Bachelor of Arts / Bachelor of Laws

5 years full-time
6 years full-time

Most people who do a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degree take five years to complete it, full-time.

In the first three years of candidature, you study both Arts and Social Sciences components and Law components and, in this way, meet the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree. This leaves you the final two years to complete the remaining Law components, and to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degree.

Please note : because students complete the Arts component of this degree in the first three years the requirements given below refer in detail only to Years 1, 2 and 3 of the degree program. Please consult the Faculty of Law Handbook to find out more about the requirements for Years 4 and 5.

View a sample degree pathway or map

Requirements (Years 1 - 3)

1. 144 credit points including
2. At least 96 credit points from the Arts and Social Sciences Table of Units of Study (Table A and B) made up of
3. No more than 48 junior credit points from the Arts and Social Sciences Table of Units of Study and
4. At least 48 senior credit points from the Arts and Social Sciences Table of Units of Study and
5. At least one major from Table A of the Arts and Social Sciences table of Units of Study the 144 credit points must also include
6. 48 credit points from core LAW units of study

Compulsory Law Units of Study

These units of study are worth 6 credit points unless otherwise stated. They are compulsory and so you may only take 36 junior credit points from the Arts and Social Sciences Units of Study table. You can take the remaining 12 junior credit points in Arts and Social Sciences in later years if you want to. Requirement 3 simply states that you can do no more than 48 junior credit point from the Arts and Social Sciences table.

Most full time students in the BA/BLaws program will start to take senior units of study in their second year, and continue in the third year. At this stage many students narrow down the range of subject areas in which they are studying, perhaps taking units of study from just two or three subject areas, rather than three or four as in the first year.

Please note, the number of compulsory Law units can be subject to change.

Majors

Unfortunately, you can’t fit in two majors from the Arts and Social Sciences table of units of study in your Bachelor of Arts / Laws degree. However, note that:

• in addition to your Arts (Table A) major, you can do up to four senior units of study in one other subject area from the Arts table (Table A or B) if you choose to;
• you do not have to decide on the subject area of your major in first year; you can make that decision in second year, after you’ve tried out a range of different subject areas in Arts.

Arts and Social Sciences Component Degree Pathways

Here is a sample degree structure for students commencing in 2009:

						Credit Points
First Year	S1	Arts (Table A) Major Junior Pre-req Unit	Arts (Table A or B) Junior Unit Choice	Arts (Table A or B) Junior Unit Choice	LAWS1006 Foundations of Law	24
					LAWS1013 Legal Research 1
	S2	Arts (Table A) Major Junior Pre-req Unit	Arts (Table A or B) Junior Unit Choice	Arts (Table A or B) Junior Unit Choice	LAWS1012 Torts	24
Second Year	S1	Arts (Table A) Major Senior Unit	Arts (Table A) Major Senior Unit	LAWS1014 Civil & Criminal Procedure	LAWS1015 Contracts	24
	S2	Arts (Table A) Major Senior Unit	Arts (Table A or B) Senior Unit Choice	Arts (Table A or B) Senior Unit Choice	LAWS1016 Criminal Law	24
Third Year	S1	Arts (Table A) Major Senior Unit	Arts (Table A) Major Senior Unit	Arts (Table A or B) Senior Unit Choice	LAWS1023 Public International Law	24
					LAWS1019 Legal Research 2
	S2	Arts (Table A) Major Senior Unit	Arts (Table A or B) Senior Unit Choice	LAWS1017 Torts and Contracts II	LAWS1021 Public Law	24
					Total=	144
	Full-time Law Studies					48
	Full-time Law Studies					48
					Total=	240

Note: The different shades of colour in the diagram above represent the amount of choice you have with regard to that component of your degree program: the lighter the shade, the wider the range of choice you have in selecting that particular component. To find out more about the terms used in the diagram above, and the requirements and choices involved, please view the links below.

Arts Component Degree Director