Learning law in Northern Ireland

Part of our Directory of legal education in the UK, this page includes links to law schools in Northern Ireland plus an overview of the stages involved in qualifying as a lawyer.

For information on the practice of legal education in Northern Ireland and support for learning and teaching see our Northern Ireland mini-site.

Law schools

• Queen’s University Belfast – School of Law | staff directory
• University of Ulster – School of Law | staff directory

QED Law publishes an LLB league table showing the percentage of students who graduated with a first or upper second at each law school.

Qualifying as a lawyer

As in England and Wales the legal profession in Northern Ireland is divided into the two branches of solicitors and barristers. The Law Society of Northern Ireland is the governing body for solicitors, while the General Council of the Bar plays the same role for barristers.

As in the rest of the UK qualifying as a lawyer in Northern Ireland consists of a combination of academic study and practical training. It differs from the rest of the UK in that the vocational and practical training periods overlap.

The law degree

Law degrees are offered at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) and the University of Ulster. QUB also offers a Master in Legal Science for graduates in disciplines other than law who wish to obtain a law degree.

Degrees from a number of institutions in the UK and the Republic of Ireland are also accepted as qualifying law degrees by the Council of Legal Education (Northern Ireland) – see the admissions information on the Institute of Professional Legal Studies’ website for details.

Professional legal education

Two vocational qualifications are available in Northern Ireland:

• a Certificate in Professional Legal Studies, a one year course for both barristers and solicitors offered by the Institute of Professional Legal Studies at Queen’s University Belfast
• a Postgraduate Diploma in Professional Legal Practice enabling students to quality as solicitors offered by the Graduate School of Professional Legal Education at the University of Ulster

Practical training

Practical training for solicitors, known as apprenticeship and served under a supervising solicitor known as a master, lasts for two years. The apprenticeship starts with a period of four months in-office training, followed by the one year vocational course. It ends with a further eight months in-office training before qualification.

Currently trainee barristers spend four works working in a citizens advice bureaux or law centre and one week shadowing a practising barrister before commencing vocational training. A further period of in-practice training starts after completing the course, taking the form of a 12 month pupillage.

Postgraduate study

See the LLM Guide for details of masters level courses in Northern Ireland.

Last Modified: 4 June 2010