The Juris Doctor and the embedded Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the University of Newcastle is designed to equip you the knowledge, clinical experience and qualification for admission into legal practice in Australia.

You will study the Juris Doctor concurrently with the Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice, allowing you to develop both high level academic and legal skills, whilst also providing practical and real-world experience.

Offered at a postgraduate level, the Juris Doctor prepares you to be a career ready graduate with the skills and extensive knowledge to become a leader in Australian and global legal practice.

Completing the Juris Doctor will see you contribute to the University of Newcastle Legal Centre, getting involved in real cases and providing an important service to the community.

In today’s competitive employment market, employers are looking for highly qualified graduates with a wide range of skills. Even if you do not want to become a lawyer, the Juris Doctor will provide you with a multifaceted skill and knowledge base to help you in your chosen career. It will enhance your academic and professional qualifications and make you a more desirable employee.

You will study in a tight-knit, interactive learning community with highly qualified and award-winning academic staff dedicated to your success. You will experience a friendly and supportive learning environment and you will benefit from a comfortable student-teacher ratio, which creates a personalised learning environment. You can expect:

• Small tutorial class sizes
• Dedicated and accessible teachers
• First-name terms with academic staff
• A tight-knit student community

The Juris Doctor / Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice comprises of 280 units (i.e 28 x 10 unit courses), which includes 200 units of core courses including the Legal Practice courses, plus 80 units of directed courses chosen from a list of 27 courses. Find out more

First-rate classroom tuition combined with practical, hands-on experience prepares and qualifies you to enter legal practice immediately after completing your Juris Doctor / Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice. Find out more

Graduating with the Juris Doctor / Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice gives you the skills and knowledge to practice as a lawyer, and is also the springboard to a range of exciting non-legal careers. Find out more

*The Juris Doctor / Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice is subject to professional accreditation.

The Juris Doctor / Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice comprises of 280 units (i.e 28 x 10 unit courses), which includes 200 units of core courses including the Legal Practice courses, plus 80 units of directed courses chosen from a list of 27 courses.

Students can choose directed courses that they are interested in from a range of areas including:

• Advanced Corporate Governance
• Advanced Criminal Law
• Advanced Legal Research Project
• Advanced Public International Law
• Advocacy Skills
• Client Interviewing and Negotiation Skills
• Commercial Dispute Resolution
• Commercial Law
• Competition Law and Policy
• Consumer Credit and Personal Insolvency Law Clinic
• Corporations, Globalisation and Human Rights
• Crime and Society
• Criminal Law Clinic
• Employment Law
• Environmental Law
• Environmental/Natural Resources Law Clinic
• Family Law
• Global Administrative Law
• International Child and Family Law
• International Climate Change law and Policy
• International Environmental Law and Policy
• International Human Rights Law
• International Private Law
• Legal Theory
• Refugee/Migration Law Clinic
• Sentencing: Global Theory, Law and Practice
• Social Justice/Public Interest Clinic
• Taxation Law

You will gain in-depth practical experience by participating in customised Legal Clinics exploring the below areas.

*The Juris Doctor / Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice is subject to professional accreditation.

First-rate classroom tuition combined with practical, hands-on experience prepares and qualifies you to enter legal practice immediately after completing your Juris Doctor / Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice.

The University of Newcastle's law school is the first in Australia to offer an integrated learning experience. Your degree integrates experiential learning and skills training with the conventional legal curriculum.

The University of Newcastle's Law School encourages you to pursue professional placements at external law firms and other organisations that you may be interested in joining at the completion of your studies. To help you arrange placements, you can take advantage of the many external relationships held by the University.

University of Newcastle law students have a competitive reputation and frequently excel in national law competitions. Recent highlights include:

2013 – Grand finalist in the ALSA mooting competition

2012 - Two students represented Australia in the International Client Counselling Competition in Dublin

2011 - Grand finalists in the ALSA client interviewing competition

2008 - Won the prestigious Kirby Cup at the Australian Law Students’ Association (ALSA) conference. The Kirby Cup, named in honour of cup sponsor Justice Michael Kirby, tests your ability to argue a case for law reform based on real issues of social concern.

*The Juris Doctor / Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice is subject to professional accreditation.

Graduating with the Juris Doctor / Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice gives you the skills and knowledge to practice as a lawyer, and is also the springboard to a range of exciting non-legal careers.

As a graduate you will have the flexibility to tailor a career path that matches your professional, financial and lifestyle aspirations.

You will also receive an excellent general education, giving you an understanding of how society functions, and equipping you with analytical and logical reasoning skills. From the boardroom or political campaign trail, to the journalist’s desk or United Nations headquarters, a law degree from the University of Newcastle can lead you almost anywhere.

Students will eligible to practice law in Australia upon completion of the program*.

Lawyers are responsible for providing clients with legal advice and expertise. This includes helping clients with legal problems, advising them of their legal rights and obligations, and drafting documents such as contracts, affidavits and other court forms. Lawyers also appear in Court and as advocates to represent their clients and run hearings.

Depending on your employment situation, you may practice across a variety of different areas or choose to specialise in one or two areas. Traditional practice areas include:

• Civil litigation
• Commercial law
• Criminal law
• Family law
• Personal injury
• Property law
• Tax law
• Wills and estates

Our society is governed by laws and regulations. Therefore, it is not surprising that political, social and technological developments often give rise to new legal practice areas. As a lawyer, you can also practice in developing areas such as:

• Computer and internet law
• Climate change law
• Energy and resource law
• Human rights law
• International law
• Sports law

Instead of becoming a lawyer, you can practice law as a barrister. Barristers provide clients with expert legal advice and usually specialise in only one or two areas of the law.

Your primary role as a barrister is to be an advocate for your client and to take responsibility for arguing a case before the court. The best barristers have a reputation as being eloquent public speakers, and usually have an excellent understanding of procedure, tactics and the rules of evidence.

As a barrister, you are often involved in more complex legal matters. You may often give advice on the drafting of forms and documents, but are rarely involved in the initial preparatory work of a case.

It is typically a client’s lawyer who will engage a barrister to provide expert counsel, particularly when it is clear that a matter is going to proceed to a hearing.

Many barristers first practice as lawyers to gain the necessary experience and professional connections before joining the Bar.

Working in private practice ranges from being an employee, owner or partner in a sole practitioner firm to working in a large, top-tier firm with international offices, dozens of partners and hundreds of employees.

Government lawyers perform a variety of duties depending on the role of the department in which they are employed. For example, lawyers employed by the Department of Defence may have to advise on international and military law. Government lawyers are also involved in research, policy development, law reform and drafting legislation.

Large corporations employ lawyers to provide legal services tailored exclusively to their business needs. These services may include representation in litigation matters, company law advice, advice on complying with occupational health and safety laws, and drafting contracts and other company documents.

These organisations provide legal services to members of the community who are disadvantaged or who cannot afford to pay for legal advice.

The Juris Doctor not only opens doors to legal professions, it provides you with professional skills and values that are valued by many other industries.

Employers generally consider law graduates to be highly intelligent, critical thinkers with excellent work ethics.

As a Juris Doctor graduate, you will be highly competitive in the business and corporate sector because of your task management skills, knowledge of corporate law and negotiation skills. Your analytical problem solving skills and critical thinking abilities will also be highly valued.

A law degree also demonstrates a commitment to justice, equality and the rule of law - qualities which are valued by national and international non-governmental organisations, and by government departments and political bodies.

*The Juris Doctor / Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice is subject to professional accreditation.