About the Melbourne Law School Clinics

2 August 2022

When you study at Melbourne Law school, you’ll be studying with the best. After all, Melbourne is ranked the #1 law school in Australia and #5 in the world*.

The Melbourne Law School Clinics is the hub for clinical legal education and public interest law at the school. Through the clinics program, you’ll work 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.

Clinics and internships are an opportunity to experience the law in action. Informed by your work in the clinic, you’ll consider whether existing laws, processes, and institutions meet the aims of the justice system, and identify and work toward needed reforms.

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Learn more about studying the JD at Melbourne Law School

Melbourne Law School Clinics

Disability Human Rights Clinic
Students enrolled in the Disability Human Rights Clinic identify, analyze and report on rights violations experienced by persons with disabilities, and propose and advocate for solutions. You’ll collaborate closely with a range of external stakeholders, including disabled people’s organizations (DPOs), government bodies, civil society organizations, international non-governmental organizations, and international human rights bodies. The clinic has a multidisciplinary focus bringing together the fields of disability studies and international human rights law.

Indigenous Legal Advocacy Clinic
The Indigenous Legal Advocacy Clinic will engage with current law and policy issues impacting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. You’ll work in small groups in partnership with an Aboriginal legal service or related body on an issue of law or justice identified by the partner organization. Clinical projects may include legislative submissions, amicus briefs, and law and policy analysis.

Law Apps
In Law Apps, you’ll learn how to design, build, and release applications and chat bots that provide legal information that is tailored to the user’s situation. The applications and chat bots use reasoning and decision processes that mimic the analysis that a lawyer applies to similar problems. You’ll have the opportunity of working on problems submitted by external organizations and making student pitches to work on problems that may be assisted by a tech solution. The Law Apps clinic is deliberately designed to prepare you for the post law school environment: students work in groups with a close adherence to client needs to design and build solutions that empower users.

Legal Internship
Internships, externships, placements, experiential or work-integrated learning. By whatever name, these opportunities are all about practical experience. You’ll have a choice of applying for a MLS Clinic-led internship or finding your own internship independently.

MLS Tax Clinic
The MLS Tax Clinic provides you with the opportunity to undertake advice and representation work for vulnerable taxpayers (individuals, not-for-profits and small businesses). You’ll attend a regular morning and afternoon clinic each week of semester, which incorporate a briefing and debriefing sessions with a MLS academic. The clinic is part of an Australia-wide program of university tax clinics, generously supported by the Australian Taxation Office.

NDIS and Disability Benefits Clinic
The National Disability Insurance Scheme and Disability Benefits Clinic will provide you with the opportunity to undertake advice and representation work for people with disabilities, their families, and their carers. You’ll engage one-to-one with clients and conduct legal research for partner organizations that are doing systemic advocacy work. You’ll participate in all aspects of the clinic’s operation and will work under the guidance and supervision of the clinic supervisor to provide information and resolve issues presented by clients.

Public Interest Law Clinic
Public Interest Law Clinic offers you the opportunity to develop your practical legal skills while making a real difference in the lives of members of the community. In this clinic, you’ll support lawyers in public-interest law organizations one day a week over the course of the semester, directly assisting in the delivery of legal services to clients. Complementary seminars led by law school academics with direct public interest lawyering experience, and a range of dynamic guest speakers will encourage you to reflect on their practical experience in the context of ensuring meaningful access to justice while allowing you to develop practical legal skills.

Street Law
Street Law will provide you with the opportunity to design, develop, and present community legal education sessions in real community settings, including secondary schools and other justice-involved agencies. You’ll gain an understanding of how community legal education empowers individuals, protects their rights, and promote their responsibilities under law.

Street Law at MLS forms part of a worldwide movement of law schools delivering relevant and targeted community legal education to empower communities and increase access to justice.

Sustainability Business Clinic
Sustainability Business Clinic is a unique transactional law clinic that is based at Melbourne Law school and collaborates with commercial lawyers and social and environmental community enterprises. You’ll be supervised in providing transactional and start-up legal information to your own clients. The clinic offers students the opportunity to directly assist clients who do not otherwise have access to lawyers or legal advice and who are driven by a desire to make a difference within the community.

*Times Higher Education World University Rankings by Subject, 2022

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.

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 no longer required for admission to Juris Doctor program.

Get started on your Melbourne Juris Doctor application

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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!

 

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