QLTT 2014 - Info and Discussion

CalbArred

I have been trying to find information on the QLTT for Ireland as the information seems all over the place. I am hoping to use thread as a place to collect and disburse pertinent information. I will amend this post with various links (even though I try to avoid those, because they often change) and information, which I hope others will add to.

My journey just started, and I am in the process of getting my study materials together, and my application filled out.

Materials:

I am getting materials based the syllabus provided by the law society and the OUP material.
I have found that books.google.com is a good place to start to find any of the reading material for free at a library nearby.

CalbArred

This is from a blog (now defunct) by ozindublin, who took the QLTT in 2009.

I just received a letter from the Law Society of Ireland telling me that I had passed the Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (QLTT)! Now I'm eligible to be admitted onto the roll of solicitors in Ireland, and can come out of the limbo of "admitted to practise overseas" that I've been working in. It's been tough getting to this point, but essential if I wanted to work here in a professional capacity for any length of time.
The Law Society has comprehensive information about the requirements for the QLTT on its website, so instead of going through everything that you need to do, I'll just set out a few tips that might make getting through the process a little bit easier.

Applying for a Certificate of Eligibility. The Law Society interprets the requirements for what you need to include with your application form very strictly, and any differences will delay the processing of your application. For example, you should make sure that the character references that you provide contain exactly the wording set out in the application form - you may get queries if there are any changes to the wording.

Exemptions from QLTT exams. The QLTT comprises seven examinations: Constitutional Law & either Company Law or Criminal Law, Contract & Tort, Land Law & Conveyancing, Professional Conduct, Probate & Tax, Solicitors' Accounts, and European Union Law. If you've worked extensively (or even briefly) in an area, you should think about applying for an exemption from an exam based on your previous experience, assuming that you're eligible. I was able to receive exemptions from the exams in Company Law, Contract and Tort based on my previous experience, which significantly reduced the workload for the exams for me. A surprising number of people were sitting all of the exams despite having worked in the relevant areas in other jurisdictions for several years, because they didn't think that they should apply for an exemption. You won't get an exemption based on studying an area if you haven't worked in that area, though.

Timing the QLTT exams. There are two sittings of the QLTT exams each year, usually in summer and winter. The Law Society currently lets you do the QLTT exams in any order, and any number of exams in one sitting, provided that you get all of the exams done within 3 years of the issue of your certificate of eligibility. I was a glutton for punishment and did all of the exams that I needed to do in one sitting. This made for a very busy few months leading up to the exams, but at least got it out of the way quickly (like ripping off a band-aid). If you're going to split the exams up, I'd recommend doing EU Law and Constitutional Law at the same time, as there are a lot of overlapping concepts around sovereignty, direct effect and supremacy of EU Law. Principles of succession law are covered in both the Land Law & Conveyancing exam and the Probate & Tax exam, so it definitely makes sense to take those exams in the same sitting. Neither Professional Conduct nor Solicitor's Accounts take up that much time to study, so you could include one or both of these with more difficult subjects fairly easily.

Preparing for the QLTT. There are no real courses specifically designed to help with preparing for the QLTT, and the Law Society only has limited materials available. I found the preparation courses for the FE-1 exams (which are the exams which Irish people need to take to qualify) very useful in certain subjects. The syllabus for some subjects is broader than what is actually examined in practice - if you look at the past exam papers (which you can buy from the Law Society for €35), you can get a feel for what sort of areas to focus your efforts on studying. I can't help with Company, Criminal, Tort or Contract (because I didn't sit them), but have a few pointers which might help you on the other exams.

Constitutional Law - This is a massive area of law, and you could spend years trying to work your way through the recommended textbooks. I found the online FE-1 Preparatory Course at Griffith College really useful for this, it made the huge volumes of material fairly easily digestible. The main focus of the FE-1 Preparatory Course was (naturally enough) passing the FE-1 exam, so there wasn't as much academic debate or insight as you would normally like from professional training, but it got the job done. It wasn't possible to accurately predict what questions were likely to come up in the Constitutional Law exam, so you'd need a good overview of pretty much the whole syllabus to ensure that you were going to do well.
Land Law & Conveyancing - There were huge differences between Irish law and Australian law in this area, so I felt I needed a little more guidance than the recommended textbooks could give me. I did the online FE-1 Preparatory Course for this, which seemed more economical than buying loads of textbooks and hoping I could absorb it by myself. The course materials were particularly useful (and the Succession chapter in particular was essential reading, as the materials it covered came up in both the Land Law and the Probate exams). Whatever materials you use, you'll need to be a bit careful because there was a huge change in the law in this area when the Land and Conveyancing Law Reform Act 2009 came into effect on 1 December 2009, and a lot of the materials and textbooks are now out of date.
Professional Conduct - This exam is set up like an informal chat, and after the initial nerves I actually quite enjoyed it. If you understand basic conflict of interest resolution and anti-money laundering procedures, and read over the Law Society's guide to professional conduct and the relevant legislation a few times, you should be able to pass this with no problems.
Probate & Tax - There aren't any preparatory courses available for this exam. For the Probate section, I found the Law Society's "Wills, Probate and Estates" manual really helpful, together with the Succession chapter of the Griffith College Land Law manual. For the Tax section, although the syllabus refers to all different sorts of taxation, the only ones that have come up on the exams are capital gains tax, capital acquisition tax and stamp duty. If you can get a copy of the Law Society's materials for the Professional Practice Course II that it runs for trainees, this it will really help you (check with the Law Society, or borrow them from a newly qualified solicitor). The Irish Taxation Institute's books on stamp duty, CAT and CGT will also have the information that you need. If at all possible, before the exam you should buy or borrow a copy of the consolidated tax legislation produced by ITI or Tottell, as you should be able to take this into the exam with you and it will really help.
Solicitors Accounts - Again, there are no preparatory courses available for this exam, but the Law Society's PPCII materials on Financial Management should cover pretty much everything that you need to know. General accounting books are also available which will take you through double entry book-keeping and bank statement reconciliation. The answer sheet that you'll be given in the exam is a bit unusual and confused a lot of people who were sitting the exam when I did. The Law Society sends a copy of this out when giving you your exam timetable, and you should make sure that you understand where everything goes before coming into the exam, to avoid last-minute stresses.
European Union Law - This is such a huge body of law that I needed some external help, and did the Griffith College course on it. Although initially the material is quite dense, the case law is quite interesting with facts that are easily memorable. You should make sure that you read the past exams, as there is a tendency for the examiner to repeat certain questions/ topics, and you might want to focus your studying on those areas which come up most often. In particular, I would recommend looking in detail at principles of supremacy and direct effect, State liability for damages, customs duties and taxation, and competition.

Memorising case names. All of the exams are closed book (except for being able to take some unmarked original legislation in, as specified by the Law Society), and you'll need to be able to remember case and legislation names. This was quite a challenge for me, as I had only ever done open book law exams before. The only way I could make things stick was by active reading, taking notes while I went through the mateials, summarising my notes, and re-writing my summaries. It works, but this approach isn't without its problems - after all of this writing, together with all those exam sessions so close together when I was madly scribbling down what I could for up to four hours at a stretch, I've ended up with mild RSI... Another technique that I found really useful for memorising the case names was to associate a phrase with a particular area of law, where the first letters of each word were the same as the first letter of each of the leading cases. For some reason, this made it easier for me to put the cases together with the relevant principles.

If you're currently thinking of applying to sit the QLTT, or in the process of doing so, best of luck! I hope that these tips help you out just a little bit, and if they do please pay it forward and pass any tips that you may have to people who do the exams after you. The more people who make it through the QLTT, the more diverse the profession will become, which can only be a positive thing for the profession and make it even more interesting and enjoyable to practise here.

limerick85

Hi

I want to sit the qltt exams this year and I am looking for some material. I cant afford the FE1 courses and have to study on my own. Is there anywhere I can get access to books etc.?

CalbArred

limerick85 wrote: »

Hi

I want to sit the qltt exams this year and I am looking for some material. I cant afford the FE1 courses and have to study on my own. Is there anywhere I can get access to books etc.?

I am fortunate that I am located in Los Angeles, with multiple law libraries close by. I printed out the QLTT syllabus and found most of the recommended books for review/check out within driving distance. However, the sheer volume of the recommended reading will limit it probably to one book per subject. I am also ordering some of the UOP (Oxford University Press) books. I am starting off with the Nutcase series (at least 2-3 of the subjects are available as e-books for about $16, to get a quick overview of various subjects. - I don't want to invest to much money in study materials until I get the sample papers from past sittings. However, being in the US makes it somewhat of an undertaking, since they don't have a way to pay for them online. - I also don't know how difficult the test itself will be until then. I studied law in Europe and the US, and school exams in the US were considerably more difficult than in the Netherlands.

laurenf

Does anyone know what dates the exams are this year? They still have the 2013 dates up.

CalbArred

Does anyone know what dates the exams are this year? They still have the 2013 dates up.

Assuming they don't change their pattern from previous years, the summer exams should be from June 24 - July 2nd or June 25th - July 3rd. They usually start on a Tuesday or Wednesday in the last week of June.

codod

Hi there,

Has anyone ever got an exemption from EU law or in fact an exemption from any subject and how much experience did you have? I'm looking for some info as to what type of application you put in for the exemption.... A simple letter or a pack with details of all cases you worked on.

Any advice is much appreciated.

CalbArred

codod wrote: »

Hi there,

Has anyone ever got an exemption from EU law or in fact an exemption from any subject and how much experience did you have? I'm looking for some info as to what type of application you put in for the exemption.... A simple letter or a pack with details of all cases you worked on.

Any advice is much appreciated.

I am just following the "format" suggested in the form using reference letters. Considering I still will have to respect attorney-client privilege I doubt I can be too detailed, apart from what is contained in public filings.

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CalbArred

I just got my results for the June sitting and I did as expected.

I passed 3 out of the 4 subjects with limited study time.

Professional responsibility - material relied on was the book provided online from the law society (pass)

Con Law/ Crim Law - did not have a OUP book, used FE1 outlines bought online from students (fail)

Solicitors accounts - used two recommended books from the syllabus (pass) (Note: it took almost a day to figure out the answer sheet without outside help) - if you had any kind of accounting class this is a breeze, passed without reading any of the regulations.

EU law - OUP Book (pass)

So in my experience if there is a OUP book available use that, otherwise use the recommended books on the syllabus.

I will sit for my remaining subjects in 2015.

SillyLawyer

CalbArred, did you sit for the rest of the exams in June? I'm preparing for the October/November sitting, so I'd be interested in any updates you might have.