Graduate · Law
Juris Doctor
University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
About this program
Newcastle's JD is the standard graduate-entry law degree for people with a non-law bachelor's wanting to qualify for legal practice, and the program's selling point is scale: small cohorts mean JD students get taught by the same academics teaching the undergraduate combined degrees, not a separated graduate-only faculty, and the Newcastle Legal Centre clinical placement option is open to JD students as well as undergrads.
Most JD students are career-changers in their late twenties to forties, and Newcastle's JD timetabling (with some units offered in intensive or evening formats) reflects that. It's noticeably more accommodating of students working full time than a lot of the fully daytime-timetabled JDs at bigger city law schools. The program covers the full set of "Priestley 11" core subjects required for admission in Australia, plus electives in areas like environmental and resources law where Newcastle's research strength is genuine given the Hunter region's mining and energy industry.
Graduates still need to complete Practical Legal Training before seeking admission as a solicitor, and the JD itself typically runs three years full-time.
Cost & duration
English test scores
Course structure
4 terms of coursework
- Year 1: Legal Method and Reasoning, Contracts, Torts, Criminal Law, Property Law, Legal Research and Writing
- Year 2: Equity and Trusts, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Corporations Law, Evidence, electives
- Year 3: Civil and Criminal Procedure, Professional Responsibility and Ethics, capstone units, electives (options include Environmental and Resources Law, given regional relevance)
- Covers Priestley 11 core subjects required for admission to legal practice in Australia
- Practical Legal Training required post-graduation
Admissions
Completed bachelors degree in any discipline; non-law backgrounds welcome