear

why are you going to do a non-law degree first.

save yourself money, time and energy and do a late CAO application

Tom Young

eagle_&_bear wrote: »

why are you going to do a non-law degree first.

save yourself money, time and energy and do a late CAO application

I am beginning to think this is actually a better idea. Entering the legal profession too early can be a problem for some!

red herring

Hey, OP here,

Thanks for all your advice My plan was to do a non law degree and then proceed to the Kings inns diploma in legal studies course. This two year course is sufficient in place of an approved law degree. I am starting my degree next year and am wondering is there any non-law degree that would give me an edge in certain areas of law? Or even prove practical eg an English degree as I understand there is a lot of reading and argument in law.

Thanks so much for taking the time to give me advice, eagle & bear and Jacko, but I really would love to do a non-law degree first before I devote my life entirely to law. Tom Youngs comment about '' entering the legal profession too early'' is something I am very concious of. I've heard potential employers value students with something extra in their education backround.

Again, all advice is really very appreciated, I'm wondering if there are any non-law degrees out there that would give me an edge/be of benefit to me in law later?

Tom Young

I suggest doing something you want to do, some areas are more compatible to practice at the Bar than others, e.g., Tax or indeed economics. It does depend. The Diploma is a bit of an endurance test as opposed to a degree. It is run 5 nights a week and last I heard there is a new focus on course work assignments and continuous assessment.

History and English are worth a punt if you are interested in refining your reading and writing skills.

I suggest doing something that'd you'd enjoy or have some function in practice.

Tom

Manach

If you plan for Intellectual Property law, an IT course might be of some use.
Also, I found myself that a History diploma is handy to put concepts in context during first year lectures.

blueythebear

red herring wrote: »

Hey, OP here,

Thanks for all your advice My plan was to do a non law degree and then proceed to the Kings inns diploma in legal studies course. This two year course is sufficient in place of an approved law degree. I am starting my degree next year and am wondering is there any non-law degree that would give me an edge in certain areas of law? Or even prove practical eg an English degree as I understand there is a lot of reading and argument in law.

Thanks so much for taking the time to give me advice, eagle & bear and Jacko, but I really would love to do a non-law degree first before I devote my life entirely to law. Tom Youngs comment about '' entering the legal profession too early'' is something I am very concious of. I've heard potential employers value students with something extra in their education backround.

Again, all advice is really very appreciated, I'm wondering if there are any non-law degrees out there that would give me an edge/be of benefit to me in law later?

I'm not being smart but a law degree would give you an edge in law at a later stage. If you must do a non-law degree, it would very much depend on what you intend to do law-wise in the future.

I would say to not pigeonhole yourself at this (very early) stage. A degree takes 4 years to complete and a lot can change in that time. For example, I would advise against doing some form of environmental science degree just because you feel that right now you'd enjoy environmental law. Environmental law could be a lot less enticing after having done a degree for 4 years in environmental science!

Pick a non law degree that's quite broad. If you don't want to do pure law, then some form of business degree might be an idea. Or perhaps some form of arts degree with a language. There are so many options out there really it's very difficult to advise.

If you feel that you want to practise law in the future, I'd suggest that you do a law degree, without trying to be smart, I would have thought that this was obvious.

babyfratelli_x

why dont you take an arts course, and choose legal science as one of your subjects? In NUIG you will cover Tort, Contract, Criminal, Constitutional, Company and EU Law as well as some electives and another subject.

In my opinion, you would get the best of both out of this degree as you choose another 3 subjects along with it in 1st year, and you keep on the one your most interested in.
You could take English, Irish, History, Soc and Pol etc and then see then if you have any interest in law at all... I know people who have actually dropped legal science after the 1st year as they found they had no interest in pursuing a law career after all..

NotSoDumbBlonde

I went down the non-law degree route then worked for a few years and then did the Kings Inns Diploma and then the BL degree course. To be honest, I never felt that having not done a primary law degree held me back in any way. If you are committed to doing something, you'll apply yourself regardless of your prior credentials/academic achievements.

I would also agree that entering the legal profession a bit later on in life has its perks! Once you find yourself in the Kings Inns, either doing the Diploma or the BL degree, you'll find that it requires much dedication! So, my advice to you would be to spend the next 3-4 years in college studying something that interests you - be it English or Philosophy, IT or Business, and then if you still want to pursue a career in law, go for the Diploma in Kings Inns and then eventually the BL degree. Yes, it is an endurance test but its a popular course and its still running in the evenings for a reason!!!

As for your primary degree, I would recommend English or Philosophy, something along those lines. An Arts degree would be ideal for you as you could choose a couple of subjects to begin with and even incorporate a language into your degree. Have you considered the Business & Legal course in UCD? Not purely legal so you get to study business too!? Not sure if it's still running .

Good luck, whatever your choice!

colbags

hi
im in a similar situation myself in that i have just completed a non-law degree and i am now going on to try and enter the law profession. I have been accepted for the DIT conversion course which i have heard good things about

Anyway in terms of what non-law degree you should do. I would agree with what is suggested above ie. doing a degree that has a combination of law and other areas. Economics Politics and Law in DCU is a course i would recommend you consider. It allows you to study a good combination of modules relating all three areas so that you are not purely focused on law. it would allow you to study the political element that you seem interested in. Also there are good finance electives availabile in 2nd/3rd year that i think would be quite beneficial for future legal employers. I have heard that good business/finance knowledge is a good advantage to have.

Completely avoiding the legal modules would be naive imo. Getting a good grounding in constitutional law etc. will take an awful lot of the pressure off further down the line.

jimmylawman

colbags wrote: »

hi
im in a similar situation myself in that i have just completed a non-law degree and i am now going on to try and enter the law profession. I have been accepted for the DIT conversion course which i have heard good things about

Which DIT course is that? Is it the BA (Ord) in Law? With the LLB add on?

I agree it does look good. Also very practical as you can take modules at your own pace. Do you know whether it is Kings Inns accredited yet tho?

jimmylawman

To the OP, NUI Maynooth are now running Law within Arts which I think is an excellent offering. You can do a full law degree alongside whatever Arts subjects you wish, three subjects in first year (including law) then pick two for second and third years. So you could combine law with economics, politics, history whatever. And best of all it is recognised as a full law degree by Kings Inns. The one flaw it is only offered as a full time day time course. I think it would be a good course to offer by evening also but they don't at present.

XxMCRxBabyxX

jimmylawman wrote: »

To the OP, NUI Maynooth are now running Law within Arts which I think is an excellent offering. You can do a full law degree alongside whatever Arts subjects you wish, three subjects in first year (including law) then pick two for second and third years. So you could combine law with economics, politics, history whatever. And best of all it is recognised as a full law degree by Kings Inns. The one flaw it is only offered as a full time day time course. I think it would be a good course to offer by evening also but they don't at present.

Am doing that at the moment and loving it. made up for my awful LC! You need 60% to carry on law in second and third year though!

You can pick any two arts subjects within restrictions and it can make for an interesting course! I'm personally studying history and sociology as well with the plan to keep up law and history. The Law degree is a full BCL and as jimmylawman said is recognised by Kings Inn