the law society of Ireland

Our LLM Advanced Legal Practice is specifically designed for those who are qualified solicitors. Uniquely, the LLM provides you with the opportunity of using your solicitor qualification as a building block to achieve recognised academic qualifications. 

In summary, the award requires 180 credits and your solicitor qualification already provides 120 credits towards this. A research-based dissertation then makes up the remaining 60 credits required.

Building upon your solicitor qualification, the course provides an ideal opportunity for professional development in a specialised area of law. You will undertake in-depth study of an agreed legal topic under individual tutor supervision. 

The course lasts for up to two years with early exit points, a timescale designed to allow students flexibility to complete the LLM in keeping with their work commitments.

The course focuses on legal research and coherent presentation of legal research in a written form. You will begin by attending a course induction day in the Law Society, during which the Legal Research and Study Skills unit of the programme will be introduced. This unit is not assessed but is designed to update your writing and research skills. For the remainder of the programme, you will complete a dissertation of between 15,000-17,000 words.

The course commences with an introduction to dissertation study and work on advanced legal research skills. The research methods training includes sessions on:

• What is (legal) research?
• Advanced Legal Research Methods
• Other relevant research methodologies and methods
• Academic skills such as Literature Reviewing, Academic Writing and Developing Arguments

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

1. Formulate and execute a plan for practice based legal research in an independently identified topic and investigate a question capable of sustaining a substantial piece of academic writing
2. Demonstrate a systematic understanding of the knowledge and important arguments at the forefront of legal practice and/or scholarship by identifying, evaluating and synthesizing primary and secondary research material relevant to a chosen area of enquiry 
3. Show originality and critical insight in the use of knowledge and the application of theory to produce a work of independent scholarship
4. Evaluate various research methodologies and adopt, with justification, a methodological approach appropriate to the question being investigated
5. Develop an ethical approach to the application of legal principles in their field of enquiry

At the end of this first phase students will submit a research design for assessment and then work with their supervisors to produce their final dissertation. 

The dissertation is an exercise in autonomous student learning involving sustained research and a substantial piece of writing under the guidance of the dissertation supervisor. The supervisor will guide a student on the planning and execution of the dissertation, the development of ideas and the organisation and structure of the work. The preparation of the dissertation will engage students with knowledge at the forefront of the disciplines concerned.

The dissertation is the sole assessed element of the programme. The topic of study is of your choosing, but generally must relate to an area of Irish law and there must be an appropriate tutor available to support you. The possibility also exists of you choosing a topic relating to international jurisdictions if there is internal expertise to supervise the topic.

LLM Advanced Legal Practice is assessed by means of a dissertation (100%).

The dissertation is an independent research project of 15,000 words. It allows students to develop their ideas on a legal topic which they have chosen to explore in depth. There will be a clear formative component to the student experience. Students receive on-going feedback and guidance as they progress though the various stages of producing the design and a dissertation.