Bachelor of Laws / Bachelor of Arts (Politics and Journalism)

This is a double degree for people who want to argue a case and then write about why it matters. Over five and a half years you complete the requirements of a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Journalism, graduating with two awards from the University of Notre Dame Australia. The law side covers the areas every Australian law graduate needs: contracts, torts, criminal law and procedure, constitutional law, property, equity and trusts, administrative law, evidence and civil procedure. The arts side takes you through Australian and comparative politics, public policy, political theory, and the reporting skills of a working journalist, news writing, feature writing, interviewing, media law and ethics.

How the degree is structured

Australian bachelor degrees are built from units of study, each carrying a set number of credit points, and you need a set total to graduate. Notre Dame runs its academic year in semesters. A double degree like this spreads the load across both faculties rather than bolting one onto the end of the other, so your law and politics units run alongside each other. The law component includes a practical legal training or clinical element, supervised work in a community legal centre, a law firm or an in-house legal team, because admission to practice in Australia requires both the academic qualification and practical legal training. On the journalism side you produce published work: stories, packages and a portfolio you can show an editor. Confirm the exact unit list, credit point totals and any capstone or research requirements on the official course page, since these are set by the university and can change.

What you actually learn

You learn to read a statute closely and find the gap. You learn to research a case, brief it, and stand up and argue it. You learn to interview a hostile source, file to deadline, and know exactly where the defamation line sits. The combination is unusually practical. A politics graduate who can also read a contract, or a law graduate who can write a clean 800-word explainer, is useful to newsrooms, to government, and to firms that deal with regulators and the media. The law degree is recognised for admission purposes in Australia; the politics and journalism degree gives you the context and the craft to use it.

Who it suits

It suits school leavers and mature-age students who are interested in both sides of public life, the legal machinery and the public conversation around it. If you want to be a court reporter, a policy adviser, a media lawyer, or a lawyer who can handle a press conference, this is a sensible pairing. International students should note the English requirement for law is higher than the general undergraduate standard: IELTS Academic 7.0–7.5 overall is typical for law, and equivalents such as TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic and Cambridge C1 Advanced are accepted. The Student visa has its own separate English threshold set by the Department of Home Affairs. While studying you can work up to 48 hours per fortnight, and on completion you may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream. Tuition is published on the CRICOS register under course code 095679M.

• Lawyer or solicitor in private practice, community legal centres, or government legal offices, after completing practical legal training and admission
• Barrister, via further study and the bar readers' course
• Journalist or court reporter for newspapers, online mastheads, radio, television and podcasts
• Policy adviser or analyst in federal and state departments, ministerial offices, and statutory authorities
• Media and communications adviser for law firms, corporates, unions, NGOs and political parties
• Media lawyer or in-house counsel handling defamation, contempt, privacy and broadcasting regulation
• Political staffer or campaign manager
• Researcher or speechwriter in public affairs, advocacy and think tanks

Australian employers in these fields include law firms, the courts, the ABC and commercial broadcasters, News Corp and Nine mastheads, state and federal public services, regulators such as the ACCC and ASIC, and the not-for-profit sector. Confirm admission requirements with the relevant state or territory legal profession board.