I agree with the previous post from the Melbourne student.

"Sydney LLB student" is rather naive in thinking that a course's UAI reflects the quality of the Law School.

It was also an absurdly Sydney-centric post - clear ignorance of the current situation in Victoria (re UniMelb and Monash) and as for UTS and Macquarie being better law schools than ANU?? Hee hee hee.... Sorry, it's just too funny.

Good luck with law school, Sydney LLB ... with those analytical skills, you're going to need it.

And to reiterate - all university "rankings" systems, such as the Times Higher and Shanghai Jiaotong listings - give most weight to a university's RESEARCH performance. Yes, kids, it is primarily about research. Disheartening as it may be for some of you to hear this, the whole business of educating undergraduates is, to many of us, an irritation.

Caveat 1: I don't necessarily endorse that devaluing of undergrad teaching;

Caveat 2: I agree with the previous poster from Melbourne that rankings systems for universities are inherently problematic and can often do more harm than good insofar as they guide the choices of prospective students (particularly school leavers) who don't have the first idea about the tertiary sector.

As Lord Wilberforce would say, Tally Ho, chums ...

Hi Guyssss.

I accept that the law faculty of Macquarie is not better than ANU.
But, I want to know about your opinion how is the law school of Macquarie, is it ok?

Could u rank it for me because i don't think it is lower than that of UTS. And, I have a plan to study at Mqu. next year.

Please give me your value opinion as soon as possible.

Hopefully and thank you very much

Hi, everyone-

Do you have any thoughts about the University of Western Australia? I'll be starting there in 2006, and am from North America.

Thanks!

To clarify, I'll be starting their undergrad law degree- I already have a business admin undergrad.

Hi all,

I would like to hear your views on a JD and a LLB degree in terms of its value in the market.

In addition what are your views on the university of Queensland law school (
TC Beirne )

thanks guys.

jack

Hi Monroe

What course are you doing at UWA? I did my undergrad course there - a combined arts and bachelor of laws degree. the campus is absolutely beautiful and every student I know who came there from exchance from another law school in Australia agreed it has the best social life of any university in Australia. It's very easy to meet people. Just make sure you get involved in all the activities ("shows") on offer. You should have a great time.

Monroe,

Let me endorse the above comments - UWA has the most picturesque campus in Australia (that I have seen) and is centrally located to the city, beach etc, and also has affordable accomodation nearby.

It is also well regarded academically. By most measures it's probably about 6th/7th -but could quite feasibly be higher than than - the ranking systems quoted by some earlier posts using entrance scores discount the fact that many unis reserve half or more of their undergraduate places for full fee-paying students who do not have to meet the same entrance requirements demanded of those taking government subsidised places. This means that the score required to get in is distorted for those unis. UWA by contrast does not (at least until recently - this may have changed) set aside full fee places, so all students get in on merit. You will find also that if you look at the number of students who do things like High Court Associateships, or Jessup mooting etc, UWA (and also University of Queensland) are disporportionately represented, given that their cohorts are substantially smaller than Melbourne or Sydney.

Of course, much of this applies only to undergrad degrees. I think it is fair to say that most well performing Australian undergrads would seek to go to the UK or US for their master's, so you may find that an Australian LLM is a slightly less rigorous, slightly less intense academic experience. That said, it is pretty hard to go wrong with spending a year in Perth, regadless of the reason - You'll have a blast.

I agree with the above posts. I must say however that rankings with Australian Universities is some what of a farce. I know for a fact (having studied at UWA (Perth), ANU, and Uppsala (Sweden) that unlike most countries with a concentrated population there is very little movement of students across state borders. Any university that claims to be the 'best' university is quite frankly deceiving itself.

I just would like to say, so long as you go to one of the "G-8" group of universities you are assured a good university. I always love the disproportionate responses of many 'eastern states" students and how they like to distort figures. The university of WA has consistently been the highest entrance score of any of the universities in Australia, and has been in the top 5 for the entrance to the undergraduate law degree. It was 98.2 in my year.

I readily accept that it does not have the greatest research rankings, however you should not dismiss some of the universities in other states (for example UWA, USA, UQ, etc) all of which are comparable if not better than their NSW and Victorian colleagues.

I agree with the above post as well, UWA has the best campus, and Perth has by far the best weather in OZ!!!

Hayden, which uni does "USA" stand for? Thanks

LLB Student in Sydney is obviously delusional. There is NO WAY that the University of Sydney is regarded as Australia's top law school (wishful thinking), or that Melbourne ranks below Monash.

By "demand and supply" I'll assume that you mean ENTER/UAI score.

First, this isn't a good measure across states -- I (and most people I know at Melbourne) were not prepared to leave Melbourne to study law. Why would we? Melbourne is generally regarded as superior to Sydney (see, eg, the recent ranking of universities internationally -- Melbourne = 19). Home-State loyalty and discrepancies in secondary school population sizes across states relative to faculty size mean that the market is distorted across States.

Second, your "demand and supply" approach isn't even applied correctly. The ENTER score required for direct entry into the Melbourne LLB is clearly higher than that required at Monash. One what possible basis could Melbourne be ranked lower than Monash, then? Pray tell.

Frankly, I don't care which law school is considered "the best". The label is meaningless (and subjective). Your post annoyed me, that's all.

LordWilberforce
I am a law student from India in my final year.My are of interest is 'IP'.I wrote to a faculty member from Melbourne university.She discouraged me from pursuing an LLM in Australia.Her reasons were
1)Australia is so highly competitive when it comes to careers in the legal forte,that with an LLB degree my chances of finding a job are very limited.
2)Since LLB from India doesn't match the requirements in Australia,i will have to do a number of extra subjects to be eligible to apply for a job after i finish my LLM.She also said that LLM courses as it is is very taxing.Therefore it isnt advisable to take on extra work.
3)I will need a ruling from(i forget the exact name of the body) from the Australian education board before i can apply for an LLM.This ruling is given only if I am eligible to practice in India The problem is that most universities(australian and others)start their admission process during the end of our semester,prior to our exams.Hence i would not yet have completed my examinations and hence cant get this ruling.

I dont understand.Do any students from India or other asian countries come to Australia for a LLM??do they manage to find work?

If you want to practice in NSW ~ among the law community here it's either UNSW or USYD. They're the two 'biggies' with power in prestige and alumni association. I work at Mallesons and most of our graduates come from either UNSW or USYD. In addition, those are the only two universities that we target (as in campus visits and promotion) during recruitment season every year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNSW_Faculty_of_Law#cite_note-1

Here is the latest Times Guide:http://www.law.unsw.edu.au/images/2008/GoodUniversitiesGuideChart_lge.jpg

UNSW leads hands down!!!

It also beat all other Australian universities in law for teaching and starting salary in the latest G08 benchmark.

Hi I'm wondering if non-LLB students can apply for LLM?
I'm UNSW B/Com&Arts local student and want to apply LLM at either Syd Law school or UNSW next year, but application requirement is LLB or equlvalent, not sure if I'm eligible. Anyone can give me some advice thanks?

Just checked UNSW postgrad handbook again, just realized the chances of me being admitted is low, thought it might be useful to share with anyone else applying, sorry to break the bad news..

The handbook has stated: "Graduate Law or Bachelor of Laws (LLB) is designed for students who have an undergraduate degree in any discipline other than law, and who want to undertake study to practise as a solicitor or barrister."
I guess there's no chance to jump straight into LLM without a LLB

Its very odd, but not one person on this forum has mentioned the Australian National Unviersity. The ANU is Australia's highest ranked university and has the countries best law school - consider it when you are weighing up your options. Also, Canberra is less expensive to live than Sydney or Melbourne. The ANU is also a more personal university than the big city universities (and ranked higher in the world/national rankings).

Just checked UNSW postgrad handbook again, just realized the chances of me being admitted is low, thought it might be useful to share with anyone else applying, sorry to break the bad news..

The handbook has stated: "Graduate Law or Bachelor of Laws (LLB) is designed for students who have an undergraduate degree in any discipline other than law, and who want to undertake study to practise as a solicitor or barrister."
I guess there's no chance to jump straight into LLM without a LLB

hi am actually in my 2nd yr llb from university of london ...am finking of joining university of western australia to continue my last yr ova ther and later opt for masters in environ mental law. please advise n suggest what should i do.thnx

First, learn to spell. There are a range of books and guides available from bookstores that might help you to achieve this goal. In fact, a number of institutions in your area, such as Oxford and Cambridge, have publications on this very subject matter. They have categorised words alphabetically, and provide useful information, such as: spelling, meaning and pronunciation.

After you have mastered the art of constructing individual letters into words, I would advise you take similar steps to properly construct groups of words into sentences. Similarly, there are publications, often referred to as 'style guides', which may be of some assistance. These books will help you with the finer aspects of writing, such as: punctuation, grammar and capitalisation.

Once you have obtained these skills, necessary to the completion of any form of tertiary education, I would highly recommend the continuation of your studies in Australia. Studying abroad is widely regarded as a worthwhile activity, and I wish you the best of luck in all of these endeavors.

However, after searching the courses offered by UWA, it would appear that they do not offer a LLM in Environ Mental Law. Is this a new stream of legal practice, yet to be established here in Australia?

The Oxford Dictionary (the very publication that I referred to earlier), defines 'environ' as a verb (formal) meaning 'surround; enclose'. The book then goes on to apply the word in a sentence, stating: "the stone circle was environed by an expanse of peat soil".

Does this strand of 'Environ Mental Law' that you speak of deal entirely with the legal implications of the psychological state of surroundings?

It nevertheless sounds fascinating. Maybe I will join you in London to further research this legal frontier.

My my somebody didn't get their saucer of milk today!
In response to earlier post a Grad Dip from University Sydney is not to be confused with the Grad Dip from the College of Law which is merely a prerequisite to gain entry to the Legal profession.