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Established in 1836, the University of London has one of the largest law programmes in the world. It pioneered legal education in the Common Law world with the introduction of a university degree in Common Law in the 1890s; the London LLB. Tens of thousands of law students have since graduated from the University either after studying at one of the University’s colleges or by distance learning through the University’s external programme. Today, six of its colleges have law schools and collectively they are responsible for the academic direction and support provided to over 10,000 external LLB students and 800 external LLM students. Dr Wayne Morrison, Director of the Laws External Programme, discusses the growing significance of the LLM in the legal marketplace.

A masters degree in law used to be seen primarily as preparation for teaching law or starting an academic career but that has changed almost completely beyond recognition. Of course, the LLM still serves this purpose but it’s becoming increasingly attractive to practising lawyers who are looking to build their practical skills and who see the benefit to both their career and professional knowledge. Because of the growing complexities of legal regulation, particularly with globalisation and the development of new areas of specialist regulation, such as intellectual property, you find that people want to specialise more. They want to study areas that aren’t covered in the undergraduate degree. They want niche knowledges. Increasingly, once employed or even before they take up employment, people want an LLM.

The demand for specialist subjects is growing all the time. We offer subjects such as Modern Chinese Law, Marine Insurance, Carriage of Goods by Sea and Commercial Arbitration. But at the moment, the University of London’s distance learning LLM isn’t able to offer all the subjects available to a student who attends one of the University’s colleges. However, we’re working on developing this and we’re in the process of creating a much larger distance learning programme. The present programme is based on the traditional model. It allows external students to sit their exams in any region of the world but it will take another few years before we have been able to develop the programme more fully. Over the next three years we will be putting resources into developing a wider number of, as well as more rigorous, subjects. It will be something people will want to do four, five or ten years after they have started their career.

Flexibility. Well, in fact there are a number of different features that distinguish the London LLM, but I would say that flexibility is at the top of the list. Students are expected to take full personal control of their study schedule. This means they can study whenever and wherever most convenient to them. Study time can fit around professional and legal practice and accommodate family and other social commitments. Students can complete the programme in two years if they want to but if they need a longer time they can take anything up to five years to complete the degree.

I suppose another distinguishing feature of the programme is the fact that the opportunity to take the London examinations as an external student has been integral to the law programme since its inception in the 1890s. Since that time, many tens of thousands of people have achieved legal qualifications who would not otherwise have been able to. With the vast increase in demand for flexibility in the work place, ‘continuous education’ and ‘life long education’ have, justly, become buzz words. But the University of London has had external students since 1858 and certainly cannot be said to be jumping on any bandwagon! In the last 10 years, the demand for the LLM has grown and we’ve had hundreds of students who are practising lawyers as well as professionals in law-related fields such as insurance and shipping. At the moment we have 800 students studying for the LLM by distance learning. They’re based in countries all over the world.

Of course, I should also mention the unique way in which the academic content and quality of the LLB and LLM offered through the external programme are maintained. The law programme is overseen by a consortium of six colleges of the University all of which are very highly regarded and recognised internationally — King’s College, University College London, the London School of Economics and Political Science, Queen Mary, the School of Oriental and African Studies and Birkbeck. They are all leading research and teaching institutions in the United Kingdom. This fact means our law subjects are always kept up-to-date and relevant to today’s practise.

The LLM is managed by a Subject Panel which is made up of representatives from five of the Colleges that I just mentioned. The Subject Panel maintains consistency of standards across the subjects offered as part of the LLM. Although academics at the Colleges will examine students to these agreed high standards they will not award the final degree. This is done by the central University of London on the advice and recommendation of the Subject Panel. All successful students will be awarded a University of London LLM regardless of which College is responsible for developing and marking the subject areas studied.

There are two main ways. Many students study independently using our materials. For the undergraduate qualification many enrol at a local institution that offers tuition. Recently this has proved popular with LLM students too. However, this is a private arrangement made between the student and the institution. The University does not involve itself. Students must register with the University. We will then send out any study materials they need, set their exam papers and mark their exam scripts. The University will award the degree if the student is successful. The role of an institution is to provide private tuition if the student feels he or she would like this. It is the responsibility of the student to decide whether to enter such an arrangement.

How Are Study Materials Arranged — Do You Use the Internet as a Delivery Platform?

The external programme does have an interactive Virtual Learning Environment but the LLM is not part of this at the moment. However, we have developed a number of resources for LLM students that are available via the internet and via the University of London’s Online Library. External students have access to Justis.com which is a leading research service providing authoritative legal material and which provides a search facility for law reports and statutes. The online library provides links to e-journals, websites and gateways related to law. It has a reference section with dictionaries, encyclopaedias and newspapers and there are guides to help students navigate around the different databases available.

We send all students copies of the relevant Subject Guides. These are designed to introduce topics and direct students to relevant readings, law reports and journal articles. Everyone also receives a copy of the Regulations which contain the syllabuses, the degree structure, describes how to enter examinations and so on. And then there are copies of past examination papers and a Postgraduate Laws Handbook which contains information about such things as libraries, bookshops and photocopying services. Students are responsible for buying or borrowing textbooks.

I think this relates back to what I was saying at the beginning. The LLM is no longer just studied by people who want to enter academia or who want a postgraduate qualification for its own sake. We have a few students who do the LLM immediately after taking the LLB to try to make themselves more marketable. But we find now that many students are barristers or lawyers and have been for over 20 years. They either want more specialist knowledge or to follow up on an area they never did in the past. This is becoming much more the norm. My own prediction is that in the next five to 10 years’ the LLM will be to practising lawyers what the MBA is for executives. It will be a badge of professionalism.

For more details visit the external programme’s website: www.londonexternal.ac.uk or send for a prospectus by emailing enquiries@lon.ac.uk or by writing to The Information Centre, University of London, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, United Kingdom.

Whatever your motivation, be it to expand your career horizons, update your skills, undertake research or specialise in a specific area of law, Monash University Law School is committed to providing the highest quality legal education in an environment that is flexible and responsive to the needs of graduates and the global profession.

Since its foundation in 1964, Monash Law has grown to become one of the largest law schools in Australia. As part of the greater Monash community, which includes more than 51,000 staff and students from over 100 different countries, the Monash Law School reflects the ethos of the University as a whole, which is one of internationalisation, commitment to quality teaching and learning and innovative research. Monash is a member of the Group of Eight; Australia’s leading universities that are recognised for their excellence in research, scholarship and teaching and collectively undertake 70% of all research conducted in Australian universities.

The Monash Law School has achieved worldwide recognition for its range of quality postgraduate programmes that are not only innovative and varied but also stimulating and challenging and cater for the career development needs of both law and non-law graduates. Individuals pursuing postgraduate study choose Monash Law for many reasons such as the standard and flexibility of the programmes, the variety of specialist research topics or for professional aspirations, but all have one thing in common when they leave; a postgraduate qualification of the highest quality coupled with improved career prospects and a tremendous sense of achievement.

The postgraduate programme at Monash Law includes the advanced Master of Laws for those who wish to further their reputation in an area of recognised expertise, study a broad range of legal disciplines at the masters level or for those who wish to progress to the doctorate level. The Master of Laws can be undertaken via research, coursework or a combination of coursework and a minor research thesis. In addition, Monash Law offers a number of specialist masters programmes for individuals who wish to enhance or change their professional expertise in areas such as Commercial Law, Intellectual Property Law, International and Comparative Law, Law in the Digital Economy and Workplace and Employment Law.

The strong intellectual community within the Monash Law School promotes excellence in a diverse range of research topics from criminal justice, forensic studies and real, personal and intellectual property to public law and regulation, including privatisation and public accountability, commercial law, including the digital economy and human rights. The reputation of Monash Law is further enhanced by the quality work of the School’s five dedicated research centres; the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, the Centre for Law in the Digital Economy (‘CLIDE’), the Centre for Law And Reconstruction in Southern Africa (‘CLARISA’), the International Institute of Forensic Studies and the Centre for the study of Privatisation and Public Accountability.

Individuals with a desire to engage in research with a view to pursuing an academic career, undertaking a major study project as a matter of law reform or using their specialist knowledge and expertise to develop policy or theoretical perspectives, can choose to undertake either a traditional research-based Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) or the flexible Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD), which includes a combination of both coursework and the production of a research thesis.

Monash Law also prides itself on being the first and still one of the very few Australian universities to offer a clinical practice programme that involves students working with real clients and cases under expert supervision in one of the Law School’s two community legal practices. The prestigious Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Skills and Ethics (‘PDLP’) is a 21-week course that offers an alternative to undertaking articles with a firm of solicitors. Graduates are admitted to practice as barristers and solicitors in the State of Victoria and elsewhere in Australia through the mutual recognition legislation. International law graduates may be admitted to practice in their home country by virtue of already being admitted in Australia. The PDLP will assist International students in gaining admission to practice in Victoria - and therefore may increase their chances of gaining admission in their home country (conditional on recognition by the home country admitting authority).

Facilities and services at Monash Law are exemplary and include a dedicated, state-of-the-art postgraduate teaching and study centre at the new city-based Monash University Law Chambers located in the heart of Melbourne’s legal district. In addition the Law Library at Monash is repeatedly acknowledged as Australia’s largest and most impressive collection of legal publications and a gateway to legal information from across the world. The library houses over 150,000 volumes and many thousands of items in microform, as well as providing access to legal and non-legal materials from many of the world’s common and civil law jurisdictions through a wide range of online electronic databases.

Monash Law is committed to legal education and training through high quality service to undergraduate and postgraduate students who are the primary focus of the School’s endeavours. Students benefit from the extensive experience of the School’s academic staff who are experts in their fields. Nine of the current staff have won the ‘Monash Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Distinguished Teaching’, which is more than any other Faculty in the University. Students also benefit from the extensive networks of the staff who have worked in many countries outside Australia including the UK, USA, Malaysia, Singapore, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ghana, France and Ireland.

Monash University received the top ranking from the latest edition of the internationally renowned publication ‘The Good Universities Guide’. Monash received a five-star rating, the highest achievable, in the overall ranking and in categories including prestige, student demand, research grants, cultural diversity, international enrolments and gender balance. The University also received high ranking in graduate outcomes, staff-student ratios and graduate starting salaries.

The Monash Law School exemplifies this ranking with superior graduate outcomes at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level. Many graduates now hold senior positions in the judiciary, the legal profession, politics, public service, business or commerce and in many other professions where a legal qualification is valued. A degree from the Monash University Law School is a degree for the future.

I chose to undertake my Masters of Law at Monash because I was impressed by the international standing of the University, the reputation of Monash Law as one of the top Schools in Australia, and the subject offerings, which included several with a focus on practical skills such as negotiation, mediation and process management. Through Monash I have achieved both academic excellence and tremendous personal growth. On completion of my Masters degree I hope to return to Singapore where I am confident I will be an asset to the legal community. I know that having a Masters from a highly reputable university like Monash will go a long way in boosting my career prospects. Safeera Abdul Wahid

The College of Law has continued to extend its diverse range of post- graduate legal education programmes to meet the needs of today’s lawyers.

From its online programmes to varied on-site courses, the College has grown into Australia’s largest provider of practical legal education.

According to College of Law, Managing Director Neville Carter, key to this expansion has been the organisation’s focus on diversity.

‘The College placed significant emphasis on building an educational platform that would allow lawyers to combine their studies and career. Almost every legal practitioner we talk to says flexibility in education is paramount,’ Mr Carter said.

‘Flexibility is the reason we have vigorously pursued the development of an online programme and developed on-the-ground resources in new locations. The College of Law long ago established its reputation for quality of education and we have gone a long way to ensuring our delivery of education is held in the same regard,’ he said.

For example, although the College continues to offer its traditional face-to-face courses, either in full time 15-week or part time 30-week modes, more than 80% of its pre-admission students now choose the online course. These students, have the flexibility to complete their studies at work, at home or even in another state or country.

Mr Carter said the move would reinforce the College’s commitment to legal practitioners, some of who had already been using the College’s services for a number of years.

‘The interstate expansion has been driven by student demand. We now have 150 students in Queensland alone — all of which stand to benefit from the College having an office in the state,’ Mr Carter said.

‘Similarly, our relationships with legal education organisations in countries such as the United Kingdom have benefited Australians who wish to study while overseas. Australian lawyers have found employment throughout the world and it is important that their training keeps pace with their international careers.’

In addition to preparing graduates for admission, another important part of the College’s work has been the Continuing Legal Education programmes. The aim of these courses is to offer intellectual and practical education to all members of the profession, at prices intended only to cover costs and maintain quality.

For more information on the College of Law’s courses please contact the enrolments office at 1300 856 111 or enrolments@collaw.edu.au