School of Law and Business
 

Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (GDLP) Program

 Introduction

This course is designed to provide practical legal training (PLT) to Bachelor of Laws graduates who are entering or planning to enter the legal profession. Students will develop the competencies required to satisfy the Admissions Board and the Supreme Court to be admitted as a legal practitioner. The level of skills development builds on the skills units of the Bachelor of Laws program at Charles Darwin University and is more vocationally and practically focused, detailing, for example, the mechanics of completing court applications and appearances, as well as knowledge of the law.

The course involves both programmed training and workplace experience. Programmed training is structured and supervised academic study involving research, demonstration of relevant skills (eg advocacy, negotiation, client interviewing, communication skills, drafting etc) and tasks with comprehensive assessment.

A set of competencies for entry level lawyers known as the 'Priestley 12' has been jointly developed by the Australasian Professional Legal Education Council and the Law Admissions Consultative Committee to complement the 'Priestley 11' requirements for undergraduate legal training. This course addresses all of the 'Priestley 12' requirements and satisfactory completion of the course will enable a student to apply in the first instance, to the Supreme Court of the NT for admission as a legal practitioner. Subsequent admission applications can then be made to other jurisdictions in Australia. Legal careers exist in a wide range of areas including law firms, legal aid agencies, government and corporate positions.

This course is delivered under a joint cooperative arrangement with Australian National University (ANU). Students enrol with Charles Darwin University. The course is taught externally, and most units are studied via WebCT, ANU's online education platform.

This program requires payment of tuition fees (either upfront or through FEE-HELP).

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 General Information

After the enrolment progress has been completed, the School of Law & Business will provide you with an ANU Affiliate Number and password to access the online units via WebCT. Materials for the units are sent to the School of Law & Business from ANU and students are then contacted by the School for collection, if students are outside the Darwin Region their materials will be posted out to them.

There are two units within the program that are not entirely run online as described above. LLP401 - Skills for Practice is a core unit that is run intensive in Darwin on the Casuarina Campus. LLP414 - Criminal Practice is an elective that includes both an online and an intensive component of a week in Darwin. Below are the unit offerings for the program.

Commencing with the Semester 2 2008 intake and thereafter students will be required to take LLP401 – Skills for Practice at the beginning of their program.

GDLP 2008 – UNIT OFFERINGS and Dates

Unit Code/Title

Core/
Elect Group

Cr Pts

S1

SP2

S2

S3

Dates

LLP401 Skills for practice

C

10

I

I

S1: 14-19 January 08,
SP2. 23-28 June 08
Face-to-Face at Casuarina Campus

LLP421 Legal Practice Experience (20 day placement)

C

5

E

E

E

S1: 21 Jan 08 - 14 Mar 08
SP2: 31 Mar 08 - 23 May 08
S2: 7 July 08 - 29 Aug 08

LLP403 Legal Practice Experience (40 days)

C

10

E

E

E

Dates include on-line component only
S1: 21 Jan 08 - 14 Mar 08
SP2: 31 Mar 08 - 23 May 08
S2: 7 July 08 - 29 Aug 08

LLP404 Legal Practice Experience (60 days)

C

15

E

E

E

Dates include on-line component only
S1: 21 Jan 08 - 14 Mar 08
SP2: 31 Mar 08 - 23 May 08
S2: 7 July 08 - 29 Aug 08

LLP405 Legal Practice Experience (80 days)

C

20

E

E

E

Dates include on-line component only
S1: 21 Jan 08 - 14 Mar 08
SP2: 31 Mar 08 - 23 May 08
S2: 7 July 08 - 29 Aug 08

LLP406 Real Estate Practice

C

10

E

E

S1: 21 Jan 08 - 14 Mar 08
S2: 7 July 08 - 29 Aug 08

LLP407 Civil Practice

C

10

E

E

S1: 21 Jan 08 - 14 Mar 08
S2: 7 July 08 - 29 Aug 08

LLP408 Commercial Practice

C

10

E

E

SP2: 31 Mar 08 - 23 May 08
S3: 22 Sep 08 - 14 Nov 08

LLP409 Accounts

C

5

E

E

SP2: 31 Mar 08 - 23 May 08
S3: 22 Sep 08 - 14 Nov 08

LLP410 Legal Ethics

C

5

E

E

S1: 21 Jan 08 - 14 Mar 08
S2: 7 July 08 - 29 Aug 08

LLP411 Administrative Law Practice

1

5

E

E

SP2: 31 Mar 08 - 23 May 08
S3: 22 Sep 08 - 14 Nov 08

LLP413 Consumer Law Practice

2

5

E

E

S1: 21 Jan 08 - 14 Mar 08
S2: 7 July 08 - 29 Aug 08

LLP414 Criminal Practice

1

5

I

S3: 22 Sep 08 - 14 Nov 08
** Block dates: 16 – 20 Sept 2008
Face-to-Face in Darwin
**These dates are still to be confirmed

LLP416 Employment & Industrial Relations Law Practice

2

5

E

E

S1: 21 Jan 08 - 14 Mar 08
S2: 7 July 08 - 29 Aug 08

LLP417 Family Law Practice

1

5

E

E

SP2: 31 Mar 08 - 23 May 08
S3: 22 Sep 08 - 14 Nov 08

LLP418 Government Law Practice

3

5

E

E

SP2: 31 Mar 08 - 23 May 08
S3: 22 Sep 08 - 14 Nov 08

LLP419 Planning & Environment Law Practice

2

5

E

E

S1: 21 Jan 08 - 14 Mar 08
S2: 7 July 08 - 29 Aug 08

LLP420 Wills, Probate & Administration

2

5

E

E

S1: 21 Jan 08 - 14 Mar 08
S2: 7 July 08 - 29 Aug 08

Note:
C denotes core unit
Electives:
1 denotes " Priestly 12" group 1
2 denotes "Priestly 12" group 2
3 denotes extra unit, neither group 1 nor 2

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Find out more

For further details, contact the following people:

Preliminary, administrative and enrolment enquiries

Natasha Beswick
Student Administration Officer
Phone: +61 8 8946 6844
Fax: +61 8 8946 6588
Email: natasha.beswick@cdu.edu.au

Or email
External student email contact: lawbusinessexternal@cdu.edu.au

Academic related enquiries

David Price
GDLP Course Coordinator
Phone: +61 8 8946 6959
Fax: +61 8 8946 6588
Email: david.price@cdu.edu.au