The Master of Laws by Coursework offers law graduates an opportunity to study in an organised fashion areas of specialty and greater difficulty than are met within a Bachelor of Laws program, some of which call for advanced interdisciplinary perspectives. Courses offered in the LLM by Coursework program combine a degree of sophistication or technical difficulty in terms of legal content with a substantial consideration of relevant interdisciplinary aspects of the subject matter and a focus on policy. Each course contains a significant research component. All courses are not necessary available in any one year.

Please contact the Faculty of Law for information regarding the Program Objectives and Learning Outcomes.

The LLM by Coursework may be taken full-time in two semesters or part-time in a minimum of three semesters. Students must undertake and satisfactorily complete eight semester-long courses or the equivalent. A total of 48 units of credit are required for the award of the degree. Students may elect to complete a major sequence of courses (see below). Postgraduate courses are taught in a variety of formats both during the University's formal academic semesters and over the Summer Term. While many are taught for two hours per week over a teaching semester, in others the class hours are arranged more intensively to permit students to focus fully on a research project. Some courses of particular interest to students in employment are scheduled in a venue situated in the CBD.

A student may apply to the Postgraduate Education Co-ordinator to complete a Research Thesis of about 12,000 words in place of one semester-long course.

A student may apply to the Postgraduate Education Co-ordinator for permission to take up to 2 courses (12 uoc) of the program from courses offered at postgraduate level by another university via cross institutional study.

A student may apply to complete a semester of study (24uoc) with the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. The University of Lausanne offers instruction in English in the LLM in International and European Economic Law or International and European Commercial Law. The courses undertaken at the University of Lausanne will be credited to your UNSW LLM degree. Refer to the UNSW Law Exchange website for further information.

Enrolment
The requirements for the Master of Laws are as follows:

Local Students - 8 LAWS courses to the value of 48 units of credit
International Students - LAWS8271 Australian Legal System and 7 LAWS courses to the value of 48 units of credit.
All Students -
A minimum of 2 of the 8 courses must be taken from an approved list of courses that contain a substantial research-based assessment component from the Research-Based Course List. The requirement to take two courses from the Research-Based Course List can, in the alternative, be satisfied if the student takes the single course LAWS8423 Research Thesis.

The Enrolment Guide for the Master of Laws (LLM) can be found on the Enrolment UNSW Law website.

Specialisations (Plans)

1. Candidates for the LLM by Coursework may undertake study incorporating a major sequence in any one of the following specialist areas:

1. In order to incorporate a major sequence in the degree a student will be required to obtain no less than 24 of the 48 units of credit required for the award of the degree from the courses allocated to that major sequence. A minimum of 18 units of credit must be completed from postgraduate courses offered at UNSW Law.

2. In order to meet requirements for a specialisation in Corporate Commercial and Taxation Law, candidates must complete 48uoc as follows:
- 18uoc from courses offered in the Corporate and Commercial Law major sequence;
- 18uoc from postgraduate taxation courses offered by the School of Taxation and Business Law, Australian School of Business;
- 12uoc may be selected from any postgraduate law or taxation courses on offer.

3. In order to meet requirements for a specialisation in Taxation, candidates must complete a total of 48 uoc as follows:
- minimum of 3 courses (18 uoc) from postgraduate law courses offered by UNSW Law;
- minimum of 4 courses (24 uoc) from postgraduate taxation courses offered by the School of Taxation and Business Law, Australian School of Business;
- 1 course (6uoc) may be selected from any postgraduate law or taxation courses on offer.

4. In order to meet requirements for a specialisation in Environmental Law, candidates must complete 48 uoc as follows:
- 24uoc from courses offered in the Environmental Law major sequence including LAWS8068 Environmental Law in Australia and LAWS8319 International Environmental Law;
- 24uoc from any other Postgraduate law courses on offer.

5. From time to time the allocation of courses to major sequences may be altered.

6. The Postgraduate Education Co-ordinator may when considering it appropriate authorise the inclusion of a Special Elective within, or the deletion of a Special Elective from among, the courses allocated to a major sequence.

7. The Postgraduate Education Co-ordinator may when considering it appropriate approve as part of an individual student's major sequence a course or courses taken by that student on a cross-institutional basis.

8. Where a special case is made, or where an individual student's assessment program for the course concerned is tailored specifically to issues relevant to a major sequence, the Postgraduate Education Co-ordinator may approve a course not otherwise allocated to a major sequence as part of that student's major sequence.

9. Research Thesis courses may be counted towards the units of credit required for a major sequence where, in the opinion of the Postgraduate Education Co-ordinator, the subject matter of the thesis topic concerned is substantially related to the specialist area of the major sequence.

10. When a student completes the LLM by Coursework incorporating a major sequence as above, the student's academic transcript will identify the major sequence and the courses which constitute it and the student's Testamur will contain the words 'Master of Laws in... (the major sequence completed)' or words to like effect.

Award of the Degree

1. The degree of Master of Laws by Coursework may be awarded by the Council to a candidate who has satisfactorily completed a program of advanced study.

Qualifications

2. A candidate for the Master of Laws by Coursework shall have been previously awarded any of the following:
(1) a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) or Juris Doctor (JD) degree from UNSW Australia, with a minimum Credit average; or
(2) a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) or Juris Doctor (JD) degree from UNSW Australia with minimum two years relevant professional experience
(3) a domestic or foreign equivalent of any of the above.

Enrolment and Progression

(1) An application to enrol as a candidate for the degree shall be lodged online on the UNSW website, by the advertised due date.

(2) A candidate for the degree shall be required to undertake such formal courses and pass such assessment as is prescribed.

(3) The progress of a candidate shall be reviewed at least once annually by the Committee and as a result of its review the Committee may cancel enrolment or take such other action as it considers appropriate.

(4) No candidate shall be awarded the degree until the lapse of two academic semesters from the date of enrolment in the case of a full-time candidate or three semesters in the case of a part-time candidate. The maximum period of candidature shall be three academic semesters from the date of enrolment for a full-time candidate and six semesters for a part-time candidate. In special cases an extension of these times may be granted by the Committee.

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  UNSW Fee Website.

Postgraduate Elective Courses

The following electives are available for credit towards the Master of Laws degree by Coursework, the Doctor of Juridical Science (coursework component), the Master of Law and Management degree, and the Graduate Diploma in Law:

Research-Based Course List

All students must take a minimum of 2 courses from this list of courses set out below, which forms a subset of the longer list of Elective courses set out immediately above. All of these courses contain a substantial research-based assessment component, consisting of a research-based assessment task (such as a research essay), or a combination of related tasks (such as a research plan and research essay), of a minimum of 6,000 words. The requirement to take two courses from the Research-Based Course List can, in the alternative, be satisfied if the student takes the single course LAWS8423 Research Thesis (12 uoc).