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Law with a Language

This is a very popular programme for students who are interested in pursuing career options involving Law, but who developed an interest and proficiency in languages at School, and enables them to combine the best of both worlds. The four-year degree enables students to accumulate sufficient modules in Law so that they can practise as a Solicitor/Barrister if they wish, but also allows them to develop high-level linguistic skills, including studying specialist courses in Legal French/Spanish.

Full details of the programme are available on the School of Law website. Click here.

Many students who have graduated from this degree choose not to continue to practise Law but instead pursue careers in broadcasting, international diplomacy and the EU institutions. See our Our Graduates.

Amy Dalton, Head of Investment, UK Trade and Investment, Brussels, LLB in Common and Civil Law with French (2007)

I graduated from QUB in 2007 with an LLB in Common and Civil Law with French. Immediately after graduating from QUB, I joined Invest Northern Ireland, working at their European office in Brussels.  Since January 2010, I have worked at the UK Embassy in Brussels as Head of Investment for the commerical wing of the UK government, UK Trade & Investment in Belgium and Luxembourg. My role is to assist companies to establish legal entities in the UK and support their international growth plans.

I chose to make a life and career in Belgium after spending the third year of my QUB degree programme as an Erasmus student at the Université Catholique de Louvain studying European and Belgian law in the French language. The degree from QUB with the year of study abroad allowed me to master a second language and in combination with the skills gained from having studied law gave me a real advantage on a competitive job market in Brussels.  The LLB from QUB also allowed me to continue my studies and I have since obtained an LLM in International Business Law from Anglia Ruskin University.


Paul Doris is welcomed by His Majesty the King of Spain, Don Juan Carlos II, to a luncheon at the Spanish Royal Palace hosted in honour of the former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese and her husband, Dr. Martin McAleese, on the occasion of the official presidential visit to Spain in March 2011.

Paul Doris, Skadden, Arps, LLB Common and Civil Law with Spanish (1997)

Paul Doris is counsel in the London corporate practice of Skadden, Arps (www.skadden.com), one of the world's leading law firms with 23 offices and approximately 1,800 attorneys.

Mr Doris focuses primarily on international mergers and acquisitions, private equity and infrastructure transactions.  Having practised English corporate law primarily in London and also in Madrid, Frankfurt and Paris, he has extensive experience of international corporate transactions in Western Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom and Spain. 

He also has significant experience of international corporate transactions in Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, India and the Middle East.  He has been listed as a leading lawyer in the Chambers Global and European Guides to the World's Best Lawyers.

Whilst practising law in Madrid, Mr Doris also served as President of the Spanish-Irish Business Network, a dynamic association with over 500 individual and corporate members which seeks to promote business links between Spain and Ireland.  In his capacity as President, Mr Doris represented the SIBN at various events alongside senior representatives of multinational companies such as International Airlines Group, Telefónica, Dell, O2 and Primark.  Whilst in Madrid, he also regularly lectured on international private equity and venture capital at IE Business School and IE Law School.

Mr Doris graduated in first place on his degree course (BA (Hons) Common and Civil Law and Hispanic Studies) and was awarded the Xavier Giralt Prize for exceptional academic performance.  As an integral part of his degree course, he spent one academic year studying Spanish law at the University of Salamanca, achieving 'Matrícula de Honor'.

Mark Abraham, HR manager, Lloyds Banking Group, Edinburgh, LLB Law with French (2010)

I graduated from Queen’s in July 2010 having studied Law with French. Since graduating I have worked in various roles. The first programme that I undertook was a 6 month placement in a NGO in France, as part of the Leonardo da Vinci programme. This programme was a lot like the Erasmus year abroad scheme, except you could choose to do a work placement in a country where you felt you had language proficiency and it was also paid. Being mindful of the difficulty in attaining practical legal experience in Northern Ireland, I felt this placement would position me well to apply for jobs based back in the domestic market as well developing my skill set. I was able to use my language skills in a very practical way in undertaking legal research, teaching and preparing court submission for the Immigration Tribunals in Paris. This experience, as well as my language proficiency from both my year abroad andwork placement, was incremental in being accepted for a role within the Forensic Services department of PwC. Throughout my time at PwC I have had the opportunity to work on a varied range of projects undertaking due diligence, asset tracing and strategic due diligence on a number of companies and individuals on a global scale. I have also been afforded the opportunity to develop my Spanish language skills and quickly found that these were heavily used on a range of projects. My experience within PwC and its reputation as a global firm was therefore an excellent point of reference for my new employer, Lloyds Banking Group; where I have accepted a role as an HR manager, commencing in September 2012. I expect that in my new role my language skills was also beof huge importance and permit me to again work on many different projects.

Patrick Cassidy, Policy Advisor, European Parliament, LLB Law with French (2009)

Since graduation from QUB in July 2009, I earned a UK Government scholarship to study at the College of Europe in Bruges, where I followed as one-year Masters course in European Political and Administrative Studies. This programme helped me in turn to secure a job at the European Parliament as a Policy Adviser on Environment and Public Health, where I have worked since October 2010.

Without doubt, my Queen's experience provided the launch pad for my European career path. My degree choice of Common and Civil Law with French contained an obligatory year as an Erasmus student at the Universite Catholique de Louvain in Belgium, which helped me both perfect my language skills, and acclimatise to living abroad and absorbing new cultures and ways of life.

The quality of Queen's teaching also stood me in good stead for my studies in the highly competitive academic atmosphere of the College of Europe, where the depth and breadth of my Law studies ensured that I already had a firm grasp of the core concepts which I explored further in Bruges. Furthermore, my French studies also prepared me for the daily bi-lingual teaching at the College of Europe, where nobody could survive academically or socially by remaining a monoglot.

Working in the European Parliament and living in Brussels, I continue to use my language skills on a daily basis, whilst the forensic skills of analysis learned during my Law classes in Belfast have certainly been of help in attempting to decipher the frequently obscure and perplexing proposals which we receive from the European Commission!