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Law

Careers for Law Graduates – More Information

INTRODUCTION

Why Do a Law Degree?

If you are unsure whether you want to study Law, it is worthwhile investigating the range of combined degrees that are available; a good starting point would be to visit www.australian-universities.com .

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

Core Areas of Knowledge

  • Flinders University offers the following in combination with a Bachelor of Laws: Bachelor Degrees in Behavioural Science; Biotechnology; International Studies; Information Technology; and Environmental Science. For more information go to the Flinders Law faculty website at http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/law
  • James Cook University offers the following in combination with a Bachelor of Laws: Bachelor Degrees in Public Policy; and Social Work. For more information go to the James Cook Law faculty website at www.jcu.edu.au/flbca
  • Monash University offers the following in combination with a Bachelor of Laws: bachelor degrees in Aerospace Engineering; Biomedical Science; Medicine; Music; Performing Arts; Computer Science; and Education. For more information go to the Monash Law faculty website at www.law.monash.edu.au
  • The Australian National University offers the following in combination with a Bachelor of Laws: Bachelor Degrees in Actuarial Studies; Asian Studies; Finance; and Music. For more information go to the ANU Law faculty website at http://law.anu.edu.au .

Bachelor of Laws (LLB)

Graduate Entry and the ‘Melbourne Model’

For more information go to http://jd.law.unimelb.edu.au .

Cost of a Law Degree and Scholarships

Legal Qualifications for Non-Legal or Support Staff

For more information visit: www.lawcouncil.asn.au .

ENTRY POINTS TO THE LEGAL PROFESSION

Graduates

Volunteering or pro bono work

STEPS BEFORE YOU CAN PRACTISE LAW

Practical Legal Training

For further information on requirements for Practical Legal Training and courses on offer, please go to:

University

Professional

Becoming Admitted to Legal Practice

For information about becoming admitted to legal practice, contact:

ACT
Legal Practitioners Admission Board
Law Courts of the Australian Capital Territory
PO Box 1548
Canberra City ACT 2601
Telephone: +61 2 6207 1219
Email: supreme.court@act.gov.au
Web: www.courts.act.gov.au/supreme/content/services_admissions.asp?textonly=no

NSW
Legal Profession Admission Board
Level 4
37 Bligh Street (cnr Hunter)
Sydney NSW 2000 (GPO Box 3980 Sydney NSW 2001)
Telephone: +61 2 9338 3500 Facsimile: +61 2 9338 3555
Email: ag_lpab@agd.nsw.gov.au
Web: www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/Lawlink/lpab/ll_lpab.nsf/pages/lpab_index

NT
Legal Practitioners’ Admission Board
Registry Office
Supreme Court Building
State Square
Darwin NT 0800 (GPO Box 3946 Darwin NT 0801)
Telephone: +61 8 8999 6574
Email: tiffany.haritos@nt.gov.au
Web: www.nt.gov.au/ntsc/registry.html

QLD
Legal Practitioners Admissions Board
Level 2
Law Society House
Brisbane QLD 4001 (GPO Box 1785)
Telephone: +61 7 3842 5985 Facsimile: +61 7 3221 7193
Email: admissions@qls.com.au

SA
Board of Examiners
124 Waymouth Street
Adelaide SA 5000 (GPO Box 2066)
Telephone: +61 8 8229 0222 Facsimile: +61 8 8231 1929
Email: registry@lawsocietysa.asn.au
Web: www.lawsocietysa.asn.au/profession/registry.htm

TAS
Registrar, Supreme Court
Salamanca Place
Hobart TAS 7000 (GPO Box 167 Hobart TAS 7001)
Telephone: +61 3 6233 6385 Facsimile: +61 3 6223 7816
Email: supreme.court@justice.tas.gov.au
Web: www.supremecourt.tas.gov.au

VIC
Board of Examiners
1st Floor
450 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne VIC 3000 (Supreme Court of Victoria 210 William Street Melbourne VIC 3000)
Telephone: +61 3 9603 4388 Facsimile: +61 3 9602 4326
Web: www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/Supreme+Court/Home/Board+of+Examiners

WA
Legal Practice Board of Western Australia
5th Floor
Kings Building
533 Hay Street
Perth WA 6000
Telephone: +61 8 6211 3600 Facsimile: +61 8 9325 2743
Email: general@lpbwa.com
Web: www.lpbwa.org.au

Getting a Practising Certificate

For contact details see ‘Professional Associations’ below.

CAREER OPTIONS

Solicitor

Private practice

Regional firms

Contact the state or territory Law Society for contact details (see ‘Professional Associations’ below).

Government Sector

For more information, visit http://jobsearch.gov.au .

Community Sector

For more information refer to the National Association of Community Legal Centres at www.naclc.org.au .

Legal Publishing

The larger legal publishers are:

LAW GRADUATES IN THE WORK FORCE

Salaries, Jobs and Activities for First Year Law Graduates

For current, up-to-date information regarding salaries, jobs and activities of law graduates go to www.gradsonline.com.au .

Michael Page International’s forecast for 2007 had wage inflation of five-eight per cent as a standard, with 10-12 per cent for Lawyers with hard to find skill sets. In addition to a salary many law firms were offering their employees benefits such as: mobile phones; laptops; Blackberry; vehicles; car parking; expense accounts; income protection insurances; paid parental leave; travel (interstate and international); paid study; and study leave. (Source: Michael Page Legal Salary Survey 2006-07, www.michaelpage.com.au )

FURTHER INFORMATION

Law Student Associations

Student associations are able to assist with information on careers, study and other matters of concern to Law students. The peak body is the Australian Law Students’ Association (ALSA).

  • www.alsa.asn.au : ALSA is an association comprising all Law student societies and associations nationally and representing approximately 28,000 Law students.

Professional Associations

In Victoria, NSW, Queensland, WA and Tasmania, the legal profession is ‘double-barrelled’ and the professions of Barrister and Solicitor are separate. In these states, the peak professional association for Solicitors is a Law Society and for Barristers a Bar Association. In NSW, for example, Solicitors are represented by The Law Society of New South Wales and Barristers by the New South Wales Bar Association. These bodies have some regulatory responsibility for the lawyers in their jurisdiction.

In SA, NT and the ACT, the legal profession is ‘fused’ and a single professional association has responsibility for Solicitors and Barristers.

The Law Council of Australia is the national peak body representing the legal profession. Its role is to:

  • advise governments, courts and other federal agencies
  • promote the administration of justice
  • promote the general improvement of the law in Australia
  • represent the legal profession at the national level.

For further information relevant to the practise of Law in your state or territory go to:

National

ACT

NSW

NT

QLD

SA

TAS

VIC

WA

Careers Information

Each university has a Careers Service which can assist students with graduate positions, information about campus recruitment, recruitment timetables and assistance with preparing résumés.

For a comprehensive list of contact details for Career Services in Australia and New Zealand visit www.graduatecareers.com.au >>How to Find a Job>>Important Dates & Contacts>>Campus Contacts.

Further Reading

The Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) (www.austlii.edu.au ) provides free access to a wide range of information.

  • Over 250 full text databases from all Australian jurisdictions. They can be searched together, separately, by jurisdiction or as individual databases. They include hundreds of thousands of cases and pieces of legislation, plus treaties, law journals, law reform reports and other content.
  • A catalogue of thousands of Australian websites and a web search which allows searches of the content of many (but not all) of the websites in the catalogue.
  • A ‘Law on Google’ facility which assists users to more easily find legal materials from a particular jurisdiction, or on a particular topic, using the Google search engine.

The Victoria Law Foundation (www.victorialaw.org.au ) is an independent, community benefit organisation making law accessible. Each year it awards cash grants and the same again of in-kind support for innovative projects. Its free and low cost publications are distributed by Information Victoria (1300 558 181).

Some projects the Victoria Law Foundation has developed include: Law Week, the Pro Bono Secretariat linking pro bono service providers, Rural Law Online (overcoming the disadvantage of rural Victorians), the Justice Museum in conjunction with the National Trust.

Created by an Act of Parliament, the Foundation enhances access, understanding and engagement with the law. The Foundation links the community and legal sectors with leadership in innovative projects over four program areas – Grants, Access to Justice, Publishing and Support for Best Practice.

Law Links

Listed below are universities that offered Law courses in 2008.

ACT

NSW

NT

QLD

SA

TAS

VIC

WA

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