LLM Course details

This multi-award winning programme provides legally relevant work experiences with close professional supervision. There is no comparable postgraduate programme in the UK or Ireland.

The LLM Access to Justice (previously called LLM Clinical Legal Education) is an innovative model of postgraduate education which was established to meet the needs of graduate students and the community. It has been awarded the Postgraduate Course of the Year 2017 by GradIreland.

The LLM Access to Justice trains students in employment law, social security law, tribunal representation and alternative dispute resolution.

This prepares students for their placement in the Ulster University Law Clinic, as well as with voluntary sector advice agencies, where students provide free legal advice and representation to members of the public.

Throughout the programme students engage with broader issues of access to justice and unmet legal need, public interest litigation and clinical legal education

What is clinical legal education?

Clinical legal education has been defined as encompassing learning which is experiential in design and focused on enabling students to understand how the law works in action by undertaking real, or realistically simulated casework or research.

Clinical Legal Education is widely regarded as one of the most effective ways for students to understand how the law works, to develop vocationally relevant legal skills and to contextualise individual legal problems within broader societal issues.

Students undertake a variety of clinical legal education including:

Live client casework

Students provide advice, advocacy and representation for members of the public through the Ulster University Law Clinic on issues surrounding social security law and employment law.

External placement

Students also deliver live client case work through our placement partners in Law Centre (NI) and in local advice agencies.

Simulated Case Work

Clinical experience is part of the student experience and training is provided by the Law School staff, social security case workers and by local barristers and solicitors.

There will also be a mock tribunal and case management discussion which are facilitated by the Chief Social Security Commissioner for Northern Ireland, Pinsent Masons and Legal Island.

Demand-led research

Students have the opportunity to complete demand-led research on behalf of community sector organisations through the University’s science shop. This can be completed through the dissertation module.

Management of Legal Practice

The course also provides a unique opportunity for students to manage and develop the Clinic, where they meet on a regular basis to review the Law Clinics priorities, taking into account the needs of the clients as well as developing legal activism skills.

Awards and prizes

• 2017 Best Postgraduate Law Course in Ireland
• 2016 LawWorks and Attorney General Student Award, (shortlist) Best Contribution by a Law School in the UK
• 2014 LawWorks and Attorney General Student Award, Best New Student Pro Bono Activity in the UK
• 2014 Innovating Justice Award (shortlist), Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law
• 2014 Ulster University Distinguished Teaching Fellowship Team Award