Bachelor of Laws (Graduate Entry)
Course code/s: LVLGEB Bendigo
Course Description
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. Students undertake their first full-time year of study at Bendigo campus (8-9 subjects) and then normally apply to transfer into the equivalent degree program at Melbourne campus, where they complete the remainder of their course. However, students who wish to remain in Bendigo are offered the ability to complete their later year core subjects and some electives through e-learning and/or intensive courses. Currently there is only one intake per year at Bendigo campus in semester one. The program offers an innovative, high quality legal education with a strong global and social justice perspective and a real emphasis on hands-on experiences. It includes all the compulsory law subjects required by the Council of Legal Education for admission to practice in Victoria and a wide range of law electives, many with a practical skills component, such as clinical legal education, communication and advocacy skills, and negotiation. 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 covering areas such as Dispute Resolution, Contract and Tort Law, Criminal Law and Principles of Public Law. The second and third years address other areas of private law obligation such as 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 Statutory Interpretation, 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 360 credit points in law subjects
- complete a total of 24 law subjects (18 compulsory subjects and 6 electives)
Course structure
Students will normally complete eight core law subjects at Bendigo, then complete the remainder of their program at Melbourne (second and third year). Prior to transfer, students can also enrol in law electives at the Melbourne Campus in summer and winter school and may be able to complete one law clinic placement subject at Bendigo. However, students who wish to remain in Bendigo are offered the ability to complete their later year core subjects and some electives through e-learning and/or intensive courses.
First year
|
Teaching period |
Subject title | Subject code |
|---|---|---|
| TE-SEM-1 | Dispute Resolution | LAW1DR |
| TE-SEM-1 | Legal Institutions and Methods | LAW1LIM |
| TE-SEM-1 | Principles of Tort Law | LAW2TOT |
| TE-SEM-1 | Contract Law A | LAW2CTA |
| TE-SEM-2 | Contract Law B | LAW2CTB |
| TE-SEM-2 | Principles of Criminal Law | LAW1CRL |
| TE-SEM-2 | Principles of Public Law | LAW1PPL |
| TE-SEM-2 | Principles of Constitutional Law | LAW2CSL |
Second year
|
Teaching period |
Subject title | Subject code |
|---|---|---|
| TE-SEM-1 | Foundations of Property Law | LAW2FPL |
| TE-SEM-1 | Evidence and Criminal Procedure | LAW2ECP |
| TE-SEM-1 | Statutory Interpretation | LAW2STA |
| TE-SEM-1 | One law elective | |
| TE-SEM-2 | Real Property Law | LAW2RPT |
| TE-SEM-2 | Civil Procedure | LAW2CIV |
| TE-SEM-2 | Two law electives |
Third year
|
Teaching period |
Subject title | Subject code |
|---|---|---|
| TE-SEM-1 | Company Law | LAW3CMP |
| TE-SEM-1 | Principles of Equity and Trusts | LAW3ETR |
| TE-SEM-1 | Two 3rd year law electives | |
| TE-SEM-2 | Principles of Administrative Law | LAW3ADN |
| TE-SEM-2 | Remedies | LAW3REM |
| TE-SEM-2 | Legal Practice and Conduct | LAW3LPC |
| TE-SEM-2 | 3rd year law elective |
Law Electives at Bendigo
Subject to application, Bendigo and Melbourne students can undertake a placement at the Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Centre or another legal organisation for academic credit by enrolling into an elective subject called Rural and Regional Issues in Justice (LAW2RRJ).
Prior to transfer, students can also enrol in law electives at the Melbourne Campus in summer and winter school. Most of these subjects are subject to application and quota. Bendigo students can also complete any online law electives offered by La Trobe Law School.
Law Electives at Melbourne
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 choose from 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 domestic or international undergraduate rates as the case may be. 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 and/or Geneva. The School has an excellent track record in national and international competitive mooting.
Honours
High achieving students may apply to undertake Honours in the law program in the final year of their law studies. Normally students require an average grade of B+ in their law subjects prior to their final year. Honours comprises a research component and a series of compulsory research seminars. Students must complete a 10 000-word thesis (which takes the place of two law electives) on a topic to be approved by the Convenor of the Honours Program. Ten compulsory research seminars are conducted across the year and students 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.
Professional 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.