This program enables students who have already completed another degree in a specialisation other than law to obtain the Juris Doctor degree.

1. Duration/Award:

The program is a three-year full-time program leading to the award of Juris Doctor (JD).

2. Entry Requirement:

The program is available to graduates or graduands of another Faculty of UNSW or another approved university. Applicants who have postgraduate qualifications are welcome to apply for entry to this program but must indicate this by writing to the Faculty of Law directly for consideration as well as following the usual application procedures.

3. Attendance Requirement:

This program is offered on a flexible basis. Students may choose to progress in one of 3 modes: 1) accelerated, namely in 2.5 or even 2 years fulll-time; in normal mode: full-time for 3 years; and 3) part-time: between 3 and 8 years. Students may elect to move between the different modes in the course of their program.

Students will acquire a sound knowledge base in the discipline of Law due to their completion of a sequence of core courses and a wide range of elective courses.

Approved Sequence

There is no assumed knowledge requirement for entry to Faculty of Law courses but students must study law courses in an approved sequence. An approved sequence can be found here:

Plan for Juris Doctor 9150

Other sequences may be approved in special circumstances.

The Juris Doctor (JD) may be awarded with the following levels of Honours:

Honours Class 1
Honours Class 2, Division 1
Honours Class 2, Division 2

The award of Honours in the JD program is based on two requirements:

1) the Weighted Average Mark (WAM); and
2) satisfactory performance in written research.

1) Weighted average mark

In general terms, students who score a WAM in the top 10% of the graduating cohort in each semester will be eligible for the award of Honours Class 1; students with a WAM in the next 10% will be eligible for the award of Honours Class 2, Division 1; and students with a WAM in the next 10% will be eligible for the award of Honours Class 2, Division 2.
All courses taken towards the Law degree will be taken into account for written research requirements, but only those taken at UNSW Law School will count towards the WAM.

2) Satisfactory performance in written research

To demonstrate “satisfactory performance in written research” a student must complete one long substantial piece or three shorter substantial pieces of research writing in their program. In particular, a student must attain at least a credit grade either in JURD7823 Research Thesis (6 uoc) or (12 uoc); or in each of three (3) research papers of at least 3000 words each, taken in any three (3) courses in the JD program.
At the time of enrolment in courses in their final semester, students who have demonstrated satisfactory performance in written research must submit an approved Honours Nomination Form to the Honours Committee detailing the basis upon which the research requirement has been met, and the course or courses in which the requisite grades were attained. If a student has not met the Honours research requirement before the end of their penultimate semester, he or she must notify the Honours committee of the JD courses in which they propose to meet the requirement before the census date in their last semester.

Failures and Academic Misconduct

In no circumstances will a student be eligible for the award of Honours if he or she has

(a) failed more than one course in the JD program;
(b) been found guilty of plagiarism or serious misconduct on more than one occasion.

Rules Relating to the Juris Doctor Program

1. No person shall be permitted to enrol in any program in the Faculty of Law at the same time as he or she is enrolled for any other degree or diploma in the University or elsewhere, except with the approval of the Faculty.

2. Where, in these Rules, reference is made to the requirement that a candidate shall complete a program, the requirement shall be construed as meaning that the candidate shall:

(1) attend such lectures, seminars, tutorials or other classes, and such court sessions, offices or institutions as may be prescribed in that program, and maintain a satisfactory standard of preparation for and participation in such classes and activities;

(2) perform satisfactorily in such exercises, essays, theses and other work (whether written, oral or practical) as may be prescribed in that program and undertake any prescribed reading related to that program; and

(3) attain a satisfactory standard in the examination or examinations, and such other means of assessment of a candidate's results in that program as the Faculty may prescribe.

3. The Faculty of Law shall specify a number of units of credit in respect of each Law course for which credit is given in the award of the Juris Doctor degree. On completion of the course, a candidate shall be credited with the specified number of points.

4. (1) In the case of the Bachelor of Laws degree program credit shall be given for the courses set out in the following table, each of which shall, unless otherwise determined by the Faculty, carry the number of units of credit (if any) specified.

Compulsory Courses

4. (2) Elective Courses

Approximately 25-30 electives are made available each session. The number of students that may take an elective may be limited.

Please refer to the section 'Elective Courses' below.

5. Juris Doctor: A candidate for the award of the degree of Juris Doctor shall complete:

(1) all of the courses prescribed in Rule 4 under the heading 'Compulsory Courses', totalling 92 units of credit,

(2) selected courses from the courses prescribed in Rule 4 under the heading 'Elective Courses' so as to comply with Rule 6,

(3) such Legal Research and Writing Programs, Prescribed Readings in Law, Moot Court Work and other work as the Faculty may require.

6. (1) Total Units of Credit: A candidate for the award of the degree of Juris Doctor shall complete Elective Courses prescribed in Rule 4 to the extent necessary to bring his or her total units of credit for Compulsory and Elective Law Courses to a total of 144 UOC (Core: 92 UOC; Electives: 52 UOC)

6. (2) Approval: A candidate's choice of Elective Courses shall require the approval of the Faculty.

7. Faculty: In these Rules, unless the contrary is indicated, 'the Faculty' means the Faculty of Law.

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

and any other courses specified by the Faculty.