Explore Law

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Anthony Forsyth:

Hello, my name is Anthony Forsyth and I'm the Law Discipline Leader here at RMIT University.

Today, I'm going to tell you about our new Bachelor of Laws program and combined law business degrees. I'll go through the program overview and the core structure, the industry connections we have and work integrated learning, entry requirements into the program and pathways, and of course the career outcomes.

We're thrilled to be adding these new undergraduate law programs to our existing industry connected Juris Doctor course, providing you with the skills you need to enter the legal profession.

RMIT respectfully acknowledges their ancestors and elders, past, present and emerging. And while we conduct our work remotely, I want to pay my respect to the wider unceded lands of this nation. RMIT is now offering a law degree and two law double degrees at undergraduate level, the Bachelor of Laws and combined law degrees with the Bachelor of Business Information Systems and Bachelor of Business Economics and Finance.

Our aim is to position you to become a global technology focused lawyer for a changing world, we will develop your practical and theoretical capabilities through a unique approach that we call "bringing law to life." When you graduate, you'll have the skills you need to work in modern legal practice with a qualification accredited by the Victorian Legal Admissions Board.

The Bachelor of Laws at RMIT will enable you to become a legal professional faster. Other undergraduate law degrees are typically at least four years with an honors year. However, you can complete the Bachelor of Laws at RMIT in just three years of full time study with the same recognition in industry. The law and business combined degrees require five years full time study. After completing your RMIT law degree, you can become eligible for admission to legal practice by completing either a six month Practical Legal Training course at Leo Cussen or the College of Law, or one year of supervised Workplace Training with a law firm, which also has practical legal training components.

Here's the course structure for the Bachelor of Laws degree. I now highlight some key features of what you can expect. The Bachelor of Laws is closely aligned with RMIT's mission as a global university of technology, design and enterprise. Key units of study will connect you with these themes as well as industry mentors and two of RMIT's major research centers.

Right at the start in becoming a lawyer in a globalized world, you'll study contemporary legal practice in an international context and work with legal practitioners. Injustice innovation you'll engage with RMIT Centre for Innovative Justice, led by former Victorian Attorney General, Rob Hulls. Here you'll learn about law reform that addresses current issues in society like drug addiction and homelessness, and use your passion for social justice to enact policy change for the better. In law, business and human rights, you'll connect with our Business and Human Rights Research Centre and gain an understanding of international justice.

In enterprise law, designing legal solutions, you'll learn to incorporate design thinking into your approach to legal issues in partnership with the RMIT Activator. Here, you'll complete a simulated learning experience with a mock technology startup, learning how to apply your academic skills to provide legal solutions for business.

This reinforces our distinctive approach. Unlike other undergraduate law degrees, where it's typically offered as an elective, technology is a core focus of the Bachelor of Laws at RMIT. Electives are available in areas including employment law, law and climate change and family law.

To gain entry into the Bachelor of Laws, you'll need to have completed an Australian Year 12 certificate of education or equivalent. As a new program, the minimum ATAR score hasn't been set yet, but we expect it to be in the mid eighties or above. There's also an English prerequisite. You'll need a study score of at least 25 in English VCE, units three and four.

We've designed the Bachelor of Laws to allow entry from Vocational Education pathway programs offered at RMIT, the associate degree in business and the associate degree in business paralegal. This slide shows the total duration of study for the various combinations of pathway programs and the law double degrees.

Your results in a pathway program will be converted into an ATAR to determine if you meet the selection criteria for entry into the Bachelor of Laws. RMIT's Bachelor of Laws has been shaped in consultation with our Industry Advisory Board. The board is chaired by Judge Amanda Chambers, who is President of the Children's Court of Victoria. Other members include Magistrate Pauline Spencer, Senior Law Firm Partners from Maurice Blackburn, Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Holding Redlich and Ashurst and representatives from Victoria Legal Aid, Victorian Government Solicitor and Launch Housing.

Throughout your studies, industries brought into the classroom by practical learning and industry placement opportunities. This includes our Capstone Course Evidence where you'll do a courtroom simulation that teaches you about advocacy and legal argument. Through the program's innovative structure, you'll build skills in negotiation, mediation, and communication, and you can work on legal issues for real clients in clinical practice at the Centre for Innovative Justice.

The Centre for Innovative Justice offers study tours that visit specialist problem solving courts and community organizations in various locations, including New York and New Zealand. Pictured on this slide, our students at the Centre for Court Innovation in NYC, in 2019 with CIJ Director, Rob Hulls. There are also study opportunities at our campus in Vietnam.

The legal career market is competitive, but there are many diverse career options open to law graduates. These include roles in commercial law firms, the government legal sector, community law, in-house roles and in academia, the media politics and business.

Many of the graduates of our Juris Doctor program have gone on to senior positions in these and other areas of the law. Pictured is David [Maher 00:07:08] [Canalis 00:07:08], a JD graduate and former Law Student Society President, who has worked in law reform and as a political advisor for Victorian Greens, MP.

As an undergraduate student, you'll obtain mentoring and career guidance from our Juris Doctor student cohort, and work with these more experienced students on mooting competitions and careers events.

Here are the semester dates for the start of next year. We all hope to be back on campus well before then, if not, we're fully equipped for online delivery in all our law programs. Look out also for our Annual Human Rights Lecture coming up on the 9th of September. It's a virtual Q and A session with Victorian Attorney General, the honorable, Jill Hennessy.

Thank you for taking the time to learn about our new industry recognized Bachelor of Laws and combined degrees. For more information on these programs, be sure to check our website at www.rmit.edu.au

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