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Honours

The University has introduced a new Honours Policy (000743) which will be implemented in the Law School from
1 January 2008. This policy does not affect the position of students who entered Law School before 2008 and complete LAWS5005 and/or are awarded honours in 2008. 

Students who enter Law School from semester 1 2008 will be governed by the University’s Honours policy under which the Bachelor of Laws degree (a 240 unit Structured or Fully Integrated degree undergraduate program) “may be awarded “with merit” to those students who gain a GPA of 6.0 or over based on all studies undertaken in the program.”

Enrolment in Honours Course (LAWS5005) Advanced Legal Research and Writing

At the completion of Year 2 of the graduate LLB degree program and Year 4 of the combined Law degree program, students may be invited to undertake LAWS5005 Advanced Legal Research and Writing. Students who wish to qualify for the LLB degree with Honours Class I must undertake this course.

1
To enrol in the Honours course LAWS5005 Advanced Legal Research and Writing the student shall obtain an average mark of 75% or more for all completed LAWS courses. Enrolment in the Honours course LAWS5005 Advanced Legal Research and Writing is only available to students who have completed 160 units of LAWS courses.
2
The Head of School may recommend that a student be permitted to enrol in Honours other than meeting the criteria set out in 1 above or that a student not be permitted to enrol in Honours.
3
The Head of School will write to all LLB students who meet the criteria set out in 1 above and invite them to apply to be enrolled in LAWS5005 Advanced Legal Research and Writing.
4
Potential Honours candidates will be required to submit their research topic to the Honours course co-ordinator who will allocate an appropriate supervisor.
5
Before being permitted to enrol in the Honours research course students must submit to the Honours course co-ordinator an outline of their proposed research and an abstract.
6
The School will require the dissertation to be 10,000 to 12,000 words in length.
7
To achieve Honours Class I a candidate must pass the course LAWS5005 Advanced Legal Research and Writing and this course cannot be undertaken more than once.

Calculation of Honours

Honours will be awarded, subject to compliance with this policy, in the following grades: Class I, Class II Division 1 and Class II Division 2.

A student must enrol in, and pass at the first attempt, the course LAWS5005 Advanced Legal Research and Writing, in order to be eligible for First Class Honours.

First Class Honours

The award of First Class Honours will be determined by calculating a candidate's average mark, based on the results of all LAWS courses counting towards the Bachelor of Laws degree, as follows:

First Class Honours will be awarded if a student achieves an average mark of 80% or more on the basis of this calculation.

Second Class Honours

Second Class Honours may be awarded to a candidate whether or not the candidate has undertaken the course LAWS5005 Advanced Legal Research and Writing.

The award of Second Class Honours will be determined by calculating a candidate's average mark, based on the results of all Laws courses counting towards the Bachelor of Laws degree, as follows:

Second Class Honours Division 1 will be awarded if a student achieves an average mark of 77.5%.
Second Class Honours Division 2 will be awarded if a student achieves an average mark of 75%.

When candidates eligible for Second Class Honours are known, the Head of School will forward to each eligible candidate a letter advising of that candidate's eligibility for Second Class Honours. The letter will be sent to the candidate's correspondence address as recorded in the official University records.

A candidate may reject Second Class Honours by advising the Head of School, in writing, within seven days of the posting of the Head of School's letter. If the Head of School receives no such advice, the candidate is deemed to have accepted the award of Second Class Honours.


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