A Week in the Life of a Law Student

In my opinion, there is no such thing as a typical week in UCD. College is what you make of it, and there’s always something going on. We’re getting closer to our first set of exams for the year now, and there are only a few weeks to go, so seriously getting the head down. Having said that I seem to rack up an indecent amount of other commitments along the way.

Monday

10am – Phone interview with novelist Colm Toibin for the University Observer. He was really, really lovely. Quote of the interview; “Every morning I get down on my knees and thank God I didn’t go to Trinity!” He also says he’ll never run for president of Ireland because it would involve him having to attend the National Ploughing Championships.

11-1pm – Matrimonial Law. In fourth year we have a lot more freedom with what we study, and I could choose all my topics myself. Matrimonial law is the study of marriage and divorce, and so far is pretty interesting. The most controversial topic of the semester... given gay marriage is illegal in Ireland, if transsexuals have a sex change, should they be allowed marry someone of their old sex?

1pm – Lunch in the Restaurant. Soup and a roll for €1.85

2pm – 11pm (hopefully!) Study in the library

Tuesday

10-11am Middle Eastern Politics. This is my elective class and so far is pretty interesting, especially given how topical it is at the moment.

11-1pm Lunch/library

1-2pm Jurisprudence. The philosophy of law. Most exciting topic this semester... was law under the Nazis really law?

2-4pm Equity – this is definitely my most difficult class. Luckily you don’t have to do it until final year, but it is a requirement for entry into King’s Inns, and I’d rather not restrict my opportunities so I figured I’d cover it. It’s all about fairness and the question of what is real justice and worthy things like that.

7pm Law Review meeting. Law Review is a student run journal that publishes articles written by students. I applied to be on the editorial board this year and have heard it’s a lot of work but very still rewarding. This is the first meeting of the year but I think it's just general introductions. The real work won't start until next semester!

9pm The Ides of March - Something I haven't mentioned as a benefit of being a student yet is your student discount. Tickets to the cinema are going to come to about €4.50 each, half the usual cost! In hounour of cheapness (but not related to it) I am going to include a photo of Ryan Gosling.

Wednesday

I have Admin Law from 11am-1pm and then it’s to the library again. Sometimes it’s so difficult to motivate yourself to stay in late, but as places to study go UCD is pretty good. I always get much more done here than I do at home (p.s. yes I am typing this from the library!)

Thursday

10-11am Middle Eastern Politics. This week a guest lecturer is in to talk to us which should be good. Some lectures are only taught by guest lecturers, a different one every week which can be interesting or not so interesting depending on who they are.

After this it's... to the library again of course! With exams just two weeks away it's really crunch time.

Friday

11-1pm Evidence. This is the real law and order class. We study fingerprinting, line-ups, cross-examining witnesses... CSI eat your heart out!

2-3 Jurisprudence

3pm - Human Rights Advocacy Group. This is a project that was just set up this year by some of the law students in UCD. They’re trying to find a practical use for their law skills, currently targeting human rights abuses in the Phillipines. At the moment we’re focussing on sending letters and emails. This week I wrote to the Justice Department Undersecretary in the country about an issue that we’re looking into.

One of the areas we're focusing on is the mistreatment of street children

7pm – Debating in the quarter final of the Irish Times Debating Championship in DCU which I’m entered in with UCD’s L&H. The 11 goes straight from UCD to DCU so getting there should be fine. The motion is “That This House Believes that if Josef Mengele had discovered a cure for cancer, it’d be morally acceptable to use it.” If anyone has any ideas for proposing that, do leave a comment!