The Graduate Diploma in Law by formal coursework offers law graduates the opportunity of advanced graduate study in law either generally or within specialised areas without undertaking a full Master of Laws degree.

Most courses within the program are also available to students enrolled in the Master of Laws degree. There is no difference between the Graduate Diploma and the Master of Laws by formal coursework degree in terms of the content and depth with which particular courses are studied - the Graduate Diploma merely requires completion of fewer courses than would be required for a Master of Laws degree. Courses combine a degree of sophistication or technical difficulty in terms of legal content with a substantial consideration of relevant interdisciplinary aspects of the subject matter and a focus on policy.

Please contact the Faculty of Law for information.

The Graduate Diploma may be completed in two sessions. Students must undertake and satisfactorily complete four semester-long courses or the equivalent. A total of 32 units of credit are required for the award of the diploma. Students may elect to complete a major sequence of courses. All courses will not necessarily be available in any one year.

A student may apply to the Associate Dean (Postgraduate) to complete a research paper of about 15,000 words in place of one semester-long course.

A student may apply to the Associate Dean (Postgraduate) for permission to take, as appropriate to the student's overall program, up to 50 per cent of the program from courses offered at postgraduate level by another university or from courses offered by Atax. No student may be permitted to take more than 50 per cent of the program from courses of either type.

Specialist Major Sequences

1. Candidates may undertake study incorporating a major sequence in any one of the following specialist areas:

1. In order to incorporate a major sequence in the degree a student will be required to obtain no less than 24 of the 32 units of credit required for the award of the degree from the courses allocated to that major sequence.

2. A minimum of 16 units of credit must be completed from postgraduate courses offered at UNSW Law School.

3. Candidates who wish to qualify for a specialisation in Corporate, Commercial and Taxation Law must complete a total of 32 uoc as follows:
- 16 uoc from postgraduate law courses offered in the Corporate and Commercial Law specialisation stream, and
- 16 uoc from postgraduate taxation courses offered by the Australian School of Taxation in the Law Faculty

4. To qualify for a specialisation in Taxation, students must complete a total of 32 uoc as follows:
- minimum of 2 courses (16 uoc) from postgraduate law courses offered by the Law School; and
- minimum of 2 courses (16 uoc) from postgraduate taxation courses offered by the Australian School of Taxation

5. From time to time the allocation of courses to major sequences may be altered.

6. The Associate Dean (Postgraduate) may when considering it appropriate authorise the inclusion of a Special Elective within, or the deletion of a Special Elective from among, the courses allocated to a major sequence.

7. The Associate Dean (Postgraduate) may when considering it appropriate approve as part of an individual student's major sequence a course or courses taken by that student on a cross-institutional basis.

8. Where a special case is made, or where an individual student's assessment program for the course concerned is tailored specifically to issues relevant to a major sequence, the Associate Dean (Postgraduate) may approve a course not otherwise allocated to a major sequence as part of that student's major sequence.

9. Research Thesis courses may be counted towards the units of credit required for a major sequence where, in the opinion of the Associate Dean (Postgraduate), the subject matter of the thesis topic concerned is substantially related to the specialist area of the major sequence.

10. When a student completes the Graduate Diploma in Law incorporating a major sequence as above, the student's academic transcript will identify the major sequence and the courses which constitute it and the student's Testamur will contain the words 'Graduate Diploma in Law specialising in... (the major sequence completed)' or words to like effect.

Please refer to Program 9200 (LLM) for a list of Postgraduate Elective Courses
legacy.handbook.unsw.edu.au/postgraduate/programs/2008/9200.html

Award of the Degree

1. A Graduate Diploma may be awarded by the Council to a candidate who has satisfactorily completed an approved program of study.

Qualifications

2. (1) A candidate for the Diploma shall have been awarded an appropriate degree of Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales or a qualification considered equivalent from another university or tertiary institution, at a level acceptable to the Faculty Education Committee of the Faculty of Law (hereinafter referred to as the Committee).

(2) An applicant who submits evidence of such other academic and professional attainment, as may be approved by the Committee, may be permitted to enrol for the Diploma.

(3) If the Committee is not satisfied with the qualification submitted by an applicant the Committee may require the applicant to undergo such assessment or carry out such work as the Committee may prescribe, before permitting enrolment.

Enrolment and Progression

3. (1) An application to enrol as a candidate for the diploma shall be lodged with the Registrar by the advertised due date.

(2) A candidate for the diploma shall be required to undertake the courses, and pass any assessment, prescribed.

(3) The progress of a candidate shall be reviewed by the end of two sessions by the Committee and as a result of its review the Committee may cancel the enrolment or take such other action as it considers appropriate.

(4) The normal duration of the program is two academic semesters from the date of enrolment in the case of a full-time candidate or four semesters in the case of a part-time candidate. In special circumstances a variation of these times may be approved by the Head of School.

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  https://my.unsw.edu.au/student/fees/FeesMainPage.html