Legal Methods and Skills (Erasmus)

Overview

Legal Methods and Skills is a module designed to introduce students to the legal craft, focusing on the knowledge of legal systems, structures and sources, as well as skills essential to legal studies.

Module seminars provide the opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge in practice and develop students’ legal research, referencing and communication skills. Particular attention is devoted to handling case law—a primary source of law specific to common law legal systems, with the students learning how to navigate, analyse and evaluate cases.

Learning Objectives

The Legal Methods and Skills module is designed to (1) equip students with systematic knowledge of the law and comprehensive understanding of its role in society, both in the broader, global context and in the narrower context of the common law tradition, and (2) develop students' legal skills required throughout their legal studies. In particular, students will have the opportunity to acquire and develop:
1. Knowledge and understanding of:
(a) The legal systems of Northern Ireland, and England and Wales, for instance legal structures, sources of law, the doctrine of precedent, legal reasoning, and statutory interpretation; and
(b) Other applicable laws and legal systems.

2. Legal skills--as specified below.

Skills

Students who have completed this module will demonstrate:

(a) Legal research skills and a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in law, specifically with regards to the role of law in society;
(b) Strong doctrinal skills, encompassing the ability to navigate, analyse and evaluate academic sources, with emphasis being placed on case law;
(c) Communication skills appropriate to the discipline that are linked to and build upon the doctrinal analysis; and
(d) The ability to evaluate the role of law in society—both in how the law contributes to societal developments and how society/the context impacts on the development of law.

Assessment

Assessment which reflects the learning outcomes and required skills.