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 36 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 Postgraduate Education Co-ordinator to complete a Research Thesis of about 12,000 words in place of one semester-long course.

A student may apply to the Postgraduate Education Co-ordinator for permission to take up to 2 courses (12 uoc) of the program from courses offered at postgraduate level by another university via cross institutional study.

Specialisations

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

1. In order to incorporate a specialisation in the degree a student will be required to obtain no less than 24 of the 36 units of credit required for the award of the degree from the courses allocated to that specialisation.

2. A minimum of 18 units of credit must be completed from postgraduate courses offered at UNSW Law.

3. Candidates who wish to qualify for a specialisation in Corporate, Commercial and Taxation Law must complete a total of 36 uoc as follows:
- 18 uoc from postgraduate law courses offered in the Corporate and Commercial Law specialisation stream, and
- 18 uoc from postgraduate taxation courses offered by the School of Taxation and Business Law, Australian School of Business.

4. To qualify for a specialisation in Taxation, students must complete a total of 36 uoc as follows:
- minimum of 3 courses (18 uoc) from postgraduate law courses offered by UNSW Law;
- minimum of 3 courses (18 uoc) from postgraduate taxation courses offered by the School of Taxation and Business Law, Australian School of Business.

5. In order to meet requirements for a specialisation in Environmental Law, candidates must complete 36 uoc as follows:
- 24uoc from courses offered in the Environmental Law major sequence including LAWS8068 Environmental Law in Australia and LAWS8319 International Environmental Law;
- 12uoc from any other Postgraduate law courses on offer.

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

7. The Postgraduate Education Co-ordinator 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.

8. The Postgraduate Education Co-ordinator 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.

9. 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 Postgraduate Education Co-ordinator may approve a course not otherwise allocated to a major sequence as part of that student's major sequence.

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

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

ENROLMENT
The Enrolment Guide for the Graduate Diploma in Law can be found on the UNSW Law website.

Please refer to Program 9200 (LLM) for a list of Postgraduate Elective Courses
legacy.handbook.unsw.edu.au/postgraduate/programs/current/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. A candidate for the Master of Laws by Coursework shall have been previously awarded any of the following:
(1) a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) or Juris Doctor (JD) degree from UNSW Australia, with a minimum Credit average; or
(2) a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) or Juris Doctor (JD) degree from UNSW Australia with minimum two years relevant professional experience
(3) a domestic or foreign equivalent of any of the above.

Enrolment and Progression

(1) An application to enrol as a candidate for the degree shall be lodged online on the UNSW website, 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:  UNSW Fee Website.