Northumbria Law School Masters programme in strong demand by Irish solicitors

Northumbria Law School is growing its international presence as it joins forces with the Law Society of Ireland to deliver an innovative Masters programme to students overseas.

The Law School, which is the largest in the North East of England, is offering its Advanced Legal Practice LLM programme jointly with the Law Society of Ireland. Specifically designed for solicitors, the LLM is taught primarily through distance learning. The initial offering in Ireland of the two year programme has proved to be incredibly popular, attracting over three times the amount of applications as against places available.

The Masters provides career benefits that are directly relevant to the needs of a modern legal practice, including the opportunity to develop existing expertise and knowledge as well as the opportunity to enhance skills in research, analysis and problem solving. Uniquely the LLM also provides students with the chance of using their solicitor qualification as a stepping stone to achieving a recognised academic qualification.

The programme, which began in the Law Society of Ireland in September 2015, focuses on legal research and its written presentation. It is assessed by means of a dissertation, with students having considerable freedom to choose a research topic of interest to them and relevant to their practice.

Ken Murphy, Director General of the Law Society of Ireland, said: “The Law Society of Ireland has entered into this collaboration with Northumbria Law School to offer Irish students an innovative and flexible programme that is unique in the Irish market. The programme gives academic credit for the solicitor qualification while providing participants an opportunity to reflect on their own chosen area of practice in an academic setting. With the next student intake scheduled for early 2016, the Law Society of Ireland sees its collaboration and relationship with the Law School at Northumbria University continuing for many years.”

Doctor Mark Brewer, Acting Associate Dean, International, for Northumbria Law School added: “We are delighted to be working with the Law Society of Ireland, which is the professional body for solicitors in Ireland.   We are honoured and proud to be the first and only British university to have an academic partnership with the Society and look forward to a long and successful relationship with the Society. This partnership reflects the growing success of our international activities.”

Northumbria Law School is one of only a few institutions which offer such an inventive and flexible course, which is designed to take account of the need for students to be able to complete the LLM while also meeting their work commitments.

For more information on the Advanced Legal Practice LLM, as well as the other Law courses Northumbria offers, visit: www.northumbria.ac.uk/law