Law - International Justice & Law

The Postgraduate Diploma in International Justice and Law provides students with critical insights into the international legal system and how it operates to promote and secure justice. It analyses how the international legal order works and how it seeks to protect vulnerable groups, including minorities, migrants, and peoples with disabilities. The programme draws on law and other disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, and politics, to provide students with a comprehensive examination of the challenges facing international justice mechanisms today.

Placement opportunities with partner civil society organisations, such as Transparency International (Ireland) will be available.

Teaching is delivered by means of small class lectures, in-class simulations, workshops, and masterclasses.

The programme will be very attractive to Law graduates who wish to specialise in the field of International Law and to non-law graduates who may be interested in undertaking a vocational Law programme in the future.

Students complete a total of 60 ECTS over the course of this programme, 30 credits each semester.

Not all modules offered will run every year; offerings are dependent upon demand and other potential constraints. Students may choose any combination of modules they wish, however, they cannot take more than 30 taught credits per semester

Candidates should have a minimum 2.2 grade, honours (level 8) undergraduate degree in law or a cognate discipline, such as international relations, social studies, sociology, political science etc. This must be a recognised primary degree that is considered equivalent to Irish university primary degree level. A personal statement of up to 1,000 words outlining why an applicant is suitable for the programme should be included as part of an application. This personal statement will form part of the assessment by the Admissions Committee.

These are the minimum entry requirements and meeting these requirements will not guarantee an offer of entry onto the programme. Applications by applicants with other types of diplomas or who do not reach this minimum level of qualifications will be determined by the Admissions Committee in line with the University's policy on recognition of prior experiential learning. The programme will also be accessible to international students from all jurisdictions, as no prior knowledge of the common law is required.

Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.

Minimum English language requirements:

•IELTS: 6.5 minimum overall score
•TOEFL (Paper based test): 585
•TOEFL (Internet based test): 95
•PTE (Pearson): 62

Maynooth University's TOEFL code is 8850

Closing Date : 30 June 2021

1 year full-time, 2 years part-time

The programme will prepare students for policy and advocacy work in national, regional, and international organisations with a social and economic justice mandate. It will provide students considering a career in the legal profession with the tools necessary to pursue work in the field of human rights law, which could also include legal practice in European courts or international criminal tribunals. The programme is also an ideal launchpad for students interesting in a career in further research on legal, policy or philosophical questions of justice. A number of graduates from the LLM programme have proceeded to doctoral studies.