LLM (International Criminal Law)

Course Overview

The LLM in International Criminal Law provides students with an advanced understanding of the history, structures, law and practice of the various international criminal tribunals and the International Criminal Court.

Students will gain an in-depth knowledge of international criminal law, its component crimes, substantive law and key procedures. Students will also develop an analytical approach to the relationship between other accountability mechanisms, such as truth commissions.

The LLM in International Criminal Law is of interest to those seeking to learn about the growing field of international criminal justice, the role of the International Criminal Court in international affairs and means for holding to account perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Course highlights:

• The Irish Centre for Human Rights is one the world’s premier university-based institutions for the study and promotion of human rights.
• Expert Lecturers deliver programme modules. Our academics are internationally recognised scholars with world-class expertise and impact in the field of international criminal law. Distinguished visitors to the Centre for Human Rights have included Judge Carmel Agius, Senator Robert Badinter, Judge Maureen Harding Clark, Richard Goldstone, President Philippe Kirsch, Judge Theodor Meron, Judge Navanethem Pillay and Judge Kimberly Prost.
• Field trip to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
• A summer school on the International Criminal Court is run annually and students have the opportunity to attend.
• Seminars and workshops are run in collaboration with leading international practitioners in criminal law and human rights.
• Career Support is provided through professional workshops concentrating on internship opportunities, students CV and interview skills. Careers in Law Week also provides an opportunity to meet with law professionals across a spectrum of specialisations.
• Assessment methods include essays, presentations and a research dissertation, while students also engage in research projects, presentations, group work and moot courts.‌

Candidates must be approved by the School of Law. They should preferably hold a Level 8 degree in law or an interdisciplinary degree which includes a substantial law component and in which they have attained a minimum Second Class Honours, Grade 1 standard or its equivalent.

Students who have undertaken and successfully completed the programme tend to fall into one of four categories:

1. those who work within the United Nations (UN) or with UN-affiliated organisations;
2. those who work in NGO and quasi-NGOs— both human rights and development;
3. those who work in academic institutions or pursue a PhD/JD;
4. those who work in diplomatic or government-based work (in the human rights division of the Department of Foreign Affairs, for example).

Within these umbrella categories, students have pursued work in the ICC, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, ICRC, the UN system (Geneva and New York), locally-based NGOs, trade and health organisations, as well as domestic law firm work that draws on international legal mechanisms and research-based work in university research centres, to name but a few.