Courses and programs offered
Bachelor of Laws (Graduate Entry) (LBLG)
The Bachelor of Laws (Graduate Entry) is a three-year degree which provides graduates with an accredited professional qualification in law without having to complete the additional non-law subjects required in the four-year undergraduate law degree. It includes all the compulsory subjects required by the Council of Legal Education for admission to legal practice in Victoria, as well as a broad range of electives, many with a practical skills component, such as clinical legal education, communication and advocacy skills, and negotiation. Students who receive advanced standing for prior law-related tertiary study may, by taking some summer and/or winter School subjects, be able to complete the degree in two and a half years full-time. Students can study full-time or part-time. The core component of the program is very structured. The first year provides students with a strong theoretical and practical foundation for their future law studies through a combination of skills-based and public and private law subjects including Dispute Resolution, Torts, Criminal Law and Principles of Public Law. The second and third years address other areas of private law obligation such as contract law, property law and Equity and Trusts. Students also examine key aspects of statutory regulation, which impact on the common law, corporate regulation, principles of administrative review, and additional practice-related requirements such as Civil Procedure and Professional Conduct and Ethics. Elective subjects allow students to construct a specialisation in an area of interest (see further below).
Admission requirements
Successful completion of an Australian Bachelor’s degree or equivalent. Applicants who have completed an undergraduate degree in a language other than English must submit an IELTS (or equivalent) test result with a minimum overall band score of 6.5 with no individual score less than 6.0. Applicants may apply through Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC).
Degree requirements
Students must:
- complete a total of at least three years’ full-time study or its equivalent
- complete in sequence the compulsory law subjects
- complete a total of 375 credit points in law subjects
- complete a total of 22 law subjects (15 compulsory subjects and 7 electives)
Course structure
First year
| Teaching period |
Subject title | Subject code | Credit points |
|---|---|---|---|
| TE-SEM-1 | Dispute Resolution | LAW1DR | 15 |
| TE-SEM-1 | Legal Institutions and Methods1 | LAW1LIM | 15 |
| either | |||
| TE-SEM-1 | Law of Torts2 | LAW2TOR | 20 |
| or | |||
| TE-SEM-1 | One law elective3 | 15 | |
| TE-SEM-2 | Constitutional Law | LAW2CNL | 20 |
| TE-SEM-2 | Criminal Law | LAW2CRM | 20 |
| TE-SEM-2 | Principles of Public Law4 | LAW2PPL | 15 |
Second year
| Teaching period |
Subject title | Subject code | Credit points |
|---|---|---|---|
| TE-SEM-1 | Law of Contracts5 | LAW2CNT | 20 |
| either | |||
| TE-SEM-1 | Law of Torts | LAW2TOR | 20 |
| or | One law elective6 | 15 | |
| TE-SEM-1 | Criminal Procedure and Evidence | LAW3CPE | 20 |
| TE-SEM-1 | One law elective7 | 15 | |
| TE-SEM-2 | Civil Procedure8 | LAW3CIV | 15 |
| TE-SEM-2 | Commercial and Consumer Contracts | LAW2CCC | 15 |
| TE-SEM-2 | Property Law | LAW3PRP | 20 |
| TE-SEM-2 | One law elective7 | 15 |
Third year
| Teaching period |
Subject title | Subject code | Credit points |
|---|---|---|---|
| TE-SEM-1 | Corporations Law | LAW4COR | 20 |
| TE-SEM-1 | Law of Equity and Trusts | LAW3EQT | 20 |
| TE-SEM-1 | Two law electives7, 10 | 30 | |
| TE-SEM-2 | Administrative Law | LAW3ADM | 20 |
| TE-SEM-2 | Civil Procedure8 | LAW3CIV | 15 |
| TE-SEM-2 | Legal Practice and Conduct8, 9 | LAW4LPC | 15 |
| TE-SEM-2 | Two law electives10 | 30 |
Key: 1 This program is designed for full-time students. Part-time students should attempt to complete core subjects in first and second years before attempting law electives. Part-time students must complete Legal Institutions and Methods (LAW1LIM) before Dispute Resolution (LAW1DR); and Criminal Law (LAW2CRM) before Principles of Public Law (LAW2PPL), if they cannot be undertaken concurrently.
2 Only full-time students are permitted to enrol in LAW2TOR in lieu of an elective. Part-time students must normally complete LAW1LIM and LAW1DR.
3 Graduate students may be able to take a subject from the Master of Laws in Global Business Law in winter school in lieu of this elective.
4 Part-time students should complete the introductory subject, Principles of Public Law (LAW2PPL), before Constitutional Law (LAW2CNL) if they cannot be undertaken concurrently.
5 Part-time students, if required to make a choice in second year, should complete Law of Contracts (LAW2CNT) in preference to Criminal Procedure and Evidence (LAW3CPE); they should complete Commercial and Consumer Contracts (LAW2CCC) immediately after Law of Contracts; and must complete Law of Contracts before Property Law (LAW3PRP) and Property Law before Equity and Trusts (LAW3EQT).
6 Only students who have taken LAW2TOR in first year should take this elective.
7 It is recommended that students take some of these electives in summer or winter school to reduce the workload during teaching periods 1 and 2.
8 Students wishing to fast track their degree may be able to take subjects equivalent to LAW3CIV and LAW4LPC in summer school at Monash University on a cross-institutional basis, but this may be on a fee-paying basis only.
9 Alternatively, students may apply for a place in the 30-credit point subject, Legal Practice and Conduct Clinical Placement (LAW4LPP), which counts as one law elective, as well as the core subject, LAW4LPC. LAW4LPP can be taken in teaching periods 1 or 2, but is subject to quota. LAW3CPE is a prerequisite or co-requisite.
10 Honours students enrol in LAW4THA Law Honours Thesis Part A in teaching period 1 and LAW4THB Law Honours Thesis Part B in teaching period 2, which count as two electives.
Law electives
Students wishing to study part-time are encouraged to complete core subjects before elective subjects in the early years of the program so they complete the prerequisites for future core and elective subjects. This will give greater choice and flexibility in later years and will permit students to cluster their electives in an area of interest or specialisation. Although law electives carry a year-level code, students can undertake electives at any stage of their degree, subject to prerequisites. Students can specialise in areas such as alternative dispute resolution, corporations and commercial law, criminal law and criminal justice, income taxation law, international law and human rights, and public interest law, and access to justice.
Subject to quota and pre-requisites, students are also permitted to take up to four of the subjects offered in the Master of Laws in Global Business Law as law electives at CSP rates and can expect to receive advanced standing for two of these subjects should they later enrol in this LLM coursework program at La Trobe. Students in the graduate law program can take the GBL subjects from first year. Undergraduate law students can normally take these subjects only in the penultimate or final year of their law studies. These subjects are offered in block release mode in summer or winter school. Alternatively, final-year students may be permitted to enrol in up to four Public Interest Law subjects within the Masters in Law. The School also offers many subjects with a practical skills component, such as clinical legal education, communication and advocacy and mooting. Students can, if they wish, undertake a placement at the West Heidelberg Community Legal Service or within a legal aid environment. Opportunities also exist for judicial mentoring and to work under supervision in government and non-government legal organisations both within Australia and overseas (through an externship program). The School also offers other opportunities for students to study overseas, including semester-long exchanges, intensive winter school programs run by Duke University School of Law in Hong Kong and Geneva, and a new Introduction to Chinese Law summer school subject run in Shanghai. Subject to sufficient interest, suitably qualified and successful students can also participate in the Willem C Vis (Far East) International Commercial Arbitration mooting competition in Hong Kong.
Honours
High achieving students may apply to undertake Honours in the law program in the final year of their law studies. Normally a grade of B average over two full-time years of law study is required. Students must complete a 10,000-word thesis (which takes the place of two law electives) on a topic to be approved by the Director of Honours Research and Graduate Studies. Honours comprises a research component and a compulsory research seminar. The compulsory research seminar is conducted throughout the year. Students must attend at least six of the sessions and are required to present a paper on their individual research project.
Those students undertaking a double degree will also need to refer to the other School’s entry in the Handbook for information on Honours.
Profession recognition
All La Trobe University Law courses include the subjects required by the Victorian Council of Legal Education to qualify for admission to legal practice. Admission to practice as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria usually requires the completion of a traineeship (formerly referred to as articles of clerkship) or an approved practical legal training course (for example, the Leo Cussen Institute or the College of Law Victoria).
Those students undertaking a double degree will also need to refer to the other School’s entry in the Handbook for information on accreditation.