Legal-education award for Law Society MOOC
The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) run by the Law Society’s Diploma Centre has won a prestigious legal-education award in the US.
The course won the Award of Outstanding Achievement in the public-interest category at the 2026 Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA) awards.
T P Kennedy (director of education) and Claire O'Mahony (head of lifelong learning) attended the ceremony in Boston on 26 July to accept the award on behalf of the Law Society.
The accolade recognises excellence and innovation in legal education and highlights the MOOC’s impact in making legal knowledge accessible to learners in Ireland and across the globe.
Flagship initiative
The course, one of the Law Society’s flagship public legal-education initiatives, has attracted more than 41,000 participants from 115 countries since its launch in 2014.
A new, distinct topic is selected each year for the MOOC, reflecting developments across society and emerging legal issues.
Previous topics have included artificial intelligence (AI), social media and the law, ESG (environmental, social, and governance), and environmental law and climate change.
Each year, thousands of learners join the free online course, engaging with expert lectures, interactive quizzes, and discussion forums.
Legal outreach
The programme has also welcomed several distinguished keynote speakers over the years – including former president Mary Robinson and former taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
T P Kennedy described the award as “a great honour”.
“The annual MOOC has been running for 12 years and has proved to be our most successful form of legal outreach,” he stated.
“It has given us the opportunity to present courses on a wide variety of topics and to reflect on their impact. We are looking forward to continuing this programme," the director of education added.
This year's MOOC, on social media, AI, and the law, runs until 31 July.