Undergraduate: Course rule and topic information

Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice (LLB/LP)
Bachelor of Laws (LLB)

Program of study - First degree
Program of study - Graduate entry
Honours degree
Combined degrees programs

INTRODUCTION

The Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice may be taken as a first degree in four-and-a-half years full-time (or the equivalent part-time) or as a graduate-entry program in three-and-a-half years full-time (or the equivalent part-time). The course is offered by the Faculty of Education, Humanities, Law and Theology.

Students who do not wish to undertake the Legal Practice component may complete a Bachelor of Laws as a first degree in four years full-time (or the equivalent part-time), or as a graduate-entry program in three years full-time (or the equivalent part-time). However, these students cannot to be admitted to legal practice without completing further practical training.

Part-time students should note that minimum enrolment requirements apply in First Year.

Both degrees may also be taken as part of a combined degrees program with another approved degree program (see below).

Note: Students who do not intend to undertake the Legal Practice component of the award are encouraged to notify the Faculty Administrative Officer (Law) during their final year to ensure that they are recorded as a graduand of the Bachelor of Laws.

COURSE AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course provides sound training in law and legal skills. It emphasises the acquisition of foundational legal skills through the integration of skills training with the teaching of substantive subjects.

Learning outcomes

At the completion of the course, students will be able to demonstrate:

• knowledge of key areas of Australian law as well as new and developing areas;
• the capacity critically to evaluate Australian law with reference to its historical development and comparative place;
• the basic skills required in order to bring legal rights into effect, including legal research, legal reasoning, critical evaluation, presentation of arguments, inter-personal communication, group work and the use of plain English in drafting;
• the applied skills involved in the contact of legal practice, including oral advocacy, interviewing, negotiation and drafting.

COURSE RULE

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

The minimum requirements for consideration for entry to all undergraduate courses are specified in detail in the University Entry Requirements.

Graduate entry applicants must have completed an approved university degree at the time of admission.

Credit may be granted for topics taken at other institutions. However, except in exceptional circumstances approved by the Board of the School of Law, a majority of units towards the degree must be obtained from topics offered by Flinders University.

PROGRAM OF STUDY - FIRST DEGREE [November, 2008]

To qualify for the Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice as a first degree student, a student must complete 162 units with a grade of P or NGP or better in each topic, comprising 78 units of compulsory topics, 24 units of Legal Practice core topics, and 60 units of electives, as set out below.

To qualify for the Bachelor of Laws as a first degree student, a student must complete 144 units with a grade of P or NGP or better in each topic, comprising 78 units of compulsory topics and 66 units of electives, as set out below.

In both programs, a minimum of 9 units and a maximum of 24 units of electives must be taken from topics not offered or cross-listed by the School of Law. These may be selected from any offered by the University, provided entry and course requirements are met and that the School Board has not designated them as unavailable.

Except with permission of the School Board the program must be completed within ten consecutive years.

The award of a grade of Fail (F) on more than one occasion in the same topic may constitute prima facie evidence of unsatisfactory progress for the purposes of the University's Policy on Student Progress.

Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice students are normally expected to undertake the following program. Bachelor of Laws students do not undertake the Fifth Year program but must, by the end of the fourth year, undertake a sufficient number of elective units to meet the 66-unit overall requirements.

They may include up to 6 units of topics marked * as law elective topics.

Not all topics are necessarily available in a given year.

The Board of the School of Law may specify that two or more topics represent unacceptable combinations.

PROGRAM OF STUDY - GRADUATE ENTRY [November, 2008]

To qualify for the Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice as a graduate-entry student, a student must complete 138 units with a grade of P or NGP or better in each topic, comprising 78 units of compulsory topics, 24 units of Legal Practice core topics, and 36 units of electives from topics offered or cross-listed by the School of Law, as set out below.

To qualify for the Bachelor of Laws as a graduate-entry student, a student must complete 120 units with a grade of P or NGP or better in each topic, comprising 78 units of compulsory topics and 42 units of electives from topics offered or cross-listed by the School of Law, as set out below.

Except with permission of the School Board the program must be completed within ten consecutive years.

The award of a grade of Fail (F) on more than one occasion in the same topic may constitute prima facie evidence of unsatisfactory progress for the purposes of the University's policy on Student Progress.

Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice students are normally expected to undertake the following program. Bachelor of Laws students do not undertake the Fourth Year program but must, by the end of the third year, undertake a sufficient number of elective units to meet the 42-unit overall requirements.

They may include up to 6 units of topics marked * as law elective topics.

Not all topics are necessarily available in a given year.

The Board of the School of Law may specify that two or more topics represent unacceptable combinations.

First Year

LLAW1101	Legal Method [Legal Research]	4.5
LLAW1102	Principles of Tort Law	4.5
LLAW1103	Public Law and Regulation	4.5
LLAW1104	Principles of Criminal Law and Procedure	4.5
LLAW1105	Contract	4.5
LLAW1106	Lawyering: Procedures and Ethics	4.5
LLAW2101	Property Law Concepts	3
LLAW2105	History and Philosophy of Law	3
LLAW2106	Issues in Torts	3
	Second Year
ENGL1011	Professional English in Law	3
LLAW2102	Issues in Criminal Law	3
LLAW2103	Advanced Contract [Oral Advocacy]	3
LLAW2104	Constitutional Law [Group Work]	6
LLAW2107	Administrative Law [Interviewing]	6
LLAW3101	Real Property Law	3
LLAW3102	Corporate Law [Drafting]	6
LLAW3104	Trusts and Assignments	3
	Law Electives	9
	Third Year
LLAW4101	Evidence	3
LLAW4103	Civil Litigation [LLB/LP only]	6
LLAW4103A	Principles of Civil Litigation [LLB only]	3
LLAW4104	Advanced Civil Litigation [LLB/LP only]	3
LLAW4104A	Advanced Principles of Civil Litigation [LLB only]	3
LLAW5904	Criminal Practice*#	3
LLAW5905	Property Practice*	3
LLAW5906	Advocacy*	3
LLAW5907	Succession and Estates Practice* ##	3
	Law Electives: 18 units (LLB/LP); 33 units (LLB)
	Fourth Year (semester)
LLAW5901	Legal Practice Management	6
LLAW5902	Commercial and Corporate Practice*	3
	Law Electives	9

## Students can undertake the topic LLAW5907 Succession and Estates Practice or alternatively they can undertake a topic in either Consumer Law Practice or Employment and Industrial Law Practice or Planning and Environmental Law Practice through credit-transfer arrangements, provided such topic and its provider have been approved or recognised by the South Australian Legal Practitioners Education and Admission Council. Any student wishing to pursue this option is responsible for making his or her own arrangements with the Law Society of South Australia (or other approved provider) and must bear all relevant costs, including fees. Such students, in their own interests, must consult with the Flinders Law School Director of Practical Legal Training prior to embarking on, and during, this course of action, in order to ensure that the substitute topic and its provider are properly approved or recognised. Students will be responsible for providing official documentary evidence to the Flinders Director of Practical Legal Training upon successful completion of the relevant topic.

HONOURS PROGRAM

To qualify for an honours degree, a student must complete satisfactorily the Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice or Bachelor of Laws and satisfy the additional requirements prescribed by the Board of the School of Law.

COMBINED DEGREES PROGRAMS

The Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice may be studied with one of the following degrees in a combined degrees program which can be completed in a minimum of 5.5 to 6 years.

For Bachelor of Laws students, combined degrees program can be completed in a minimum of 5 to 5.5 years.

In each case students are required to complete the same amount of law topics as for the relevant graduate-entry program. Study programs are worked out on an individual basis, but in most years students will study both law and non-law topics.

The table below indicates the minimum number of units required to complete a combined degrees program.

For details of the non-Law component, see the relevant degree entry.

** May be higher depending upon choice of major

## Will be higher for professional accounting accreditation

For admission to one of the programs, students must apply through SATAC for the Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice combined degrees.

Students who commence, but subsequently do not wish to complete, the combined degrees program may be eligible to transfer to either the Bachelor of Laws and Legal Practice or Bachelor of Laws programs, or to the other program, and to receive credit for some or all of the topics already completed.