Aisling Croke studied the LLM International Commerical Law here at UL. Aisling gives her perspective on studying the LLM and her experience of the course so far.
What made you study at UL?
I was going to do my FE1’s while I was doing the Masters programme and I just thought it would be really good to be able to do them both at home. I am originally from Limerick.
What did you learn on the course? What modules have you enjoyed the most?
The most interesting thing that we learned about was how to apply commercial law in multi-jurisdictional scenarios. My favourite module so far has been the Law of International Business Associations. We got to pick a jurisdiction of our choice and advise a hypothetical client on how to set up business in this jurisdiction, which I really enjoyed. There were presentations involved along with essays, which I really enjoyed.
What is unique about the LLM International Commercial Law?
I think it is so focused on commercial law and it is very up-to-date. If you want to practice corporate and commercial law, it is very applicable to that. When I was doing the milk round interviews in November, there were very topical questions asked in my interviews, I was able to talk about commercial law in an international sense and that was all down to having studied the first semester of the masters.
If you want to practice corporate and commercial law, it is very applicable to that
Can you describe the ethos and atmosphere at the School of Law in UL?
It was a great atmosphere. The lecturers are really helpful, it’s very inclusive. In our course we have a group chat and everyone is really helping each other, there was a really good camaraderie amongst us all. There’s a lot of opportunities provided within the School of Law. There was an A&L goodbody conference yesterday for all of the International Commercial Law students. The people from A&L talked about areas of law we don’t get to study, they’re not examinable in a module sense and I think that was really good of the School of Law to notice that, it was a really interesting way of learning. We got to socialise and interact with a top law firm in Ireland, so it was great.
Can you take us through a typical week on the MA programme?
Sometimes we would have early morning lectures, sometimes they will be in the afternoon. I would usually come in at around nine or ten, regardless of whether I would have an early lecture or not and I would go to the library. I would get coffee with my friends from the course. We would do our course reading, if we had reading to do before the lecture. I would then get lunch with my friends and go to the lecture. I would spend a lot of time revising in the library coming up to exams.
Can you tell us about your own personal experience of the course, the benefits/challenges etc?
The most beneficial thing for me was that I came out of my shell a lot. In my undergrad I didn’t do a lot of speaking in public or presenting and I felt that I probably should have done some more of that. In my first semester in the LLM, I got to do a lot of public speaking and I got the opportunity to improve my speaking skills. It was a big challenge because I don’t like speaking in public and it really pushed me out of my comfort zone. It really stood to me when I was doing interviews to get traineeships and thankfully I was successful. That is all down to the work that I did in the LLM.
I got to do a lot of public speaking and I got the opportunity to improve my speaking skills
A massive challenge, was that there is a lot of independent research as opposed to in my undergrad. A big challenge going from undergrad to postgrad is that you really have to motivate yourself and you have to pick the areas you want to study yourself. You have to realise that no one is going to spoon feed you. You have to pick topics that are of interest to you because you have to do a lot of work on them, which I found quite challenging but doable.
Would you recommend the MA to others?
Yes, definitely. Anyone who wants to study or practice in corporate or commercial law, I think it’s a great stepping stone and it’s a really good course. I know there’s only two courses like this in Ireland, so I would definitely recommend it. The campus is going through so much change and there are so many new things happening here that I would definitely recommend UL.
What do you plan to do/have done post-graduation?
I am hopefully going to pass all of my FE1’s and start my traineeship with A&L Goodbody, it’s one of the top commercial law firms in Ireland.
To learn more about the LLM International Commerical Law and to apply, please click here.
