Although a large percentage of our graduates are interested in pursuing careers in Law, significant numbers develop careers in a wide range of other sectors.

Employment after the Course

• Typical career destinations of graduates include:
• Solicitor
• Barrister
• Legal Professional
• Para Legal
• Legal Executive
• Legal Analyst
• Compliance Officer
• Accountant
• Financial Engineer
• Business Analyst
• Management
• Audit Associate

Employment Links

Graduate Employers include A& L Goodbody, Allen & Overy, Baker and McKenzie, CitiGroup, Deloitte, EY, First Derivatives, PWC, Wilson Nesbitt, Herbert Smith Freehills.

Professional Opportunities

The following is a list of the major career sectors that have attracted our graduates in recent years:

• Management Consultancy
• Corporate Banking
• Purchasing Officer
• Fast Stream Civil Service
• Publishing, Media and Performing Arts
• Export Marketing
• Advertising
• Finance
• Law Enforcement and Public Prosecution
• Varied graduate programmes (Times Top 100 UK Graduate Recruiters/ AGR Association of Graduate Recruiters UK)

Prizes and Awards

A wide range of prizes and scholarships are awarded to top-performing students. A number of these are sponsored by leading law firms and organisations.

Degree plus award for extra-curricular skills

In addition to your degree programme, at Queen's, you can have the opportunity to gain wider life, academic and employability skills. For example, placements, voluntary work, clubs, societies, sports and lots more. So not only do you graduate with a degree recognised from a world-leading university, you'll have practical national and international experience plus a wider exposure to life overall. We call this Degree Plus. It's what makes studying at Queen's University Belfast special.

Course Structure

Introduction

The degree offers students the opportunity to study the modules required for the academic stage of legal qualification. In addition, students are offered the opportunity to explore their interests in the final year with modules offered that allow them to specialise in a particular area, or simply receive a more rounded sense of what ‘law’ is. Many of these modules consider the law and law-like interactions on a local, national and international level.

Stage 1

• Legal Methods and Skills
• Constitutional & Administrative Law
• Criminal Law
• Contract Law
• Tort
• Careers & Employability – This Module promotes awareness in relation to career choices and awareness of self. It provides the following:
  • Local and International Labour Market Information, where to find it and how to research job markets and career development opportunities e.g. international experiences.
  • Personal career choice and action planning supported by the University’s Careers Employability and Skills Service.
  • Classes on the job application process, highlighting elements such as CVs, application forms, interview skills and psychometric testing. These also signpost the one to one services available. Self-reflection/career action plan.

Stage 2

• EU Law
• Equity
• Land Law
• Evidence and Criminal Procedure
• Company Law & Corporate Governance
• Family Law

Stage 3

Students will choose 6 Optional Modules selected from the list below*

Students will choose 6 Optional Modules selected from the list below*

Irish Land Law and Succession - The module examines Land Law and the Law of Succession in the Republic of Ireland. In studying Irish Land law, the course adopts a comparative approach, examining both how and why the law in the Republic of Ireland differs from that of Northern Ireland and England and Wales. In so doing the module builds upon knowledge which students gained in studying the School’s compulsory level 2 Land Law module, which focuses upon Land law in these jurisdictions. Particular attention will be paid to the impact of the Land and Conveyancing Reform Act 2009, which aimed to reform and modernise Irish Land Law. The module will examine how the Act has sought to simplify land tenure, reform the law relating to mortgages, revise the law relating to rent review, abolish the rule against perpetuities and alter the existing legal framework in areas such as co-ownership, easements of long user and rights to conduct work on party structures.

Climate Emergency – This module offers a critical introduction to law and society’s responses to the climate emergency and calls for ‘system change’, focusing on socio-economic and ecological transitions. The module will aim to enhance the ecological literacy of law students to assist critical thinking about the origins and meaning of law, the changing role and demands on law, and the role of legal pluralism (the pluriverse (Escobar) in navigating societal transitions.

a. Ecology and the history of our legal traditions

b. The scope and limits of Environmental Law

c. Planetary Boundaries (Rockstrom et al. 2009)

d. Law, Systems and System Change: Sustainable Development Goals

e. Law and the pluriverse

f. Negotiating just transitions: climate negotiating skills

• Law and climate change (multi-level governance)
• Law and the wellbeing economy
• Law, inequality and post-growth
• Law and energy justice
• Law and the commons
• Law and the Rights of Nature
• The Law of Coroners and Inquests - Indicative syllabic content includes:

1. The origins of the coronial jurisdiction;
2. The modern office of coroner;
3. The jurisdiction of the coroner;
4. Reporting of deaths;
5. Conduct of the Inquest: Practicalities and Procedure (I/II);
6. The inquest verdict;
7. Challenging coronial decisions;
8. Human Rights and the Coroner’s court
9. Medical inquests;
10. Notable Inquest: Case Study
11. The case for reform: comparative analysis with England

Learning and Teaching

The Law School at Queen's is ranked as one of the top schools in the UK and Ireland. Teaching quality within the School was judged to be 'excellent' and our research was awarded a 5B (excellent) by the UK Higher Education Funding Bodies. There are over 800 undergraduate students enrolled in the School, 190 postgraduates, 70 PhD students, and almost 50 members of academic staff. You will be taught by scholars from all over the world, many of whom have international reputations in their fields and all are committed teachers and researchers. Students will also have access to an excellent law section in the new library and extensive IT facilities. In addition, the School has active relationships with universities in China, North America, and throughout Europe through which opportunities for study abroad and staff exchanges are fostered.

The School operates a proactive system of student support. Advisers of Studies are allocated to each degree program and tasked to guide and support you throughout your time with us, together with the School's experienced and helpful administrative staff. In addition, students are allocated a Personal Tutor for their time in the School. We place considerable emphasis on facilitating good communication between staff and students. To this end, a Student Voice Committee, comprised of elected student representatives, the Director of Education, the LLB Programme Director, and other members of academic staff, meets at regular intervals throughout the academic year. This Committee provides students with a forum in which to raise matters of concern to them and also enables the School to keep students informed about matters affecting the School and wider university.

At Queen’s, we aim to deliver a high-quality learning environment that embeds intellectual curiosity, innovation, and best practices in learning, teaching, and student support to enable students to achieve their full academic potential.

In the LLB programs, we do this by providing a range of learning experiences that enables our students to engage with subject experts, develop attributes and perspectives that will equip them for life and work in a global society and make use of innovative technologies and a world-class library that enhances their development as independent, life-long learners. Examples of the opportunities provided for learning in this course are:

• E-Learning technologies
  Information associated with lectures and assignments is communicated via a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called Canvas. A range of e-learning experiences are also embedded in the degree through, for example, interactive group workshops in a flexible learning space; use of MS Teams; podcasts and interactive web-based learning activities; opportunities to use IT programs associated with design in project-based work, etc.
• Lectures
  Provide information about topics as a starting point for further self-directed private study/reading. Lectures also provide opportunities to ask questions, and gain some feedback and advice on assessments (normally delivered in large groups to all year-group peers).
• Personal Tutor
  Undergraduates are allocated a Personal Tutor during their time in the School. Tutors meet with their students on several occasions during the year to support their academic development.
• Self-directed study
  This is an essential part of life as a Queen’s Law student when important private reading and research, engagement with e-learning resources, reflection on feedback to date and assignment research and preparation work is carried out.
• Seminars/tutorials
  Significant amounts of teaching are carried out in small groups (typically 10-20 students). These provide an opportunity for students to engage with academic staff who have specialist knowledge of the topic, to ask questions of them and to assess their own progress and understanding with the support of peers. Students should also expect to make presentations and other contributions to these groups.
• Supervised projects
  In the final year, Single Honours students may carry out a significant piece of research on a chosen topic. They will receive support from a supervisor who will guide them in terms of how to carry out the research and provide feedback.
• Work placements
  In conjunction with the Careers, Employability and Skills Department, there are opportunities for a number of summer internships. These provide significant learning and employability enhancement opportunities.

Assessment

Details of assessments associated with this course are outlined below:

The way in which students are assessed will vary according to the learning objectives of each module. Some modules are assessed solely through project work or written assignments. Others are assessed through a combination of coursework and end-of-year examinations. Details of how each module (and module family) is assessed are shown in the Student Handbook which is provided to all students during their first-year induction.

Feedback

As students progress through their course at Queen’s they will receive general and specific feedback about their work from a variety of sources including lecturers, module coordinators, placement supervisors, personal tutors, advisers of study and peers. University students are expected to engage with reflective practice and to use this approach to improve the quality of their work. Feedback may be provided in a variety of forms including:

• Summative feedback is provided via formal written comments and marks relating to work that students, as individuals or as part of a group, have submitted.
• Formative feedback opportunities such as face-to-face comments. This may include occasions when students make use of the lecturers’ advertised “feedback and guidance hours” to help address a specific query.
• Placement employer comments or references.
• Online or emailed comment.
• General comments or question-and-answer opportunities at the end of a lecture, seminar or tutorial.
• Pre-submission advice regarding the standards you should aim for and common pitfalls to avoid. In some instances, this may be provided in the form of model answers or exemplars which students can review in their own time.
• Feedback and outcomes from practical classes.
• Comment and guidance provided by staff from specialist support services such as Careers, Employability, and Skills, or the Learning Development Service.
• Once students have reviewed their feedback, they are encouraged to identify and implement further improvements to the quality of their work.