Legal Studies

This course explores fundamental questions on law: What is the nature of law? What is the relation between law and morality or other norms? What is justice? The course critically analyzes selected readings and discusses the key questions in the philosophy of law.

This covers how international disputes are settled (or not) under international law. The class focuses on international disputes and examines how international law is applied to legal issues of disputes. Students obtain a critical approach to international law in perspective of its role and limits. This course also examines other mechanisms of dispute settlement developed in specific areas of international law. There are no prerequisites, and no prior knowledge in international law will be assumed. This course is primarily for students who have not studied international law before. Students with different backgrounds in international law are also welcome in this course. 

This course provides students with an opportunity to explore various actual cross-border M&A (merger and acquisition) transactions including outbound and in-bound investments and related contracts and processes from a practitioner’s perspective. 

Under the guidance of professors or lawyers at legal clinics or legal counseling centers on campus or at law offices off campus, students gain experience through participation in planning, due diligence, contract drafting and negotiation exercises. The course allows students to experience the practical aspects of working on cross-border M&A transactions and to equip them with the ability to spot potential issues and come up with solutions in the context of such transactions, thereby helping to prepare them for a future career as an international corporate practitioner. The course is conducted in English, with an emphasis on enhancing the students’ ability to communicate in English and handle English language documents, which are critically important skills for engaging in international transactional work. 

This course promotes comprehensive understanding of international environmental law, one of the fastest growing fields of the international law. It reviews theories, historical developments, and major international environmental agreements. The course takes interdisciplinary approaches, considering distinctive features of environmental problems, the development of principles and the formation of the international environmental regimes, the roles of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, the inter-linkages that exist between the environment and trade, investment, and human rights. Various simulation negotiations will be used to encourage students' participation.  

This course examines a variety of theoretical perspectives on the reasons why people commit crime, what constitutes crime, and how states respond to crime. Students explore a range of theories from classical and positivist approaches, to sociological theories, to feminist approaches, and contemporary research. The relevance of these theories to the case of Ireland, and aspects of criminal justice internationally are also assessed.