Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Bachelor of Economics (Honours)

This is a six-year double honours degree that puts law and economics side by side. You graduate with two bachelor degrees with honours: a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and a Bachelor of Economics (Honours). At Adelaide University the law component covers the subjects you need for admission to legal practice in Australia, contract, torts, criminal law, constitutional law, property, equity, administrative law, evidence and procedure, while the economics side takes you through microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics and quantitative methods. Because both are honours degrees, you finish with a research component in each discipline, usually a supervised thesis or major research project in your final year.

How the degree is structured

Australian bachelor degrees are built on units of study, each worth a set number of credit points. A full-time load is normally eight units a year, split across two semesters (some institutions use trimesters). Over six years you accumulate the credit points required for both awards. Expect the early years to be broad: foundational law subjects, core economics and statistics. Later years give you electives, and the honours research project sits at the end. Work-integrated learning is part of the law degree, clinical legal education, internships with community legal centres, law firms, government departments or industry, and moot court and negotiation competitions. Economics students often take research assistant roles or internships with economic consultancies, regulators and public sector agencies.

What you actually learn

You learn to read a case and pull out the ratio. You learn to draft advice a client can act on. You learn to build an econometric model, test it, and explain what the numbers mean to someone who is not an economist. The combination matters in fields like competition law, tax, regulation, trade, banking and public policy, where legal rules and economic incentives are tangled together. You also pick up the practical habits employers want: legal research, statutory interpretation, written and oral advocacy, data analysis, and working in teams under deadline pressure.

Who it suits

This degree suits school leavers and mature-age students who want to practise law but also want a serious grounding in how markets and policy work, or who want to work in economic policy with a law qualification behind them. It is a long commitment at six years full-time, so think about whether you want both disciplines or would rather do one degree and add the other later. The honours research component suits students who might go on to a master's or doctorate. International students should check the English language requirement for law, which is higher than the general undergraduate standard, and confirm the current tuition and entry requirements on the official page. The CRICOS course code is 117411J. While you study, your visa generally allows 48 hours of work per fortnight, and after graduating you may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream, check the Department of Home Affairs for current rules.

• Lawyer or solicitor in private practice, community legal centres or government legal offices, after completing the supervised practical legal training and admission requirements in your state or territory.
• Barrister (after further study and reading at the bar) in areas such as commercial, competition, tax or constitutional law.
• Economist or policy analyst in the Australian Public Service, state treasuries, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Productivity Commission or the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
• Competition and regulatory lawyer in law firms, the ACCC, the Australian Energy Regulator or the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
• Tax adviser or tax lawyer in accounting firms, law firms and the Australian Taxation Office.
• Corporate counsel or compliance officer in banks, insurers, superannuation funds and large listed companies.
• Economic consultant at firms advising on competition, regulation, infrastructure and public policy.
• Research officer or policy adviser in think tanks, industry bodies, unions and non-government organisations.
• Academic or researcher after further study, typically a master's by research or a doctorate.