Friday, 31 May 2013

Cr1 - Criminal Law: Introduction to the Criminal Law Syllabus & Definition of Key Terms

HERE WE GO - First Podcast! 

We're going to start with Criminal Law. In it, we're going to have a look at the syllabus, a quick overview of the Topics on the syllabus, the reading list, some key statutes mentioned and finally we will examine some of the Key terms, including 'crime', 'elements of a crime', 'mens rea', 'actus reus', 'punishment', and 'classifications of crimes'. Any comments, thoughts, additions, complaints and corrections email me at preparingforkingsinns@gmail.com or leave a comment below.

Contents: 

1. Introduction to Criminal Law Podcast Series (abbrev. Cr)
2. Overview of the Syllabus & Reading List
3. Defining the Key Terms in Criminal Law

Monday, 20 May 2013

Starting Something New

A sense of dread fills your heart when you begin to undertake something new, particularly when you have to face that challenge alone. I felt that dread recently when I decided to prepare to sit the Entrance Exams in order to complete the BL Degree at the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Dublin and hopefully, on completion of that degree, to be called to the Irish Bar. There are five exams. They fall the third week of August and I haven't studied three of the examinable subjects since my first year in College in the 2006/07 Academic Year. Many questions arose initially, such as 'Can I do this?', 'Do I have enough time?', 'Will I pass?', 'Are my notes up to date?', and 'Where can I get some help?'. I don't live in Dublin, nor do I have the resources to attend a private preparation course, but it occurred to me that there must be many hundreds of others in the same position. I have decided to seek you out friends. I propose to make a series of short and interesting 'Study Podcasts' from my notes, books, articles and resources and share them with you. I will limit them to 35 minutes for a 'Full Topic Treatment Podcast' and to 10 minutes for a 'Rapid Recap Podcast'. I'm sure many of you are very busy and haven't as much time to study as you would like to have.I am in the fortunate position of being able to dedicate the next three months to solely preparing for the Bar Entrance Exams. There doesn't appear to be any support or resources available online so I decided to start something myself. My job will be to keep on top of the topics and present the fruit of my study to you in a clear, concise, informative and enjoyable manner over the next 100 days or so. Your job is to listen, to comment, to correct the errors I will most certainly make and to help me further this project. Perhaps you could record a Podcast summarising your study and personal understanding of a particular topic and make it available for the Blog. As for a recording device, the voice memo on your Iphone is excellent. In this manner friends, we can assist one another in our studies, virtually!
You can comment on the posts directly or reach me by email at preparingforkingsinns@gmail.com. I'm looking forward to hearing from you.