The Professional Program

"Students who complete the Professional Program at the Newcastle Law School enjoy a high employment rate. The 2009 Graduate Destination Survey results show that 95% of Professional Program students were in full-time employment within 4 months of completing their degree."

The Professional Program is directed towards those students who wish to practise law. Drawing on modern developments in clinical legal education, the Program is designed to develop critical legal understanding in a practical context. The Program incorporates supervised professional legal experience and essential legal skills training with an emphasis on an ethical approach to the practice of law. Completion of the Professional Program enables graduates to move into practice without having to undertake further programs at an educational institution or to complete any additional practical legal training.

All combined degree law students are required to complete compulsory LLB core program courses during the first three years of the program. These courses, which make up the core program are: Legal System and Method, Criminal Law and Procedure, Torts and Contracts. Graduate law students are required to complete the core program courses in their first year of study.

Once students have completed the core program courses, the LLB program diverges into two streams, the Bachelor of Laws, referred to as Option A (in which students undertake traditional law studies) and the Bachelor of Laws/Diploma of Legal Practice, Option B (the Professional Program). Option A students who wish to practise law need to complete a postgraduate professional program approved by the Legal Practitioners' Admission Board. Bachelor of Laws/Diploma of Legal Practice graduates are eligible to apply for admission to practise as a legal practitioner without further study. The Professional Program extends over two years and admission to the program is competitive.

The Professional Program's mix of theory and practice is challenging, but rewarding. Students gain self-confidence and a wide variety of legal experience before entering the profession. Each year students enrol in nine semester-long courses and two semester-long 'clinical' courses amounting to a 100 unit load, 20 units more than the standard full-time load. Courses are taught from University House in the city and on the Callaghan campus. In each clinical course students are required to complete 180 hours of legal professional placement as well as attend seminars and undertake skills training.