Juris Doctor (JD)

Social communication refers to the capacity to understand and use appropriate non-verbal communication — including eye contact, gestures, facial expression, tone of voice, proximity, and turn-taking — and to demonstrate respectful conduct in interactions with others.

Baseline requirement: The capacity for social communication – non-verbal communication and respectful conduct in interactions with others – in formal and informal settings with diverse groups of people.

Recognise, interpret, and respond to non-verbal communication in both academic and professional legal contexts. In the LLB and JD, on-campus and scheduled online learning activities that require social communication include:

• communicating respectfully and effectively in moot court exercises when addressing a panel or receiving questioning. ‘Presence’ in oral advocacy, including through posture, eye contact, and composure, can be subject to reasonable adjustment in accordance with an ELP.
• recognising and responding to non-verbal cues — such as the reactions of a panel, a negotiating counterpart, or a simulated client — during assessed practical legal activities
• engaging respectfully with peers, teaching staff, and members of the profession across diverse cultural, linguistic, and professional backgrounds
• communicating in online environments with congruent and respectful conduct.

A range of adjustments can be organised through the Equitable Learning Services (ELS). Contact the ELS to discuss what adjustments may be helpful to you.

Students with, for example, a vision or hearing impairment, may rely on alternative means of social communication. Consideration will be given to adjustments appropriate to your disability or condition. Contact ELS to discuss what may be available to you.

Law is a text-based discipline. Students must read, process, and work with large volumes of complex written material across the full program. Reading in this context encompasses comprehension, critical engagement, and the ability to work with technically demanding texts — skills that develop in depth and precision as legal study progresses.

Baseline requirement: The capacity to read and comprehend a range of written material in differing forms from a variety of sources.

Read and understand a range of written material in varied formats, including printed and on-screen texts, from a variety of sources. In the LLB and JD, the reading demands of the program include:

• reading primary legal materials which are often lengthy, technically precise, and require close reading to identify operative provisions
• reading secondary legal materials to understand legal context and support analysis
• statutory interpretation exercises requiring close, careful analysis of legislative text
• reading examination questions and problem scenarios under timed conditions, where accurate and rapid comprehension of the question is a prerequisite for producing a relevant answer
• reading feedback on assessed work and other written communications from teaching staff.

The volume and complexity of reading required in law programs is substantial. Students can expect significant reading loads across concurrent subjects throughout the program, from commencement.

A range of adjustments can be organised through the Equitable Learning Services (ELS). Contact the ELS to discuss what adjustments may be helpful to you.

You may use specialised software to support your reading for on-campus learning activities. If you require additional time to process written material in examinations, discuss this with ELS before the relevant examination period.

This domain concerns the written work students produce, not to the physical act of writing. Writing requires the ability to communicate clearly and accurately, which in legal study and practice involves precision, structure, and the conventions of citation — skills that develop from foundational academic writing through to professional legal expression.

Baseline requirement: The capacity to produce coherent written communication, to organise ideas logically, and to express reasoning in clear, accurate prose.

Produce coherent written communication appropriate to legal academic and professional contexts. In the LLB and JD, assessed writing tasks include:

• research essays and problem-based analyses requiring extended legal argument, appropriate citation under the Australian Guide to Legal Citation, and accurate use of primary and secondary sources
• memoranda, advices, and other forms of professional legal writing requiring plain English expression and structural clarity
• statutory interpretation exercises requiring close, careful analysis of legislative text
• written examination answers produced under timed, invigilated conditions including without access to research materials or notes. Written examination answers require you to: recall and apply relevant legal principles from memory; identify the legal issues raised by an unseen problem or question; structure a legally coherent argument or analysis within a fixed time; and sustain the quality of reasoning across an examination of one to three hours.

A range of adjustments can be organised through the Equitable Learning Services (ELS). Contact the ELS to discuss what adjustments may be helpful to you.

You may use specialised software to support your writing for on-campus learning activities. Additional time allowances for written examinations may be available, if approved, through ELS. Assistive technology for examination use must be arranged with ELS well in advance of the relevant examination period, and its appropriateness for use in invigilated conditions should be confirmed.

This domain refers to the cognitive capacities required to sustain engagement with academic tasks over a period of time. This includes concentration and sustained attention, memory, planning and organisation, the speed at which information can be processed, and the ability to reason through and resolve problems.

Baseline requirement: The capacity for sustained concentration and attention, including with lengthy or demanding material; memory; planning and organisation; efficient processing of information; and the ability to reason through and resolve problems. 

Sustain concentration across intellectually demanding tasks, retain and recall information, plan and organise competing academic demands, process material efficiently, and reason through problems to a conclusion. In the LLB and JD, tasks that draw on these capacities include:

• retaining and recalling legal principles, case authorities, and statutory provisions across the duration of a course and across courses studied concurrently
• reasoning through problems — applying relevant principles to a factual scenario, constructing a structured argument, and reaching a defensible conclusion, including under timed or unfamiliar conditions
• sustaining concentration and attention across lengthy or demanding tasks, including extended periods of independent research, drafting, and revision, and across multi-hour invigilated examinations
• planning and organising your workload across multiple concurrent courses, and managing competing deadlines
• processing dense or unfamiliar material efficiently enough to identify the issues relevant to a task within the time available
• reflecting on feedback from assessed work and adapting your approach to study, analysis, or argument construction in subsequent tasks

A range of adjustments can be organised through the Equitable Learning Services (ELS). Contact the ELS to discuss what adjustments may be helpful to you.

Strategies such as rest breaks may be available, if approved, to support your memory, planning, and organisation in on-campus learning activities. The appropriateness and practicality of rest breaks and other strategies during invigilated examinations should be discussed with ELS before the relevant examination period.

This domain concerns the capacity to remain present and participate appropriately in an activity, task, or assessment that involves confronting or distressing material – or to recognise when you need to step away or seek support, and to adhere to RMIT’s safe sharing guidelines. Having an emotional response to difficult material — including feeling upset, troubled, or affected — is a normal and legitimate part of engaging with law as a discipline, and is not itself a barrier to meeting this requirement. Many people who live with mental health conditions complete their law studies successfully, and support is available throughout the program.

Baseline requirement: The capacity, with reasonable adjustments and support where appropriate, to participate in essential learning activities involving challenging, distressing or personally significant material; to communicate when support or a pause is needed; and to engage respectfully with staff, peers and simulated clients in accordance with RMIT’s safe sharing guidelines.

This requirement does not require students to be symptom-free, emotionally unaffected, consistently well, or able to participate in the same way at all times. It concerns the capacity to participate, or to communicate a need to step away or seek support, in a way that enables the essential learning activity or outcome to be maintained.

The law curriculum engages with difficult aspects of human experience, and on-campus and online learning activities can be challenging in ways that extend beyond academic difficulty. Tasks that require behavioural stability include:

• engaging with subject matter that may be confronting, distressing, or personally significant — including criminal law, family law, personal injury, discrimination, migration and refugee law, and the legal treatment of vulnerable individuals and communities including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• participating in assessed activities under performance conditions, including moots, presentations, and negotiation, mediation, or similar exercises that are observed and evaluated
• receiving and responding constructively to critical feedback on academic work and professional performance
• working effectively and respectfully in groups with peers from diverse backgrounds, including in assessed collaborative tasks
• maintaining appropriate conduct in face-to-face and online learning environments including recognising when material or an activity is adversely affecting your wellbeing and communicating when you need to pause, step away or seek support
• using an agreed support approach, where applicable, to manage participation in challenging learning activities and, where possible, re-engage with the activity or complete the essential learning outcome.

The following support services are available at RMIT:

• Equitable Learning Services
• Counselling and Psychological Services

A range of adjustments can be organised through the Equitable Learning Services (ELS). Contact the ELS to discuss what adjustments may be helpful to you.

You may be supported to take time away from your studies if you become unwell or experience difficulties with behavioural stability, until you are ready to recommence. Contact ELS or Counselling and Psychological Services to discuss what support may be available.