Professional Diploma in Law (General)

Applications for admission to the Programme are invited from practising barristers or solicitors, graduates holding an approved university law degree or law-based inter disciplinary university degree or equivalent.

Applications will also be considered from the holders of academic and/or professional qualifications and/or proof of such experience as satisfy the School of Law that they are able to participate fully in the course and will be required to study the Introduction to Law module in advance of being admitted to the course.

What is the Application Procedure?

Applicants should take careful note of the following:

• The on-line Applications for the Diploma are now open. Go to www.ucd.ie/apply to make an application. Remember to keep a note of your login and password as you will need to return to the application.
• Official references must be submitted as proof of work experience by all applicants.
• Official Transcripts must be submitted as proof of examination results, where relevant, except in the case of UCD students. Students of UCD applying for the Diploma do not need to supply Transcripts but should submit relevant professional references.
• The personal statement is an important component of the application. It should contain information demonstrating your capability to undertake the course successfully. Thus, you should detail your relevant professional and practical experience.
• Applicants must nominate two academic referees unless the applicant has been in employment for more than two years, in which case one of the named referees must be an employer. Applicants are required to submit the name, position held, postal address, email address and contact number for the two academic referees.

Further Information

Letter Of Recommendation

To obtain further information and application details please contact:

Justine McCann

Graduate Programme Administrator
T: +353 1 716 4109 
E: (opens in a new window)lawdiplomas@ucd.ie

Students applying for this course will benefit from the option to tailor the Diploma to their own specific needs in terms of the modules they will select and the time those particular modules are offered.  The Professional Diploma in Law offers students a choice of modules from our Masters in Law (LLM) programmes, and lectures will be shared with LLM students.  In essence, students will ‘build’ their own unique Professional Diploma in Law, concentrating on the areas of law of most interest or relevance to them, i.e. Human Rights, IP & IT, Criminology & Criminal Justice, etc.

Upon completion of this Diploma, students may apply for the LLM programme, and for those who meet the entrance criteria for the LLM they may then be exempt from some of the LLM modules.

Semester 1

Semester 2

Summer Term

The Programme is for Professionals. You will be expected to have either a legal qualification or a qualification or experience in an area of relevance to the subjects you wish to study, Applications are accepted from 

• Practising barristers or solicitors
• Barristers or solicitors actively engaged in legally connected employment,
• Graduates holding an approved university degree or law-based interdisciplinary university degree,
• Persons with other academic and/or professional qualifications and/or such experiences as would satisfy the School that they are able to participate on this course.

We have an excellent Careers Development Centre here at UCD, designed to help you with information regarding future employment or studies. UCD hold a number of graduate events throughout the year including a dedicated law fair at which at which many of the big Law firms will be in attendance. The School of Law has a dedicated careers advisor on it’s Academic staff, Dr. Oonagh Breen, and a staff member from the careers office will be in attendance at the School of law on a number of occasions throughout the academic year. To see the full range of services offered by the careers office go to http://www.ucd.ie/careers/