Bachelor of Laws

Australian LLB programs require the Priestley 11 (the 11 core areas needed for admission to practise). At the UC School of Law and Justice (Faculty of Business, Government and Law) year one covers Foundations of Law, Criminal Law and Procedure, Torts and Australian Public Law (Constitutional and Administrative). Year two carries Contract, Property, Equity, Civil Procedure, Legal Research and Writing. Year three layers Corporations Law, Evidence, Federal Constitutional Law and elective streams (commercial, public-interest, environmental, indigenous, criminal). Year four (the LLB is four years standalone) features Practical Legal Training-aligned electives, mooting, a research-led thesis option and the UC Legal Clinic (a working community legal centre based on the Bruce campus, supervised by qualified solicitors). UC is unusually practical in its delivery - all LLB students are required to complete the UC Legal Clinic placement or an equivalent work-integrated learning unit. Tutorials run at 18 to 30 students with weekly case reading of 80 to 150 pages. Assessment in core units is exam-heavy (50 to 70 percent finals) with research essays and seminar engagement. Most students stack the BA, BCom, BBus or BPolicy as a combined degree.

UC LLB students complete the UC Legal Clinic (an on-campus community legal centre at the Bruce campus that operates as a working practice under qualified solicitor supervision). Students provide free legal advice to ACT community members under the Legal Profession Uniform Law student practice rules, including drafting letters, attending court for client interviews and producing case notes. Additional work-integrated learning placements run with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ACT DPP), Legal Aid ACT, Australian Government Solicitor and federal department legal teams (Attorney-Generals Department, Home Affairs, DFAT).

An LLB alone does not admit you to practise. Graduates complete Practical Legal Training (PLT - the UC Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice integrates PLT into the degree for many students, or the College of Law) then apply for admission as a lawyer to the Supreme Court of the ACT (which has a national admission effect). The UC LLB Honours stream is the canonical route into associateships at the High Court, Federal Court and Supreme Court of the ACT. Many graduates do the Master of Laws (LLM) for specialty work in commercial, environmental or international law. The Juris Doctor (JD) is the postgraduate equivalent for non-LLB graduates. Common combined degrees at UC include LLB with Business, Commerce, Politics and International Relations, Arts and Communication.