UndergraduateLaw
Bachelor of Laws (Honours)
Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
About this program
ANU's law degree is a four-year, 192-unit program and one of the few Australian law schools where the compulsory first-year sequence is taught with an explicit foundations-first structure: Foundations of Australian Law and Torts in semester one, Lawyers, Justice and Ethics and Contracts in semester two, each paired with two non-law electives so students aren't buried in law content immediately. That structure is a deliberate response to the fact ANU takes students straight from high school into a professional degree rather than as a graduate-entry JD.
The location does real work here. Being five minutes from the High Court, Federal Court, and Parliament House means moot court exercises, clerkships, and guest lecturers from sitting judges or government solicitors aren't occasional; they're baked into how the degree runs, and a noticeable share of graduates end up in Commonwealth government legal roles, the Attorney-General's Department, or federal judicial associate positions straight out of the degree.
The 4000-level requirement (48 units minimum) pushes students into genuinely advanced seminar-style courses in their final year rather than coasting on core units, and electives can range from international humanitarian law to Indigenous legal issues, reflecting research strength areas within ANU's law school specifically.
Fees & duration
English test scores
Verified programsandcourses.anu.edu.au ↗
Course structure
Study plan in 6 parts
- Year 1
- Semester 1: Foundations of Australian Law
- Torts
- two non-law electives
- Year 1
- Semester 2: Lawyers
- Justice and Ethics
- Contracts
- two non-law electives
- Year 2: Criminal Law
- Administrative Law
- Constitutional Law
- Property Law
- Year 3: Equity
- Federal Constitutional Law
- electives including international or comparative law options
Year 4
- 4000-level advanced seminars (minimum 48 units across the degree)
- Legal Theory or Jurisprudence-type capstone
- remaining electives
- Maximum 60 units may be taken at 1000-level across the whole degree
Career & PR pathway
Occupations this degree typically leads to, and their skilled-migration list status
SolicitorANZSCO 271311
On both MLTSSL and CSOL, but a positive skills assessment is not the same as being able to practise. You must first be admitted to an Australian state legal profession, which for an overseas or JD graduate means passing the assessed academic subjects, completing Practical Legal Training, and being admitted by the state Supreme Court, before the occupation is realistically usable for a visa.
Assessed by VETASSESS
BarristerANZSCO 271111
On both MLTSSL and CSOL, supporting the points-tested 189, 190, and 491 as well as the employer-sponsored 482 and 186. As with Solicitor, a positive skills assessment is not the same as being able to practise: you must be admitted to the bar in an Australian state or territory before the occupation is realistically usable for a visa. Assessed by the state or territory Legal Admissions Authority, not VETASSESS.
Assessed by State or Territory Legal Admissions Authority
List membership changes over time and does not guarantee an invitation. See the skilled occupation lists guide and the points calculator before relying on this for a visa decision.
Admissions
Year 12 completion, ATAR approx 95 or equivalent
More Law programs
Associate Degree in Legal Studies
Adelaide University · Undergraduate
Associate Degree in Policing (exit only)
Western Sydney University · Undergraduate
Associate Degree of Law (Paralegal Studies)
Southern Cross University · Undergraduate
Associate Degree of Legal Studies
Charles Darwin University · Undergraduate
Bachelor of Arts / Bachelor of Laws (Honours)
University of Newcastle · Undergraduate
Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws
University of Sydney · Undergraduate
Why trust Where To Apply
- Official sources onlyEvery deadline, fee, and requirement traces to a university, government, or admissions-body page.
- Dated and re-checkedEach fact carries the date it was last verified, on a quarterly re-verification cadence.
- IndependentNo university pays for inclusion, a better write-up, or a higher rank. We are not an education agent.
- Named editor, public methodWritten and maintained by a named operator against a published methodology.