University College Dublin

MCL Common Law
Graduate Taught (level 9 nfq, credits 120)
The Masters in Common Law is a unique two-year programme offering non-law graduates the opportunity to obtain a law degree.

Students will take a range of modules designed to introduce them to the main areas of our legal system. Teaching will be through the medium of lectures and fortnightly graduate seminars.

You will study a range of modules designed to introduce you to the main areas of our legal system, including Tort, Contract Law and European Law amongst others.

On completion of your studies, you should be able to:
- Demonstrate a broad appreciation of the principal branches of the discipline of law
- Make effective use of oral and written skills and apply ICT in learning, research and presentation of legal reports and assignments
- Work effectively as a member of a legal team with common objectives

Who should apply?
Full Time option suitable for:
Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes
International (Non EEA) applicants currently residing outside of the EEA Region. Yes

Students who have completed or are in final year of a non-law degree (Level 8 QQI or equivalent) can apply for this programme.

Vision and Values Statement
This programmes is for graduates in disciplines other than law who wish to complete a Master's degree in the law of Ireland and acquire a profound understanding of how law works in theory and in practice, both in Ireland and elsewhere. The programme enables students to proceed to professional training as lawyers in Ireland and elsewhere but also provides knowledge, skills and experience applicable in a wide variety of careers.

We aim for students to be highly active, motivated, autonomous learners, conscious of the social, cultural and political dimensions of the law, who combine the academic basis for a successful career in law with more widely applicable knowledge and skills.

We strive for a learning environment that encourages students to work individually or as part of a team, so they can develop their own and other' leadership, teamwork and communication skills.

To these ends, the programme makes intensive use of teaching, learning and assessment approaches such as seminar-based teaching and legal writing assessments.

Programme Outcomes
-demonstrate specialised, detailed knowledge and understanding of the legal systems of Ireland and of the European Union.
-apply their knowledge and understanding in a manner that indicates a professional approach to their specific work or vocation in the field of law.
-gather and interpret the relevant data from a variety of sources, both legal and factual, to inform judgments on problems within the major branches of law.
-make their own judgments, including the capacity to reflect on relevant political, social, economic, historical, or ethical issues associated with law.
- communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions, considering the importance of legal arguments in public policy debates, in an accessible and intelligible manner to both specialist and non-specialist audiences.
-realise those learning skills that are necessary for them to continue to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy.
-identify, in the field of legal scholarship, the relevant sources of law and commentary upon and analysis of it and to frame their own original legal arguments.