10.1   Peer relationships with the broader education and training community 

King’s Inns recognises that it is part of a wider educational community nationally and internationally. We maintain strong connections with sister Inns of Court in England and Northern Ireland, fostering collaboration across jurisdictions.

King’s Inns is a designated competent authority under the EU Directive 2005/36 for the recognition of Professional Qualifications.  King’s Inns and the Bar of England & Wales maintain a reciprocal arrangement for fully qualified barristers, and King’s Inns determines Morgenbesser applications.  The Morgenbesser application refers to a legal principle from the EU case of Morgenbesser v. Consiglio dell'Ordine degli avvocati di Genova, which establishes that a national authority's rules for professional qualification must be consistent with EU law. For King's Inns, this applies to applications from EU-qualified lawyers, meaning King’s Inns cannot have unlawful rules that hinder such applications and must provide a process where any shortfall in knowledge can be assessed and addressed, for instance, through specific examinations.

King’s Inns has ongoing relationships with the Law Society of Ireland, the Institute of Professional Legal Studies in Northern Ireland, Bar Vocational providers in England and Wales and the Scottish Faculty of Advocates, including but not limited to attending conferences, and mooting and debating activities.

King’s Inns entry, progression and transfer arrangements recognise the standing of the awards of all other institutions operating with the NFQ framework. These arrangements are described in the Access, Transfer and Progression Policy. (hyperlink)

King’s Inns engages with the professional body – The Bar of Ireland, and the Regulator – the LSRA, regarding membership, pupillage and programmes of education and training.

King’s Inns staff are members of and attend regular meetings and events held by the following:

• QQI - Finding Common Ground,

• Irish Association of Law Teachers, and,

• Informal arrangements with our neighbouring university - TU Dublin.

10.2   External partnerships  

King’s Inns Advanced Diploma in Mediation is accredited by Mediators Institute of Ireland (MII) and subject to MII quality assurance guidelines.

10.3   Expert panellists, examiners and authenticators 

The quality assurance procedures at King’s Inns include explicit criteria and procedures for the engagement of external, independent, national and international (where appropriate) experts to support our quality assurance activities.  These activities include expert panels to evaluate new programme proposals, review panels for programmatic reviews and external examiners across the full range of programmes.  Expert panellists and examiners are selected based on their qualifications and experience. 

The Programme Development and Approval Policy (hyperlink) describes the role of the external Expert Panel in the evaluation of new programme proposals. 

The Programme Monitoring and Review Policy (hyperlink) describes the role of the external Expert Review Group in periodic, in-depth assessment of a programme.

The External Examiner Policy (hyperlink) describes the role of the External Examiner, the identification and appointment of External Examiners, the term of office of External Examiners. the specific responsibilities of External Examiners including attendance at relevant Board of Examiners meeting/s.

King’s Inns works closely with the members of the Judiciary and the Bar of Ireland and has access to practising experts for teaching, tutoring, co-ordination of programmes, assisting in the adjudication of moots and debates, in addition to acting as external examiners and membership of expert review groups or expert panels.