The Master of Laws by Coursework offers law graduates an opportunity to study in an organised fashion areas of specialty and greater difficulty than are met within a Bachelor of Laws program, some of which call for advanced interdisciplinary perspectives. Courses offered in the LLM by Courswork program 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. Each course contains a significant research component. All courses are not necessary available in any one year.

Please contact the Faculty of Law for information regarding the Program Objectives and Learning Outcomes.

The LLM by Coursework may be taken full-time in two semesters or part-time in a minimum of three semesters. Students must undertake and satisfactorily complete six semester-long courses or the equivalent. A total of 48 units of credit are required for the award of the degree. Students may elect to complete a major sequence of courses (see below). Postgraduate courses are taught in a variety of formats both during the University's formal academic semesters and over the Summer Term. While many are taught for two hours per week over a teaching semester, in others the class hours are arranged more intensively to permit students to focus fully on a research project. Some courses of particular interest to students in employment are scheduled in a venue situated in the CBD.

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

A student may apply to the Coordinator of Postgraduate Education 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.


Specialisations (Plans)

1. Candidates for the LLM by Coursework 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 48 units of credit required for the award of the degree from the courses allocated to that major sequence. A minimum of 16 units of credit must be completed from postgraduate courses offered at UNSW Law School.

2. In order to meet requirements for a specialisation in Corporate Commercial and Taxation Law, candidates must complete a minimum of 16 units of credit from courses offered as part of the Corporate and Commercial Law specialisation stream and 16 units of credit from postgraduate taxation courses offered by the Australian School of Taxation in the Law Faculty

3. In order to meet requirements for a specialisation in Taxation, candidates must complete a total of 48 uoc as follows:
- minimum of 2 courses (16 uoc) from postgraduate law courses offered by the Law School; and
- minimum of 3 courses (24 uoc) from postgraduate taxation courses offered by the Australian School of Taxation; and
- 1 postgraduate law or postgraduate taxation course (8 uoc) from the Law School or the Australian School of Taxation.

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

5. The Coordinator of Postgraduate Education 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.

6. The Coordinator of Postgraduate Education 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.

7. 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 Coordinator of Postgraduate Education may approve a course not otherwise allocated to a major sequence as part of that student's major sequence.

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

9. When a student completes the LLM by Coursework 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 'Master of Laws specialising in... (the major sequence completed)' or words to like effect.

Award of the Degree

1. The degree of Master of Laws by Coursework may be awarded by the Council to a candidate who has satisfactorily completed a program of advanced study.

Qualifications

2. (1) A candidate for the degree 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) In exceptional cases an applicant who submits evidence of such other academic and professional qualifications as may be approved by the Committee may be permitted to enrol for the degree.

(3) When the Committee is not satisfied with the qualifications submitted by an applicant the Committee may require the applicant, before being permitted to enrol, to undergo such examination or carry out such work as the Committee may prescribe.

Enrolment and Progression

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

(2) A candidate for the degree shall be required to undertake such formal courses and pass such assessment as is prescribed.

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

(4) No candidate shall be awarded the degree until the lapse of two academic semesters from the date of enrolment in the case of a full-time candidate or three semesters in the case of a part-time candidate. The maximum period of candidature shall be three academic semesters from the date of enrolment for a full-time candidate and six semesters for a part-time candidate. In special cases an extension of these times may be granted by the Committee.

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

Postgraduate Elective Courses

The following electives are available for credit towards the Master of Laws degree by Coursework, the Doctor of Juridical Science (coursework component), the Master of Law and Management degree, and the Graduate Diploma in Law (LLM, MLM, SJD, and Grad Dip Courses)