Lawyers: Qualifications
1 Academic qualifications
People wishing to practise law must complete an approved course of study. In Victoria, the approved courses are the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and the Juris Doctor degree (JD). The LLB and JD include 11 compulsory subjects.
In Victoria, eight universities offer approved law courses. They are the Australian Catholic University, Deakin University, La Trobe University, Monash University, RMIT University, Swinburne University of Technology, The University of Melbourne, and Victoria University. For more information about these courses, visit the websites of these universities.
2 Practical legal training
Before a law graduate can be admitted to practise law, they need to complete practical legal training. This requirement can be satisfied by completing either 12 months of supervised workplace training or a practical legal training course.
More information is available on the Victorian Legal Admissions Board’s website.
3 Practising certificates
After being admitted to practise law, all lawyers must hold a practising certificate to provide legal services.
A lawyer’s ability to provide legal services is restricted at first. This means their work must be supervised for a period of time by a lawyer who is fully qualified and who has an unrestricted practising certificate. After that period, and upon a successful application to the VLSB+C to have the supervision condition removed from their practising certificate, they can work unsupervised.
