About Melbourne Law School Legal Internships

Did you know Melbourne Law school  is ranked the #1 law school in Australia and #8 in the world*?

The University of Melbourne is arguably Australia’s most reputable higher education institution with a tradition of excellence in research and teaching. Students from Canada choose Melbourne due to its high ranking among the best universities in the world. Among the most popular degrees for Canadians includes the Melbourne Juris Doctor.

Through the Melbourne Law School Clinic program, you’ll participate in legal internships, working with real clients to solve real legal problems. These clinical subjects allow you to hone your legal skills while providing the community with much-needed resources for public-interest law causes.

What is Legal Internship?

Legal internship is internships, externships, placements, experiential or work-integrated learning. By whatever name, these opportunities are all about practical experience. Melbourne Law School students have a choice of applying for a clinic-led internship or finding their own internship independently.

All Melbourne Law School’s placements have a public interest focus and contribute much-needed resources to community and increasing access to justice. Students have a choice of applying for one of the internship placements coordinated by Melbourne Law School Clinics or independently sourcing their own internship (Independent Legal Internship). Legal Internships are for a minimum of 15 days.

As well as offering placements at a range of public interest organizations, the program allows students to arrange an independent legal internship with an organization of their choosing, which will be credited toward their degree. Independent legal internships may be hosted by any public interest organization (domestic or overseas) that will facilitate a student undertaking unpaid, legally oriented work.

What will you learn?
Undertaking a public interest legal internship provides law students with the opportunity to

• develop practical legal skills that cannot be obtained in a classroom;
• apply their legal knowledge to real-world problems and enhance their ability to undertake legal work in a professional environment;
• deepen their awareness of the wider social and policy issues relevant to particular areas of legal practice;
• establish a valuable professional network with lawyers and staff at their host organization;
• include practical legal work on their CV; and
• clarify their interests and guide their future career choices.

Where can you go?
Internship opportunities are available across a wide range of practice areas in the public and community sectors. Melbourne Law School Clinics has partnerships with a range of host organizations and placements are advertised to students at various times throughout the year.

There are many exciting independent internship opportunities, both within Australia and internationally. Students can source internships at organizations to build on their interests in an area and explore their passions.

Internship opportunities
While not all organizations offer placements in every round, students who wish to engage with a different public interest organization for their internship may choose to source their own placement (an independent legal internship) and apply to have this approved for subject credit.

Where will this take you?
A legal internship is an opportunity to deepen your knowledge and integrate your law studies with the reality of legal practice. There are a number of ways to approach the choice of placement. Students can use the internship experience to learn more about an area of law or legal practice, explore a workplace that may be of interest, or to build their legal skills and employability in supervised and supported environment. The flexibility of the Melbourne Law School Clinics program gives you the opportunity to direct your own learning.

About the Melbourne Juris Doctor

The Melbourne JD is designed for students with an undergraduate degree in a discipline other than law. Melbourne Law School aims to produce intellectually engaged graduates who are well equipped to use their legal training in a variety of professional settings, including legal practice and in their contribution to the community.

The maximum class size is 60 and, in many subjects, it is smaller, to enhance the opportunities for interaction between you and your teachers and among your fellow students.

Program: Juris Doctor
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Intake: February
Duration: 3 years
Application Deadline: International applicants are assessed on a rolling-admissions basis. The earlier your application is submitted the better.

The LSAT is not required for admission.

Start your Melbourne Juris Doctor application here

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Would you like to learn more about the University of Melbourne Law School? Please email us at law@oztrekk.com or call us at 1-866-698-7355!

*Melbourne Law School is ranked the No. 1 law school in Australia and No 8 in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject, 2024) and the No. 1 law school in Australia and No 11 in the world (QS World University Rankings by Subject, 2023).