Undergraduate law programs
- Introduction
- Career opportunities
- Aims and objectives
- Application of aims and objectives
The Charles Darwin University School of Law and Business offers students a nationally recognised degree leading to professional admission as a practicing lawyer in Australia. Its unique geographic location allows undergraduate, postgraduate and research students the opportunity to develop expertise in the fields of Asian legal systems and indigenous peoples and the law. The school has developed a reputation locally and Australia-wide for its excellent facilities and opportunities available to graduates.
Excellence and dedication to study are rewarded at the annual prize night held at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. Among the awards are the prestigious Supreme Court Medal and the Attorney General's Medals.
Staff have maintained close contact with members of the practising legal profession. A significant contribution has been made by the profession and judiciary to the development of the law courses, and practitioners and judges continue to be involved in giving lectures and taking tutorials in a number of subjects, as well as being involved in the moot court program. The strong support and contribution of the local legal profession (see external lecturers) allows the Law Discipline to deliver a range of subject offerings that is every bit as wide and professionally challenging as much larger law schools in Sydney or Melbourne. The Law Discipline has on numerous occasions emerged in national surveys as amongst the top handful of Australian law schools in terms of teaching quality and student satisfaction. The Law Discipline gratefully acknowledges the critical role of the local legal profession in achieving and maintaining high academic and professional standards in delivery of our undergraduate law programs.
Career opportunities
Studying law does not mean you are restricted to a career as a solicitor, barrister, prosecutor or judge, if that is not your ambition. A law degree opens your career options to include politics, human rights, legal studies teacher, industrial relations, customs, immigration or any public or private sector employment where an in-depth understanding of the law would be an advantage.
Throughout Australia the content of both academic and practical courses in law is influenced by the lists of subject areas and skills agreed by professional admitting authorities (i.e. the Barristers and Solicitors Admission Boards in each State and Territory). These lists (commonly referred to as the Priestley 11 and the Priestley 12) set out the areas of study, which are essential if a graduate is to be admitted as a legal practitioner. Australia now has a system of (almost complete) national mutual recognition of interstate legal qualifications and admissions. The Northern Territory Legal Practitioners Admission Board accepts that the Charles Darwin University law degree fully satisfies the national 'Priestley 11' requirements. Accordingly, completion of a law degree at CDU, followed by successful completion of either Articles of Clerkship or a Practical Legal Training Course at one of the several accredited legal workshops in other States and the ACT, now entitles CDU law graduates to admission as a legal practitioner (barrister or solicitor or both in jurisdictions with a 'fused' legal profession) in most Australian States. The Law Discipline also offers a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (GDLP) in conjunction with Australian National University. The GDLP program satisfies Priestley 12 requirements and qualifies graduates for admission as a legal practitioner anywhere in Australia.
