The Law Society’s Diploma Centre at Blackhall Place has won Public Sector magazine’s ‘Education Support’ category at this year’s Excellence in Business Awards.

The Diploma Centre, as part of the Education Centre’s law school, is recognised as one of Ireland’s leading providers of professional legal education.

Now celebrating its 20th year, the Diploma Centre offers an impressive portfolio of over 80 post-graduate courses.

Ranging from certificates and diplomas to Masters’ programmes, all courses are offered part-time to suit the needs of busy working professionals.

For the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic, all courses have been delivered online through the Law Society’s webcasting system.

This technology can record, stream, and replay courses online and via podcast, thus providing flexible learning options.

In addition, the courses offer interaction with lecturers, tutors, and fellow students to ensure a positive and engaging learning experience, and networking opportunities.

Pre-pandemic, participants had the option of onsite learning at the state-of-the-art campus at Blackhall Place in Dublin 7.

Range

The diverse range of courses attracts professionals from many disciplines.

“Our goal is to help both legal practitioners and non-legal professionals to advance their careers through continuing education,” explains Claire O’Mahony (acting head of the Diploma Centre, pictured).

“There was a misconception that only lawyers could participate in our courses, but that is definitely not the case.

“There has been growth, year-on-year, of non-legal professionals enrolling, with a high percentage of participants coming from the public sector.

Courses of specific interest to public-sector employees are in the areas of regulation, compliance, and enforcement.

Diplomas in Compliance and Risk Management, the Diploma in Regulation Law, and the Certificate in Enforcement in Public Bodies, lead the way in their field.

There is also a strong and growing interest in the perennially popular data-protection and commercial contracts certificates. Numerous public sector employees have opted for the Diploma in Law in recent years.

The advantage of undertaking a course with the Diploma Centre is the in-depth coverage of legal theory, and the very real focus on the practical application of that knowledge in workshop sessions.

Accepting the Public Sector Education Support award 2021 on behalf of her team, Claire O’Mahony said: “We are delighted with the recognition for our programmes and thank the public sector for all the support.

Practicality

“We are committed to providing courses that reflect value, relevance and practicality and serve the needs of the public sector.”

“Congratulations to the entire Diploma Centre team, which works tirelessly to deliver excellent, flexible legal education,” Claire added.

Starting tonight (18 May), the Diploma Centre will again offer a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), as part of its public legal education remit.

This year’s topic is environmental law and climate change.

The course runs over five weeks until late June and is offered free of charge to all participants.

Climate justice

The MOOC will cover such topics as climate justice, the circular economy and green finance, with renowned politicians and lawyers invited to speak, including Dr Mary Robinson.

Anyone who would like to enrol for a course or tonight’s environmental law MOOC should visit www.lawsociety.ie/diplomacentre.