FE1s - am I at any advantage having a law degree?

sinesine

I'm about to finish my law degree in Trinity and somehow I just have no idea how legal careers work in Ireland at all so I was hoping some people here could give me some insight.

As far as the FE1s go, I know some people who did them having done a history degree or something entirely unrelated and said they were fine, and I know other people who had to do them 3 or 4 times coming from a law degree. Are they genuinely really difficult if you already have studied law for four years?

livedadream

sinesine wrote: »

I'm about to finish my law degree in Trinity and somehow I just have no idea how legal careers work in Ireland at all so I was hoping some people here could give me some insight.

As far as the FE1s go, I know some people who did them having done a history degree or something entirely unrelated and said they were fine, and I know other people who had to do them 3 or 4 times coming from a law degree. Are they genuinely really difficult if you already have studied law for four years?

They're not easy,

a law degree is helpful only because it teaches you how to structure an argument but in the same way as any degree does.

I did them after doing advertising in uni and passed 4 at a time.

in general most people do 4 in one sitting then another 4, however my brother did all 8 and passed (he did commerce in uni.)

They are difficult if you can grasp the intention, to show your knowledge and understanding of the law.

in general some people find some subjects easier so pick your schedule that way ie:

i found contract, criminal and equity the easiest and

tort, property and constitutional the most difficult constitutional because its boring as fcuk

company and EU were interesting to me so were okay.


so i mixed them, contract, company and property with EU

then tort, criminal, constitutional and equity...
you need to be able to take in alot of information and remember it thats all really.
and structure an argument in essay form.

Mr. Incognito

They are exams which test your knowledge on a large volume of Law.

I did a few and scraped by, then I did the Tax Exams and if you think the Fe1s are hard, forget it, they are a doddle compared to the tax exams.

My advice is learn everything on the course. So few people do, they pick topics they like and leave some out and play the lottery of being able to answer five of 8.

For the last few I studied everything on the course and was able to pick out the easier questions as a result and my marks soared.

So, yeah, they are hard but if you put the work in you'll be fine. Like eveything else in life.

clocks

As a non-common law graduate sitting the Final Examinations, Part 1, I would say that of course your law degree is an advantage as it emphasises my relative achievement. Other graduates are starting from scratching with the talk of law reports, citations, applying, approving, distinguishing cases, the rules of jurisprudence, precedence and interactions of statute & common law, judicial hierarchy--need I go on ?

An LLB will typically also cover all of the FE1 subjects, so its graduates will be familiar with their substance, have read some cases etc. These fundamentals, taught early in a degree programme, are often obscured by the advancement of fresh disputes about human rights on Mars or trademark infringement governed by the international economic law of the high seas.

The exams, like all professional exams--ask a Doctor, Dentist, Accountant or Financial Advisor-- are hard (but FE1s are not as hard). (I know having almost passed a few with half-hearted study). In University, whatever your discipline, the topic selection is often telegraphed ahead of time and students have a wide choice, say 3 or 4 of 8; less so in the FE1s, 5 of 8.

Knowing no one sitting them at the same session as me, I also found myself somewhat isolated , not least socially, but also intellectually as I looked for a standard against which to compare my draft answers. A recent law graduate will surely not lack camaraderies so hard.

chops018

clocks wrote: »

The exams, like all professional exams--ask a Doctor, Dentist, Accountant or Financial Advisor-- are hard (but FE1s are not as hard). (I know having almost passed a few with half-hearted study). In University, whatever your discipline, the topic selection is often telegraphed ahead of time and students have a wide choice, say 3 or 4 of 8; less so in the FE1s, 5 of 8.

Everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinion but this is certainly not true in my opinion.

The FE1's are considered by the vast majority of the world (not just Ireland) to be the most difficult professional exams there is for any discipline.

You say you almost passed a few with half hearted study, well of course you might almost pass with a bit of study. The first 40% or that isn't that difficult to get.

As has been mentioned already many people's problem is that they only pick the topics that come up most regularly and study them, some get lucky and those topics come up again, however more times than not you won't. You're much better off covering at least 90% of the syllabus. These exams are very daunting as you have to retain so much information, literally 90% of the syllabus as I pointed out, and remember it so that you can structure a proper argument and give advice. Also they're not like college where you can waffle, you have to be fairly bang on with your answer.

scrummonkey

They are hard, no doubt about it, in the sense that you have to retain/understand a vast quantity of information on each subject, whereas in uni, you may be able to pass exams by educated selection of likely topics and so ignore a sizeable chuck of the subject. A law degree is a big advantage I believe, as you should be somewhat familiar with the topics you are studying.