Diploma in Trust & Estate Planning (STEP)

How to Apply
All applicants must complete the application form and submit same, together with a curriculum vitae and cover letter, to diplomateam@lawsociety.ie before 31 August 2011 for pre-approval. Please see below for specific entry requirements.

Entry Requirements
This diploma course is intended primarily for persons who have practical experience in the areas of wills, trusts, estate planning, probate and administration of estates within Ireland.  Eligible applicants include the following:

• Any person with one or more of the following qualifications and who has relevant work experience of at least two years in the area: Solicitor, Barrister, Certified Accountant, Chartered Accountant, Associate or Fellow of the Irish Taxation Institute, Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (Trustee Diploma), Associate of the Institute of Bankers in Ireland (Diploma in Wealth Management), Members of the Irish Institute of Legal Executives or another professional qualification deemed equivalent by the Law Society and STEP.  If you are relying on work experience for entry to the course, your application must be accompanied by a cover letter setting out that experience; or
• Solicitors who have completed the advanced probate and taxation module on PPC II within the last five years.

The cover letter accompanying your application form should set out the specific basis, referring to the above criteria, on which you are claiming entry to the diploma.

What if I do not meet the entry requirements for the diploma?
For persons who do not have the requisite practical experience or who have not completed the PPC II advanced probate and taxation module, STEP and the Law Society will run an eight week foundation certificate course which will commence on Saturday 10 September 2011.  Successful completion of the certificate will permit entry to the diploma course.  Those that complete the certificate and go on to attend the diploma will be eligible for a €350 discount on their diploma application. 

• Download a draft Trust & Estate Planning (Diploma) timetable

Course Objectives
This course is designed to enable successful candidates to advise clients on all aspects of the creation of wills, the operation of trusts, associated tax implications and overall estate planning for clients.  Practical in its approach, this course provides participants with real life situations that are faced by practitioners and gives real solutions to problems encountered.

The Law Society of Ireland and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) offer this course jointly.  Candidates who successfully complete the diploma but who have less than two years work experience in the areas of wills, trusts and estate planning are eligible for Associate Membership of STEP Ireland.  Successful diploma candidates and Associate STEP members with the requisite professional qualification and two or more years work experience in the areas of estate planning, trusts and administration of estates are eligible to apply for full membership of STEP.  Any full member is authorised to use the designation TEP and be described as a Registered Trust and Estate Practitioner.  All course participants will automatically become student members of STEP Worldwide, and this is included in your course fee.   This is one of the routes towards STEP membership in Ireland and provides a structured route to qualification.

Note: successful completion of the diploma course does not of itself confer full membership of STEP – please see STEP Ireland’s website (www.step.ie) for full details of membership criteria.

Course Structure
The course runs over six months and is divided into five modules:

• Module One:  Estate Planning
• Module Two:  Wills & Probate
• Module Three:  Trusts
• Module Four:  Administration of Trusts and Estates
• Module Five:  Taxation of Trusts and Estates

Workshops
Workshops are an important element of all our diploma courses.  Workshops are ‘hands-on’ sessions conducted in smaller groups that consolidate the learning process and promote a deeper understanding of course materials.  All students, regardless of their standard method of accessing the course, are strongly recommended to attend onsite for the following workshop sessions:

Saturday 14 January 2012, 11.30am to 3.00pm
Saturday 03 March 2012, 11.30am to 3.00pm
Saturday 31 March 2012, 11.30am to 3.00pm

We also strongly recommend that you attend onsite for the introductory lectures on Saturday 12 November 2011.

Delivery Method: Blended learning via webcasting resource
All lectures will take place in the Education Centre in Blackhall Place. However to facilitate those students unable to attend Dublin on a weekly basis, lectures will also be webcast ‘live’ on our secure internet site. This means that students can decide to attend the onsite lecture or, alternatively, to access the lecture online via the course website for such courses.  In addition, lectures will be archived within the course website for the duration of the course and can be viewed at a later date on demand by all students.  We encourage students to either attend onsite or watch the lectures live so they keep up with lectures and to only use the ‘catch up’ on demand facility as a default.  We want to give the remote student an authentic lecture theatre experience therefore we have customized our design to include an instant message feature whereby those watching live webcasts can send messages via the webcast page to the course leader/course tutor in the lecture theatre and their question will be put to the lecturer.  Courses that are running in the green hall will be podcast recordings, which mean that the audio recordings will be available on moodle.

If you intend to rely on the webcasting resource, we ask that you ensure prior to the application process that your home/office PC is compatible with the relevant software.  This requires a very straightforward test, go to: http://diplomalaw.learnonline.ie/course/view.php

Username: testwebcast
Password: testwebcast

If you cannot view the webcast follow the instructions provided.  There may be local factors such as 'firewalls' and we suggest that at first instance you check with your IT provider.

Lecturers
Our lecturers are drawn from solicitors, barristers, financial and other professionals with a variety of probate, tax and financial backgrounds.  All lecturers are Members of the STEP Ireland and are experienced practitioners in the area of wills, probate, trusts and tax management of estates.  Previous lecturers have included:

• Cormac Brennan,Solicitor, McCann FitzGerald
• Maureen Carolan, Personal Trust Manager, Bank of Ireland Private Banking 
• Nuala Casey, Consultant, Daly Lynch Crowe & Morris 
• Denis Cremins, Managing Director, Carlisle Advisory Services Limited
• Patricia Rickard-Clarke, Commissioner, Law Reform Commission 
• Amanda-Jayne Comyn, BL
• Mary Condell, Solicitor, Porter Morris  
• Anne Corrigan, BL
• John Costello, Consultant, Beauchamps
• Hilary Coveney, Partner, Matheson Ormsby Prentice
• Maureen Dolan, Partner, McCann FitzGerald
• John Donnelly, BL
• Catherine Duggan, BL
• Paula Fallon, Principal, Paul Fallon & Associates
• Frances Feeney, Managing Director, Social Capital Ireland Limited
• Ailish Finnerty, Partner, Arthur Cox
• John Gill, Partner, Matheson Ormsby Prentice
• Edel Hargaden, Associate & Tax Advisor, Arthur Cox
• Carol Hogan, Associate, William Fry
• Aileen Keogan, Principal, Aileen Keogan
• Nora Lillis, Partner, William Fry
• Paraic Madigan, Partner, Matheson Ormsby Prentice
• Barry-John MacDonald, Director, MacDonald Financial Consulting Ltd
• Justin McKenna, Partner, Partners at Law
• Michelle McLoughlin, Principal, M McLoughlin & Co
• John O’Connor, Principal, John O’Connor
• Annette O’Connell, Probate Officer, The Probate Office
• Susan O’Connell, Partner, McCann FitzGerald
• Finola O’Hanlon, Tax Consultant, O’Hanlon Tax Limited
• Edmond O’Regan, Executor & Trustee Services, AIB Bankcentre
• Teresa Pilkington, BL
• Beryl Power, Senior Tax Manager, PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Brian Spierin, Senior Counsel
• Anne Stephenson, Principal, Stephenson Solicitors
• Úna Tighe, BL.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are not a qualified solicitor, trainee or barrister – you must send a CV & cover letter for approval. Such applications are subject to a supplemental fee, which amounts to a supplement of €150 in respect of a diploma application and a supplement of €75 in respect of a certificate application.

For further information on this course, contact the Diploma team - diplomateam@lawsociety.ie