Barristers, solicitors and legal executives are the most high-profile jobs on offer in the legal system, although civil servants also populate the court service in roles such as court registrars.

The only way to become a barrister or a solicitor is to undertake formal study at the Honourable Society of King's Inn or Law Society of Ireland respectively. Becoming a legal executive offers more scope to combine work and study or to work your way up from entry level.

To become a barrister you must have a Barrister-at-Law degree from the Honourable Society of King's Inns in Dublin. To qualify to sit the entrance exam for this course you must have either an undergraduate law degree or a non-law degree with the twoyear part-time diploma in legal studies organised by the King's Inn (or be over 25 and have this diploma).

Would-be barristers must also pass exams showing they are fluent in Irish. Following the degree, they must spend a year 'devilling', which refers to a period of apprenticeship with a practising barrister, the 'master', after which they can set up their own practice.

The process to become a solicitor is also stringent. The Law Society of Ireland is responsible for the education of prospective solicitors who must sit an entrance exam. A law degree or at least five years' experience working as a law clerk or legal executive combined with a diploma in legal studies (or 10 years' experience working as a law clerk/legal executive without this diploma) is a requirement to sit the exam.

According to Michelle Nolan, information and professional development executive with the Law Society of Ireland, the student body is "a complete mix of people with different educational and social backgrounds".

"There is no typical [student] actually: [we have] law grads, business grads, arts grads, teachers on career breaks, Gardai on career breaks, civil servants , , the list is endless, " she says.

Prospective solicitors must also pass an Irish exam, a requirement that has not been challenged since the influx of non-nationals into the country.

After this, they enter a twoyear training period, which incorporates professional practice courses and internship in a law firm as a trainee solicitor. After this period and upon completing a second Irish exam, they are eligible to practice as solicitors.

Paralegals, or as they are referred to more commonly in Ireland, legal executives, perform a variety of functions to aid solicitors in the preparation of cases.

"Legal executives represent the third branch of the legal profession, " says Philip Burke, head of the Professional Law School at Griffith College Dublin. "A legal executive is somebody who works under the supervision of a solicitor and assists in the operation of general and specialist legal work."

The type of work they engage in includes research, preparing files and briefs, dealing with clients and attending court. Law graduates can work as legal executives straight after finishing college without having to do further study, hence its appeal to some. People can also work their way up to being a legal executive from starting out after school as a legal secretary, Burke says.

Griffith College, in conjunction with the Irish Institute of Legal Executives, runs a two-year part-time (one year full-time) professional diploma in legal studies, which provides a formal qualification for legal executives. Burke explains the rationale for developing the course.

"A number of firms complain that some of their legal executives might have an academic law degree but they've no knowledge or understanding of the practice of law. This course was a professional effort to mould the two, so graduates from the programme understand the professional practice of law but also understand the academic underpinning subject: tort law, contract law and so on. It's a more vocational or professional focus that you don't get with a law degree."

Of the 400 people doing the course, about 360 do it parttime one evening a week. Most of these are paid for by their company, says Burke, which are usually law firms or state and semi-state bodies.

Being a legal executive isn't merely a stopgap measure to becoming a solicitor but a viable career option in its own right, with a large amount of legal executives earning well above 40k, says Burke. "A significant minority have an ultimate ambition to go on to become solicitors but our experience is the majority of students who take the course are career legal executives."

He identifies a strong work ethic, ability to deal with people and with stress as being characteristics of the legal executive.

RELATED WEBSITES
www. lawsociety. ie
www. kingsinn. ie
www. irishinstituteoflegal executives. com