Bachelor of Laws

This course is no longer available to new students.

The Melbourne LLB is innovative, forward looking and responsive to the changing needs of legal practice and scholarship. A feature of the law course at Melbourne is the seminar format of teaching in first-year subjects. Students are taught in small groups, which allows the maximum degree of student-teacher and student-student interaction. Significant perspectives on law (cross-cutting influences) are developed in a coordinated way throughout the curriculum. The cross-cutting influences particularly pertinent to the Melbourne LLB include: legal theory, ethics, comparative approaches to law, regulation, legal history, indigenous culture, law and policy, inter-cultural approaches, theoretical perspectives on law, cross jurisdictional law and practice, law reform and policy, and interdisciplinary influences on the law.

The Melbourne LLB also has a range of optional subjects which has been designed to enable students to acquire knowledge in a range of different areas of law to deepen their understanding of particular areas of law. These optional subjects are grouped into the following broad areas: Asian Law; Corporate and Commercial Law; Criminal Law and Justice; Dispute Resolution; Family Law; Indigenous issues in the Law; Intellectual Property; Media and Information Technology Law; International and Comparative Law; Labour Law; Legal Theory; Taxation Law.

This course has as its objectives that graduates:

• Understand, and can identify, use, and evaluate rules, concepts, and principles of law, their derivation, and the various theories that attempt to systematise them;
• Have acquired the techniques of legal reasoning and argument, in oral and written form;
• Understand the institutions of the law, and their social, economic and poltical context;
• Have learnt to find the law, to carry out independent research and anlysis, and to think creatively about legal problems;
• Have a continuing interest in law and obtain satisfaction from its study and practice;
• Develop a critical interests in the reform of the law;
• Can appreciate the responsibilities of lawyers to the courts, the legal profession, the community and individuals within it; and
• Are committed to promote justice.

The Melbourne LLB is a professional degree allowing you to specialize in a particular field of Law and to meet the academic requirements for admission to legal practice.

The Melbourne LLB comprises 32 semester subjects or the equivalent, taken over 4 years (full-time) or 8 years (part-time). The program is condensed to 3 years (24 subjects) for graduate students who meet the requirements for admission.

Current students who commenced the LLB prior to 2006, can check My Course Plan on the Melbourne LLB website, to see the degree pathway and components of study they will need to complete to meet the academic requirements for admission to legal practice.

From 2006, the Melbourne LLB will comprise the following components of study:

• 14 Compulsory subjects (required for admission to legal practice);
• 2 Quasi-Compulsory subjects (required for admission to legal practice);
• 8 Optional law subjects (taken for purposes of specialization or interest);
• 8 Subjects taken from other Faculties (for broader education and general knowledge).

The final intake of students into the Bachelor of Laws program took place in 2007. From 2008 no further intake of first year students into this degree program will occur. Students interested in undertaking a degree in Law may apply for Melbourne University's Juris Doctor. Further details are available on the Melbourne JD website at: http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/jd

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this course are articulated in the Course Overview and Objectives sections of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

The final intake of students into the Bachelor of Laws program took place in 2007. From 2008 no further intake of first year students into this degree program will occur. Students interested in undertaking a degree in Law may apply for Melbourne University's Juris Doctor. Further details are available on the Melbourne JD website at: http://www.law.unimelb.edu.au/jd